Note 270 — DEMOTIC CHARACTERS

A lively and explicit account of Seri turtle-fishing appears in Hardy’s Travels in the Interior of Mexico, 1829, pp. 286-297: “Bruja’s bay is of considerable extent, and there are from five to three fathoms water close to Arnold’s island, in the neighborhood of which the Indians catch abundance of turtle in a singular manner. I have already described their canoes, which in Spanish are called ‘balsas’. An Indian paddles himself from the shore on one of these by means of a long, elastic pole of about 12 or 14 feet in length, the wood of which is the root of a thorn called mesquite, growing near the coast; and although the branches of this tree are extremely brittle, the underground roots are as pliable as whalebone and nearly as dark in color. At one end of this pole there is a hole an inch deep, into which is inserted another bit of wood, in shape like an acorn, having a square bit of iron 4 inches long fastened to it, the other end of the iron being pointed. Both the ball and cup are first moistened and then tightly inserted one within the other. Fastened to the iron is a cord of very considerable length, which is brought up along the pole, and both are held in the left hand of the Indian. So securely is the nail thus fixed in the pole that although the latter is used as a paddle it does not fall out.

“A turtle is a very lethargic animal, and may frequently be surprised in its watery slumbers. The balsa is placed nearly perpendicularly over one of these unsuspecting sleepers, when the fisherman, softly sliding the pole through the water in the direction of the animal till within a foot or two of it, he suddenly plunges the iron into its back. No sooner does the creature feel itself transfixed than it swims hastily forward and endeavors to liberate itself. The slightest motion of the turtle displaces the iron point from the long pole, which would otherwise be inevitably broken and the turtle would as certainly be lost; but in the manner here described it is held by the cord fastened on to the iron which has penetrated its back till, after it has sufficiently exhausted its strength, it is hoisted on board the canoe by the fisherman, who proceeds to the shore in order to dispose of his prize.”