is most
objectionable among the aboriginal red men of this continent.

Physically speaking, the Seris are most remarkable. They are of great
stature, the men averaging nearly six feet in height, with splendid
chests. But the most noticeable point about them is their legs, which
are very slender and sinewy, resembling the legs of the deer. Since the
first coming of the Spaniards they have been known to other tribes as
the runners. It is said that they can run from 150 to 200 miles per day,
not pausing for rest. The jack rabbit is considered a very fleet animal,
yet these Indians are accustomed to catch jack rabbits by outrunning
them.

For this purpose, three men or boys go together. If the rabbit ran
straight away from the pursuer it could not be taken, but its instinct
is to make its flight by zigzags. The hunters arrange themselves a short
distance apart. As quickly as one of them starts a rabbit, a second
Indian runs as fast as he can along a line parallel with the course
taken by the animal. Presently the rabbit sees the second Indian, and
dashes off at a tangent. By this time the third hunter has come up and
gives the quarry another turn. After the third or fourth zigzag, the
rabbit is surrounded, and the hunters quickly close in upon him and grab
him.

It is an odd fact that this method of catching jack rabbits is precisely
the same as that adopted by coyotes, which work similarily by threes. By
this strategy, these wild dogs capture the rabbits, though the latter
are more fleet by far. It is believed that no other human being
approaches the Seris in celerity of movement. A favorite sport of the
boys is lassoing dogs. Mongrel curs are the only animals domesticated by
these wild people. For amusement sake, the boys take their dogs to a
clear place and drive them in all directions, then they capture the
frightened animals by running and throwing the lassos, which are made of
human hair. They have no difficulty in overtaking the dogs.

One day, a party of boys returning with their dogs after a bout of this
sport, passed near a bush in which there were three or four blackbirds;
on spying the birds, they dashed toward the bush and tried to catch them
with their hands; they did not succeed, though one of the birds only
escaped with the loss of several feathers. Some women of the tribe were
watching, and they actually jeered at the boys for their failure. The
boys were so mortified that they did not go into camp, but