. Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. belt,usually consisting of a strip of skin (of deer, rabbit, peccary, etc),slightly dressed with the hair on; frequently this is replaced by a cordor braided baud of human hair, while the favorite belt of some of the 172* THE SERI INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 17 young- warriors is a snake skin (such as that illustrated in figure 7); butso far as was seen tbe belts are not extended into tassels, decorativeappendages, or even flowing ends. Tbe presnmiitively decorative costuniery observed is limited to nec
. Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. belt,usually consisting of a strip of skin (of deer, rabbit, peccary, etc),slightly dressed with the hair on; frequently this is replaced by a cordor braided baud of human hair, while the favorite belt of some of the 172* THE SERI INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 17 young- warriors is a snake skin (such as that illustrated in figure 7); butso far as was seen tbe belts are not extended into tassels, decorativeappendages, or even flowing ends. Tbe presnmiitively decorative costuniery observed is limited to neck-laces, usually of strung seeds, sbells, and beads of wood or bone (fig-ures 8, 9, 10, 11,12, and 13), tbougb animal appendages, sucb as boots,teeth, etc, are sometimes worn. Tbe most highly prized necklace foundat Costa Rica was a Imman hair cord with nine crotalus rattles attached(figure 14), worn by a young warrior of tbe liattlesuake (1) clan. Nottbe slightest indication of bead-dresses was seen (tbougb deerand lion masks are said byHardy to have been worn onoccasions); there were no brace-. Fig. 10—Nut penilant3. Shell beads Fig. 12—Wooden lets, leg-bands, or rings of any description, and the cheap jewelrygiven to many of tbe women and youths at Costa Rica was eitherstrung about tbe neck or concealed; while it is significant that even tbeshowiest jewelry was less appreciated than bits of manta or lumps ofsugar. When it is remembered that tbe Seri have been in occasionalcontact with Caucasians for over three and a half centuries, the factthat not a single glass bead was found among them becomes signifi-cant; and tbe significance of tbe simple fact is increased by tbe virtualabsence of that persistent desire and protean use for beads—or bead-sense—so prominent among most primitive tribes. WEAKNESS OF DECORATIVE SENSE 173* ^Naturally the conditions at Costa Eica were unfavorable to the studyof native ideas concirning apparel. The women and some of the chil-dr
Size: 1612px × 1550px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectindians, bookyear1895
