A typical hupf is illustrated in plate XLIII. The specimen is of fine-grained, dense, and massive quartzite, its homogeneity being interrupted only by a thin seam of infiltrated silica and by an obscure structure-plane brought out by weathering toward the thinner end. Its weight is 1 pound 14 ounces (0.85 kilogram). In general form and surface the specimen is an absolutely natural pebble, such as may be found in thousands along the shores of Seriland. Its artificial features are limited to slight battering about the edges, especially at the thinner end; partial polishing of the lateral edges by repeated handling (as imperfectly shown in the edge view); very perceptible polishing of both faces by use as a grinder; some fire-blackening on both sides; semisaturation with grease and blood; and the flecks of red face-paint shown in the reproduction. The specimen was obtained at Costa Rica after some days’ observation of its use. The chief observed functions of this implement were as follows: (1) Skinning the leg of a partially consumed horse; this was done by means of centripetal (i. e., downward and inward) blows, so directed that the thinner end fell obliquely on the tissue, bruising and tearing it with considerable rapidity. (2) Severing tough tendons already sawed nearly through by rubbing over the edge of an ahst, the hupf in this case being in the hands of a coadjutor and used in rather random strokes whenever the tissue seemed particularly refractory. (3) Knocking off the parboiled hoof of a horse to give access to the coffinbone. (4) Crushing and splintering bones to facilitate sucking of the marrow. (5) Grinding mesquite beans; the process being begun by vertical blows with the end of the implement on a heap of the pods resting on an ahst, continued by blows with the side, and finished by kneading and rubbing motions similar to those of grinding on a metate. (6) Pounding shelled corn mixed with slack lime, in a ludicrously futile attempt to imitate Mexican cookery. (7) Chopping trees; in this case the implement was grasped in the centripetal manner and used in pounding and bruising the wood at the point of greatest bending under the pull of a coadjutor. (8) Cleaving and breaking wood for fuel. (9) Dethorning okatilla stems, by sweeping centripetal strokes delivered adzwise from top toward butt of a bunch of stems lying on the ground. (10) Severing a stout hair cord; in this use it was grasped between the knees of a matron squatting on the ground, while the cord was held in both hands and sawed to and fro over the use-roughened thinner end. (11) Supporting a kettle (shown in plate X) as one of the fire-stones used in frontier mimicry of the Papago custom. (12) Triturating face-paint by pounding and kneading; in one case the specimen served as a hand implement, while in another case it took the place of the ahst, the ocher lump itself being struck and rubbed against it. (13) Beating a troop of dogs from a pile of bedding in a jacal; in this use the implement was held in the customary manner and used in swift centripetal blows, the matron relying on her own swiftness and reach and not at all on projection to come within reach of her moving targets; the blows usually landed well astern, and were so vicious and vigorous as to have killed the agile brutes had they chanced to fall squarely—indeed, one blow temporarily paralyzed a large cur, which escaped only by running on its fore feet and dragging its hind quarters. In most of these uses the specimen was employed in conjunction with an improvised ahst in the form of a stone carried from the rancho. Several of the processes, notably those of tissue-tearing and dog-beating, were executed with a vigor and swiftness quite distinct from the sluggish lounging of the ordinary daytide and, indeed, partaking of the fierce exaltation normal to the Seri chase. When not in use the implement usually lay just within the open end of the owner’s jacal, though it was often displaced and sometimes kicked about the patio for hours. It was one of perhaps a dozen similar implements brought across the desert from the coast by as many matrons. All were regarded as personal belongings pertaining to the custodians about as definitely as articles of apparel, though rather freely loaned, especially in the owner’s clan. The specimen was purchased from the possessor, who parted from it rather reluctantly, though with the tacit approval of her clanswomen, at a rate implying considerable appreciation of real or supposed value. Three or four other matrons declined to barter their hupfs, either arbitrarily or on the plea that they were a long way from the source of supply.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIX
THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
LONG-USED METATE (REDUCED), TOP
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XL
THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON
LONG-USED METATE (REDUCED), BOTTOM
A common variety of hupf is illustrated in plate XLIV. It is of pinkish, slaty tuff of rather low specific gravity, somewhat vesicular and pulverulent, though moderately hard and tough. It weighs 17 ounces (0.48 kilogram). In form and surface it is essentially a wave-worn pebble, doubtless derived originally from the volcanic deposits of Sierra Kunkaak. Its artificial markings are limited to slight battering about the edges, especially at the thinner end (as shown in the edge view); slight rubbing, striation, and semipolishing of the smoother face (shown in the plate); a few grease spots and a stain showing use in crushing sappy vegetal matter, also on this face; and an inconspicuous fire-mark on the obverse. It was found in a recently abandoned jacal near Campo Navidad. It is one of the three tuff specimens among those collected, one of a dozen or two seen; perhaps 10 per cent of the implements observed in Seriland are of this material, and it is significant that this ratio is several times larger than the proportion of tuff pebbles to the entire paving of the beaches, so that the material seems to be a preferred one. The preference was indeed discovered at Costa Rica in 1894, where two or three of the more highly prized hupfs were of this material, and where vague intimations were obtained that it is especially favored for meal-making, doubtless by reason of the association of color and texture—associations that mean much to the primitive mind, perhaps in suggesting that the grinding is easier when done by a soft implement. An economic reason for the preference is easily found in the lower specific gravity, and hence the greater portability of a hupf of ordinary size, of this material; but there is nothing to indicate that this economic factor is weighed or even apperceived by the Seri.