The Seri men and women are of splendid physique; they have fine chests, with slender but sinewy limbs, though the hands and especially the feet are large; their heads, while small in relation to stature, approach the average in size; the hair is luxuriant and coarse, ranging from typical black to tawny in color, and is worn long. They are notably vigorous in movement, erect in carriage, and remarkable for fleetness and endurance.
The Seri subsist chiefly on turtles, fish, mollusks, water-fowl, and other food of the sea; they also take land game, and consume cactus fruits, mesquite beans, and a few other vegetal products of their sterile domain. Most of their food is eaten raw. They neither plant nor cultivate, and are without domestic animals, save dogs which are largely of coyote blood.
The habitations of the Seri are flimsy bowers of cactus and shrubbery, sometimes shingled rudely with turtle-shells and sponges; in some cases these are in clusters pertaining to matronymic family groups; in other cases they are isolated, and are then often abandoned and reoccupied repeatedly, and are apparently common property of the tribe. The habitations afford some protection from sun and wind, but not from cold and wet, which are hardly known in winterless and nearly rainless Seriland.
The Seri clothing consists essentially of a kilt or skirt extending from waist to knees; sometimes a pelican-skin robe is worn as a blanket or mantle, and used also as bedding; the head and feet, as well as the bust and arms, are habitually bare, though a loose-sleeved wammus reaching not quite to the waist is sometimes worn. These garments were formerly woven of coarse threads or cords made from native vegetal fibers; the belt is generally of twisted human hair, of horse hair, of dressed deerskin, or of snake skin; the robe consists of four, six, or eight pelican skins sewed together with sinew. The pelican-skin robes are still used, though the aboriginal fabric is commonly replaced by cotton stuffs obtained through barter or plunder. Cords of human hair and skins of serpents are used for necklaces.
The sports and games of the Seri Indians include racing and dancing, and there are ceremonial dances at the girls’ puberty feasts, accompanying the rude music of improvised drums. Decoration is ordinarily limited to symbolic face-painting, which is seen especially among the females, and to crude ornamentation of the scanty apparel. A peculiar pottery is manufactured, and the pieces are sometimes decorated with simple designs in plain colors.