The most noticeable social fact revealed about the Seri rancherias
is the prominence of the females, especially the elderwomen, in the
management of everyday affairs. The matrons erect the jacales without
help from men or boys; they carry the meager belongings of the family
and dispose them about the habitation in conformity with general custom
and immediate convenience; and after the household is prepared, the men
approach and range themselves about, apparently in a definite order,
the matron’s eldest brother coming first, the younger brothers next,
and finally the husband, who squats in, or outside of, the open end
of the bower. According to Mashém’s iterated explanations, which were
corroborated by several elderwomen (notably the clanmother known to
the Mexicans as Juana Maria) and verified by observation of the family
movements, the house and its contents belong exclusively to the matron,
though her brothers are entitled to places within it whenever they
wish; while the husband has neither title nor fixed place, “because
he belongs to another house”—though, as a matter of fact, he is
frequently at or in the hut of his spouse, where he normally occupies
the outermost place in the group and acts as a sort of outer guard or
sentinel. Conformably to their proprietary position, the matrons have
chief, if not sole, voice in extending and removing the rancheria; and
such questions as that of the placement of a new jacal are discussed
animatedly among them and finally decided by the dictum of the eldest
in the group. The importance of the function thus exercised by the
women has long been noted at Costa Rica and other points on the Seri
frontier, for the rancherias are located and the initial jacal erected
commonly by a solitary matron, sometimes by two or three aged dames;
around this nucleus other matrons and their children gather in the
course of a day or two; while it is usually three or four days, and
sometimes a week, before the brothers and husbands skulk singly or in
small bands into the new rancheria.
Quite similar is the regimentation of the family groups as indicated
by the correlative privileges and duties as to placement, as well as
the reciprocal rights of command and the requirements of obedience.
Ordinarily (especially when the men are not about) the elderwoman
of the jacal exercises unlimited privileges as to placement of both
persons and property, locating the ahst, the bedding, the fire (if
any), and other possessions at will, and assigning positions to the
members of her family, the nubile girls receiving especial attention;
she is also the arbiter of disputes, the distributor of food, etc.;
but in case of tumult, especially when children from other jacales
are present, she may invoke the authority of the clanmother, whose
powers in the rancheria are analogous to those of the younger matrons
in their own jacales. Even when the men are present they take little
part in the regulation of personal conduct, but tacitly accept the
decision of matron or clanmother; yet in emergencies any of the women
are ready to appeal for aid in the execution of their will to a brother
(preferably the elder brother) of the family, or, if need be great,
to the brothers of the clanmother. So far as was observed, and so far
as could be ascertained through informants, these appeals are always
for executive and never for legislative or judicative cooperation; but
various general facts indicate that in times of stress—in the heat of
the chase, in the warpath-craze, etc.—the men bestir themselves into the
initiative, while the women drop into an inferior legislative place. As
an illustration of the ordination in somewhat unusual circumstances,
it may be noted that when the “Seri belle” (Candelaria) refused to pose
for a photograph she was supported by the clanmother (Juana Maria)
until the latter was placated by presents; and that when the belle
refused to obey the mother’s command—to the vociferous scandal of the
entire group—Juana Maria appealed to Señor Encinas, as the conqueror of
the tribe and hence as the virtual head of both rancho and rancheria.
And when a younger Seri maiden (plate XXV) similarly refused to pose,
and in like manner disobeyed her mother (again to the general disgust),
the latter appealed to Mashém; when he, after first exacting additional
presents for both girl and mother and a double amount for himself,
put hands on the recalcitrant demoiselle and forced her into the pose
required, despite the shrinking and tremulous terror perceptible even
in the picture.
Commonly the regimentation of family, clan, and larger group appears
to be indicated approximately by the placement assumed spontaneously
in the idle lounging of peace and plenty. A typical placement of
a small group is illustrated in plate XIV. Here the family are
assembled outside the jacal, but in the relative positions which
would be assumed within. The matron (a Red Pelican woman) squats in
easy reach of her few and squalid possessions; on her left, i. e., in
the group-background and place of honor, sits the elderwoman of the
rancheria (a Turtle); then comes the daughter of the family, followed
by two girl-child guests of the group, the three occupying positions
pertaining to chiefs or elder brothers or, in their absence, to
daughters; opposite the matron sits a younger brother,[314] whose wife
is a Turtle woman (daughter of the dame in the place of honor) and
matron of another jacal. A few feet behind this brother (just outside
the limits of the photograph reproduced, though shown on the duplicate
negative) squats the husband, with his side to the group and face
toward the direction of natural approach; while the place belonging to
the sons of the family on the matron’s right is temporarily occupied by
a White Pelican girl, together with a dog, notable in the local pack
for largely imported blood and correspondingly docile disposition.
