The Seri archery habit is in every way consistent with the general
habits of the tribe, alike in the chase and in warfare, in which the
tribesmen, actuated by the fierce blood-craze common to carnivores,
either leap on their prey with purpling eyes and gnashing teeth, or
beat quick and stealthy retreat; and it is especially significant
in the light thrown on the bow as a device for swift and vigorous
rather than accurate offense, an apparatus for lengthening the arm
still more than does the harpoon, and at the same time strengthening
and intensifying its stroke. The quick-changing attitudes of half
hurling are equally suggestive of the use of the atlatl, and support
Cushing’s hypothesis[278] that the bow was derived from the corded
throwing-stick. While the critical posture of Seri archery is unique in
degree if not in kind in the western hemisphere, so far as is known,
an approximation to it (illustrated in fig. 22) has been observed in
Central Africa.[279] On the whole the Seri mode of using the bow, like
its crude form and rude finish, indicates that it is a relatively new
and ill-developed artifact, possibly accultural though more probably
joined indigenously with the archaic arrow to beget a highly effective
device for food-getting as well as for warfare; while the genetic
stages are still displayed not only in the homologies between arrow and
harpoon, but by the common functions of both arrow and bow with the
fire-sticks.
[278] The Arrow; Proceedings Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., vol. XLIV, 1895, pp.
232-240.
[279] Glave’s Journey to the Livingston Tree, The Century Magazine,
vol. LII, 1896, p. 768.
Concordantly, as indicated by the use of the archery apparatus, the
individual taking of large game is effected either by stealthy stalking
or by patient ambuscade ended by a sudden rush; when, if the chase is
successful, the quarry is rent and consumed as at the finish of the
semiceremonial collective chase. The fleet but wary antelope, the
pugnacious peccary, the wandering puma and jaguar, and the mountain
sheep of the rocky fastnesses, are among the favorite objects of this
style of chase; while the larger land birds and some of the water-fowl
are taken in similar fashion.
[Illustration: FIG. 22—African archery posture.]
The smaller land game comprises a tortoise or two, all the local
snakes and lizards, and a good many insects, besides various birds,
including hawks and owls, as well as the eaters of seeds and insects.
The crow and vulture are also classed as edible, though they are rare
in Seriland, probably because of the effective scavengering of the
province by its human residents. It is a significant fact that the
smaller rodents, especially the long-tail nocturnal squirrel, are
excluded from the Seri menu by a rigidly observed tabu of undiscovered
meaning. A general consequence of this tabu is readily observed on
entering Seriland; there is a notable rarity of the serpents, the
high-colored and swift efts, and the logy lizards and dull phrynosomas
so abundant in neighboring deserts, as well as of song birds and their
nests; and this dearth is coupled with a still more notable abundance
of the rodents, which have increased and multiplied throughout Seriland
so abundantly that their burrows honeycomb hundreds of square miles
of territory. A special consequence of the tabu is found in the fact
that the myriad squirrel tunnels have rendered much of the territory
impassable for horses and nearly so for pedestrians, and have thereby
served to repel invaders and enable the jealous tribesmen to protect
their principality against the hated alien. Seriland and the Seri are
remarkable for illustrations of the interdependence between a primitive
folk and their environment; but none of the relations are more striking
than that exemplified by the timid nocturnal rodent, which, protected
by a faith, has not only risen to the leading place in the local fauna,
but has rewarded its protectors by protecting their territory for
centuries.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY