The Pericue Indians of Baja California Sur

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RE: The Pericue Indians of Baja California Sur

"In 1833 It was a prime objective of mine, along with my companion Dr. H. Ten Kate, of the society of anthropology of Paris, to find a living representative of the original lower Californian. In his writings, Father Baegert says there were 4000 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. In 1772 they numbered only 400. Probably these Indians were never numerous although the Victoria (La Laguna) mountains would have supported a large population. During our search, our contacts from La Paz to Cape San Lucas told us about a pure blooded seventy-five year old Indian woman living on the Rancho San Jacinto. We were told she differed widely from the Yaquis and other Indians from the east side of the Gulf (of California), being of good stature, robust form and dark complexion with a cranium which resembled those found in the caves. The Indians of Lower California south of 24 degrees 30 minutes buried their dead in caves below shelved rocks, usually painting the bones a brick red. 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. 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. This skeleton was wrapped in cloth made from the bark of the palm and bound with three-ply cord made from agave fiber. The package, which was about twenty inches long, did not appear to have been disturbed since burial. The bones had been painted brick red. Other skeletons found by Dr. Ten Kate on Espiritu Santo Island had all been painted a brick red. The few bones we found afterwards 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, pyramidal, high, long narrow with wide, prominent cheek bones."