The place for the babe, were there one in the family, would be on the
heap of odds and ends behind the matron. As in this group so in most
others, the place of the sons is vacant; for the boys are at once the
most restless and the most lawless members of the tribe—indeed, the
striplings seem often to ignore the maternal injunctions and even to
evade the rarely uttered avuncular orders, so that their movements are
practically free, except in so far as they are themselves regimented or
graded by strength and fleetness and success in hunting.
[314] This man was one of those involved in the Robinson butchery on
Tiburon island a few months before the picture was taken; and he was
one of those executed or transported for the affair during the interval
between the 1894 and 1895 expeditions.
The raison d’être of the proprietorship and regimentation reflected
in the everyday customs is satisfactorily indicated by that totemic
feature of the social organization revealed in the face-painting
described in earlier paragraphs (pp. 164*-169*); these symbols
evidently represent an exclusively maternal organization into clans
consecrated to zoic tutelaries. The tutelaries, or totems, together
with the clan names and all personal designations connected with the
totems, are highly esoteric, and were not ascertained save in the few
cases mentioned above.[315]
[315] The chief object of the 1895 expedition was to pursue the
inquiries concerning social organization, totems, etc.; but, as
mentioned elsewhere, this object was defeated by the troublous history
of the tribe during the earlier part of 1895, and the consequent
revival and intensification of their animosity toward aliens.
It should be observed that, the identification of kindred by the alien
observer is difficult and somewhat uncertain, since the relationships
recognized in Seri socialry are not equivalent to those customary among
Caucasians. It was found especially difficult to identify the husband
of the jacal, partly because he is commonly incongruously younger (and
hence relatively smaller) than the mistress, and partly because of the
undignified position of outer guard into which he is forced by the
tribal etiquette. Moreover, his connection with the house is veiled
by the absence of authority over both children and domestic affairs,
though he exercises such authority freely (within the customary limits)
in the jacales of his female relatives. There is, indeed, some question
as to the clear recognition of paternity; certainly the females have
no term for “my father”, i. e., the term is the same as that for “my
mother”, _em_, though the males distinguish the maternal ancestor by a
suffixed syllable (_e_=“my father”; _e-ta_ or _iᵗ-tah_=“my mother”),
which seems to be a magnificative or an intensificative element. It is
noteworthy that the kinship terminology is strikingly meager; also that
while the records suggest various significant points, the material is
hardly rich enough to warrant complete synthesis of the consanguineal
system.
While the burden of the more permanent property pertains to the women,
there is a decided differentiation of labor with a concomitant vesting
of certain property in the warriors—the distinctively masculine
chattels comprising arrows, quivers, bows, turtle-harpoons, etc.
There are indications that the balsas, too, are regarded as masculine
property. The impermanent possessions—water, food, etc.—seem to be the
common property of men, women, and children, except in so far as the
right is regulated by regimentation; for the privileges of eating and
drinking are enjoyed in the order of seniority. In the reckoning of
seniority, the chief (who is commonly such in virtue of his position
as nominal elder brother of a prolific dame) ranks first, and is
followed by other warriors in an order affected in an undetermined way
by conjugal relations as well as by their prowess or sagacity (the
equivalents of age in primitive philosophy) down to an undetermined
point—apparently fixed by puberty; then comes the clanmother, followed
by her daughters in the order of nominal age, which is affected by the
status of spouses and the number of living offspring; finally come
the children, practically in the order of their strength (which also
is deemed an equivalent of age), though the girls—especially those
approaching nubility—receive some advantage through the connivance of
the matrons. To a considerable extent in the matter of sustentation,
and to a dominant degree in the matter of appareling, the distribution
of values is affected by a highly significant (though by no means
peculiar) humanitarian notion of inherent individual rights—i. e.,
every member of the family or clan is entitled to necessary food and
raiment, and it is the duty of every other person to see that the need
is supplied. The stress of this duty is graded partly by proximity
(so that, other things equal, it begins with the nearest person),
but chiefly by standing and responsibility in the group (which again
are reckoned as equivalents of age), whereby it becomes the business
of the first at the feast to see that enough is left to supply all
below him; and this duty passes down the line in such wise as to
protect the interests of the helpless infant, and even of the tribal
