Bursera hindsiana ( ) ( )

Burseraceae

• The Hant Caai (land maker) caused a tree to grow. This first tree was a red elephant tree (Bursera hindsiana). The common elephant tree was strongly involved in the vision quest and religious concepts and might be considered as the Seri "holy bush". Icoocmolca "what (blame) is put on (plural)"fetishes carved from the wood of the red elephant tree (Burserda hindsiana) served as messengers to the spiritual world. Also involved in the quest for spiritual power were desert lavender (Condea emoryi). This large shrub or small tree has a thick woody trunk. It is readily distinguished from, B. microphylla by its smooth reddish gray bark, larger simple or tri-foliate (occasionally 5-folliate) leaves and somewhat harder wood; also, it is generally not as abundant. The wood is excellent for carving because it is relatively soft but firm, and does not split upon drying It was preferred over soft woods (such as B. microphylla) because it was finer grained. It is found throughout most of the region including Tiburon and San Esteban islands Containers: most adults owned a personal carrying box. These small portable boxes were used for storing personal items, such as facepaint, buttons, fishing line, tobacco, etc. These were probably twentieth-century artifacts, acquired after the Seri became more sedentary. Originally these boxes were made from the wood of B. hindsiana, although later examples were often made from commercial wood. The ones made from red elephant tree wood were held together by pieces of creosote bush wood used as nails. These were pounded into holes bored with a piece of metal. Personal storage boxes made from Bursera wood have not been used by the Seri for their own use since about the 1950s. Firemaking: a dry, dead branch attached to the living tree was called xoop inl yapáain "what caused it to fall". This special wood was a common material for firedrills. Firewood: the dry wood was used for kindling and to keep a low fire going under a boiling pot. Headpiece: The wood was used for the bird or knob affixed to the top of the hehe hamásij headdress. Medicine: Shavings from the wood were cooked in water with leafy branch tips of desert lavender, and the resulting tea was used to cure asthma or difficulty in breathing. Music: the box of the one-string Seri violin was usually made of thi wood. The wood was used also for the framework of a metal disk rattle called ziix haquénla "thing sounded". It was played at fiestas, and to accompany lullabies. The supernatural: according to Seri origin stories the first plant created was a xoop inl tree. Fetishes were made from wood of this tree. The name for the fetishes is icóoc-molca "what blame is put on". The name implies that it was the power of the fetish that caused good or evil to happen to a person. In other words, the shaman did not do the evil, the fetish did. These fetishes were carved only by a shaman and were rented or purchased from him as a personal or household fetishes. Some were worn around the neck as amulets, while others hung from house rafters or were used in vision quests and for shamanistic curing practices Toys: the wood was used extensively for carving dolls and toy boats. Boys often played with these toy boats in calm, shallow water in front of the camps of villages, or in the esteros. The hulls were carved from a single piece of xoop inl, and often skillfully outfitted with miniature sails, paddles, and sometimes even miniature wooden outboard motors. More often than not they were painted with the same striking combinations of bold colors as full size wooden boats. “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser”