* * * * *
Summarily, the Seri are characterized by noble physique, by peculiarly
swift and lightsome movements, by great endurance coupled with
capacity for vigorous action, by animal-like symmetry and slowness
of maturation, and by various minor attributes combining with the
major features to form a distinctive race-type; and they are still
more conspicuously characterized by an acute race-sense which holds
them apart from all aliens. At first sight, several of their somatic
attributes seem incomparably primitive, yet analysis of the attributes
in the light of certain laws which they exemplify better than other
peoples thus far studied indicates not so much a lack of development
as an excess of growth along purely somatic lines, with a correlative
defect of development along demotic lines; and when the lines of growth
are traced to the sources and conditions, it becomes fairly clear
that the aberrant development of the tribe is merely the reflection
of a distinctive environment operating (evidently) throughout a long
period. In brief, the somatic interest of the Seri seems to center in
the remarkable adjustment of the tribe to a peculiar environment—an
adjustment of such delicacy as to imply interaction throughout many
generations.