good-for-naught or hanger-on, who may gather crumbs and lick bones
within limits fixed by the tribal consensus. Beyond these limits lies
outlawry; and this status arises and passes into the tribal recognition
in various ways: Kolusio was outlawed for consociating with aliens, and
Mashém narrowly missed the same fate at several stages of his career;
the would-be grooms who fail in their moral tests are ostracized and
at least semioutlawed, and range about like rogue elephants, approved
targets for any arrow, until they perish through the multiplied risks
of solitude, or until some brilliant opportunity for display of prowess
or generosity brings reinstatement; deformed offspring are classed as
outside the human pale, even when the deformity is defined rather by
occult associations than by physical features; abnormal and persistent
indolence, too serious for scorn and ostracism to cure, may also
outpass the tribal toleration; and, as indicated by Mashém’s guarded
expressions and slight additional data, disease, mental aberration,
and decrepitude are allied with indolence and deemed sufficient reason
for excluding the persistently helpless from the tribal solidarity,
and hence from recognized humanity—and the fate of the outlaw, even
if nothing more severe than abandonment in the desert, is usually
sure and swift. The entire customs of outlawry among the Seri are
singularly like those of gregarious animals, including especially kine
and swine in domestication. Now, studied equity in the distribution of
necessaries might seem to be allied to thrift; but it is noteworthy
that this is not so among the Seri, who take thought for one another
but not for the morrow, who seem to have no conception of storage (save
an incipient one in connection with water and the repulsive notion
underlying the “second harvest”), and who habitually gorge everything
in sight until their stomachs and gullets are packed—and then waste the
fragments.
The division of labor which affects proprietary interests is
undoubtedly affected in turn by the militant habit of the tribe and by
the frequent decimation of the warriors. In general, the adult males
limit their work to fighting and fishing, with occasional excursions
into the hunting field; though by far the greater part of their time
is spent in listless lounging or heedless slumber under the incidental
guard of roaming youths and toiling women. The matrons are the real
workers in the tribal hive; they are normally alert and active, passing
from one simple task to another, gathering flotsam food along the beach
or preparing edibles in the shadow of the jacal, with an eye ever on
material possessions and children; they frequently join in hunting
excursions of considerable extent; they are the chief manufacturers of
apparel, utensils, and tools; and the scions of Castilian caballeros
are not infrequently staggered at the sight of half a dozen Seri women
“milling” a band of horses, and at intervals leaping on one to kill it
with their hupfs. The masculine drones are the more petted and courted
by reason of their fewness, for during a century or two, at least, the
women have far outnumbered their consorts—a disproportion doubtless
tending in some respects toward the disintegration of the clan system
and, reciprocally, toward the firmer union of the tribe.
One of the most noteworthy extensions of feminine functions among
the Seri is toward shamanism. So far as could be ascertained from
Mashém and the associated matrons at Costa Rica, it is such beldams as
Juana Maria who concoct the arrow “poison”, compound both necromantic
medicines and curative simples, cast spells on men and things, and
even fabricate the stone arrowpoints and counterfeit cartridges;
though unhappily the data are neither so full nor so decisive as
desirable.[316]
[316] The agency of the women in applying the arrow “poison” was noted
by Hardy; cf. p. 258.
Conformably with their prominence in proprietary affairs, the Seri
matrons seem to exercise formal legislative and judicative functions;
for not only do they hold their own councils for the arrangement of
the domestic business of the rancherias, but they also participate
prominently in the tribal councils (as explained by Mashém), and play
important rôles in carrying out the decisions of such councils—as when
they cooperate with war parties as decoys, or journey across their
bounding desert to spy out the land of the enemy.
* * * * *
On the whole, it would appear that the clan organization of the Seri
conforms closely with that characteristic of savagery elsewhere,
especially among the American aborigines. The social unit is the
maternal clan, organized in theory and faith in homage of a beast-god,
though defined practically by the ocular consanguinity of birth from
a common line of mothers; yet the several units are pretty definitely
welded into a tribal aggregate by common feelings, identical interests,
and conjugal ties. The most distinctive features brought out by the
incomplete investigation are the somewhat exceptional manifestation of
property-right in the females, the singularly strong sense of maternal
relation, and the apparent prominence of females in shamanistic
practices as well as in the tribal councils.