Lyman Belding (1829-1918) was a self-educated ornithologist who lived in Alta California (Van der Pas 1977). In late 1882 and early 1883, he traveled in southern Baja California. During part of his trip he accompanied the Dutch anthropologist Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate, who subsequently published more extensively on his archaeological and physical anthropological findings (Kate 1883a, 1883b, 1884). The following brief article, which discusses the physical characteristics and burial practices of the aboriginal people of the Cape Region, appeared in "The West-American Scientist," a journal published in San Diego, in 1885. The information enclosed in brackets has been added by the editor. -- Don Laylander

The Pericue Indians

by L. Belding

Probably these Indians were never numerous though the Victoria mountains would have supported a large population.

Father Baegut [Baegert] says there were 4,000 Indians in the southern part of the peninsula of Lower California when the missions of Santiago and San Jose del Cabo were destroyed by them in the year 1734, but that they numbered only 400 in 1772 (Chas. Rau, Sm. Rp. 1864 p 384).

It was a prime object with my companion Dr. H. Ten Kate, of the society of anthropology of Paris, and myself as well, to find a living representative of the original Lower Californian, which we probably found on the Rancho San Jacinto, owned by the Vallerino family. But we could get no positive or definitive information concerning this Indian woman, who must have been about seventy-five years old, although from La Paz to Cape San Lucas she was universally reputed to be a pure blooded Indian. She differed widely from the Yaquis and other Indians from the east side of the Gulf, being of good stature, robust form and dark complexion, with a cranium which resembled those found in the caves.

Dr. H. Ten Kate offered to photograph the hacienda and its occupants, hoping by this means to get her photograph, but his diplomacy failed, although backed by our distinguished guide, Don Juan Dios Angoula, who had long been a friend of the family.

We saw three of her children who were good examples of the [/ p. 22] better class of Mexicans, their father having been a Mexican or Spaniard. This woman is probably the only living pure blooded native south of 24 degrees 30 minutes.

The Indians of Lower California south of 24 degrees 30 minutes buried their dead in caves below shelving rocks, without regard to the points of the compass, usually painting the bones, but how they made the bones clean and ready to be painted is still unknown. At Zorillo we were shown a small cave in a granite rock by our local guide, who said that an Italian collector, several years before, had found bones of a "gentile," the Mexican name for an Indian or heathen.

The sand in the cave was dry, coarse disintegrated granite, about a foot deep. By digging in it I found the well preserved skeleton of an adult male Indian, who was perhaps the last of the Pericues. This skeleton was wrapped in cloth made from the bark of the palm and bound with three ply cord which had been plaited as sailors make sennit, the material being fiber of the agave. Dr. W. H. Dall mentions in the Smithsonian contributions to knowledge, number 318, that the mummies of the Aleutian Islands, were bound with cord quite similarly braided in square sennit.

The package, which was about twenty inches long, did not appear to have been disturbed since burial, although a femur and some small bones were missing, and nearly all of the bones had been unjointed. The bones of the hand were inside of the skull, which was full of small bones and sand. Meanwhile Dr. Ten Kate found the skeleton of a girl about twelve years old. This was also in excellent condition, although differing from those found elsewhere, in not having been painted, a rare exception. For the skeletons found by Dr. Ten Kate on Espiritu Santo Island, at Encenada and Los Martires, which he kindly allowed me to inspect, had all been painted the usual brick red, with the exception of one the Doctor found at Los Martires which had a skull of very inferior, almost idiotic form.

The few bones we afterwards found in a cave near Candelario and several skeletons found at San Pedro by Dr. H. Ten Kate had also been painted. All of the skulls were of one general form, namely, the pyramidal -- high, long narrow, with wide, prominent cheek bones.

The only ornaments, or other objects of aboriginal handiwork found with the skeletons, were two small, neatly worked, pearl oyster shells, which were in the package of the bones of the young girl found at Zorillo. These shells had been polished on the convex side, the edges finely serrated and pierced at the apex as if to be suspended about the person for ornament.