The estimation of Seri stature is difficilitated by the impossibility
of defining maturity; and the effort to determine whether particular
individuals were adult brought out clear indications of slowness in
reaching complete maturity, i. e., of the continuation of somatic
growth throughout an exceptionally long term in proportion to other
stages in the life of the individual. Thus, with scarcely an exception,
the polyparous matrons were taller than the mean of 5 feet 9 inches,
while the apparently adult maidens (with one exception) and the
younger wives were below this mean; and in like manner the stature
of the warriors varied approximately with appearance of age, all of
the younger men falling below the mean, and all of the older (except
Mashém) rising above it. The difficulty of estimation is further
increased by the absence of age records and the impracticability of
ascertaining and standardizing the habitually guarded expressions
for relative age implied in the kinship terminology; so that the age
determinations were roughly relative merely, and there was no means of
fixing the absolute age of maturity, of puberty, of marriage, or of the
assumption of manhood and womanhood howsoever defined.
Under the conditions, the determination of stature-range in the Seri
rancheria at Costa Rica in 1894 was not only difficult but uncertain;
yet in general terms it may be said that the women having two or more
children—about twenty in number—were notably uniform in stature,
ranging from about 5 feet 7½ inches (in the case of an aged and
shrunken elderwoman) to 5 feet 11 inches; that the younger women were
more variable; and that the warriors (seventeen in number), of whom
only a part were apparently heads of families, were more variable
still, though the variation, apart from that apparently correlated with
age, was less than is customarily found among the exceptionally uniform
Papago, and decidedly less than that seen among the Yaqui or the local
Mexicans.
The Seri skin-tint is of the usual Amerindian bronze, save that
it is exceptionally dark, with a decided tone of black. Essayed
representations of the characteristic color appear in plates XVIII and
XXIV; but the essays are little more satisfactory than the innumerable
attempts at depicting the skin-color of the American aborigines that
have gone before. Experienced observers of the native tribes may form
an impression of the Seri color from the explanation that they are as
much darker than the neighboring Papago as the Papago are darker than
the average tribesmen about the Great lakes; the Papago themselves
being as much darker than the southern plains or Pueblo folk as these
are darker than those of the Lake region. The range in color seems to
be slight; the variation among the 60 individuals of both sexes and all
ages seen at Costa Rica was hardly perceptible, being less than that
usually observed in a single family of any neighboring tribe; while
the color distinction alone sufficed to distinguish the Seri from any
other people at a glance.
* * * * *
Foremost among the general somatic distinctions between the Caucasian
and the American native is the peripheral development of the former,
displayed in better-muscled limbs, more expressive features,
etc.—i. e., the Caucasian body expresses a readily perceptible but
difficultly describable peripheralization, in contradistinction
from the centralization displayed by the aboriginal body. Save in a
single particular (the large feet and hands), the Seri exemplify this
distinction in remarkable degree: their chests are strikingly broad,
deep, and long, recalling the thoroughbred racer or greyhound; their
waists are shortened by the chest development, yet are rather slender;
their hips are broad and deep, with a clean-cut yet massive gluteal
development; and, in comparison with the robust yet compact bodies, the
tapering arms and legs seem incongruously slender.[241] This physical
characteristic, like that of color, is insusceptible of quantitative
expression, at least without much more refined observations than have
been made; but its value may be indicated roughly by the statement
that the Seri differs from the average aboriginal American in degree
of somatic concentration as much as the average aborigine differs from
the average Caucasian—though it is noteworthy that the departure in
this direction from the aboriginal mean is in some measure regional
(i. e., the Seri differ less in this respect from the Papago and
other swift-footed natives than from the average tribesmen of the
continent). The Seri robustness of body and slenderness of limb are
brought out by the absence (in appearance at least) of adipose; the
skin is strikingly firm and hard and evidently thick, yet the play of
muscle and tendon beneath indicate a dearth of connective tissue and
convey that impression of physical vigor which their familiars so miss
in the photographs; and in no case, save perhaps in the young babe,
could the slightest trace of obesity be discerned. Thus the Seri, male
and female, young and old, may be described as notably deep-chested and
clean-limbed quick-steppers, or as human thoroughbreds.
[241] The photo-mechanical reproductions do but meager justice to
the splendid chest development of the Seri, young and old; for they
were not only at semisomnolent rest during the hotter hours at which
photography was most feasible, but invariably quailed before the
mysterious apparatus and crouched shrinkingly in such wise as to
contract their chests and lose their habitually erect and expansive
carriage.
The somatic symmetry of the average Seri, marred somewhat by the
slenderness of limb, is still more marred by the large extremities.
The hand is broad and long, the fingers are relatively long as those
of the Caucasian, the nails are peculiarly thick and strong, and
the skin is so thick and calloused as to give a clumsy look to the
entire organ; the feet are still larger and thicker-skinned, appearing
disproportionately long and broad for even the heroic stature of
the tallest warriors. The integument covering the feet, ankles, and
lower legs is incredibly firm and hard, more resembling that of horse
or camel than the ordinary human type; its astounding protective
efficiency being attested by the readiness with which the Seri run
through cactus thickets so thorny as to stop horses and dogs, or over
conglomerated spall-beds so sharp that even the light coyote leaves
their trail. In the absence of measurements it may merely be noted
that the hands and feet of the Seri are materially larger, not only
absolutely but relatively to their stature, than those of neighboring
tribesmen or even of Mexican and American workmen. And, on the whole,
it may be said that in their proportions, as in their stature and
color, the Seri are strikingly uniform, their range being less than
that commonly observed in contemporary tribes, and the differences
between them and their neighbors much exceeding the range among
themselves.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY