THE CERIS INDIANS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 175, 26 January 1860, Page 4

THE CERIS INDIANS.

bepobted captivity of a Spanish lady.

At the present time, when a case of assumed captivity of white girls amongst the aborigines is under investigation, the following in referenc to the Ceris Indians will b.e interesting. It . occurs in the correspondence of the ‘ Francisco Evening Bulletin ’ of Sept. 26. The writer dates from : Senora - The Ceris are now quiet and peaceful, and the highway as secure as any in California, Every mjle or two we passed a long stage of mules or a string of heavy waggons bound to Guaymas. But it was not always so. Five years ago Senorita —r ■ was one of the belles of Guaymas. Young, beautiful, and witty, of good descent and well connected, life passed merrily along, and all her dreams of futurity were doubtless clothed in the roseate hues that gild the visions of youth. In an evil hour she left her home to pay a long-due visit to some friends in Hermossillo. On the road the escort was attacked and overpowered by a prowling band of Ceris, the men slain, and herself and a little boy carried into captivity. Long and unwearied was the search instituted by the bereaved family for the missing child ; but all in vain. The haunts of the Ceris were ransacked without the slightest clue being discovered, and her relations were reluctantly forced to admit the conclusion that she had enly been spared m the general massacre to be put to death with all the refinement of cruelty that only a savage mind can elaborate. Years passed on, the circumstance was almost forgotten in the whirl of political excitement. When the family reflected on the lost one, it was as if the. tomb had closed over her. Masses were said for the repose of her spirit, and Time, the healer, had cicatrized the wound her loss had caused in the bosoms of those to whom she had been near and dear. The Ceris became reduced in numbers, and were com relied to obedience; their strongbold, Tiburon, was thrown open to the curiosity of the traveller, and the mystery which once enveloped its fastnesses rudely dispelled. A month ago, a wandering fisherman, passing through one of the Ceri villages, was accosted by a young female, retaining yet in her squalor the traces of superior beauty, the wife of the principal chief, who addressing him in imperfect Spanish, inquired if he knew the family of r —- in Guaymas. He replied in the affirmative, and, his curiosity excited by the questions she proposed concerning its members, he pressed inquiries in his turn, when she confessed she was the long-mourned senorita. Her captors had concealed her deftly while search was going on, then tattoed her person, and the chief had chosen her for his consort. Two children were the fruit of this union, and, to the urging of the man that she would attempt to escape under his guidance, she replied that she had become reconciled to her fate, and had no desire to return to the place of her nativity to be an object of the pity, or perhaps the jeers and scoffs, of her former companions and rivals. Besides, any attempt at flight would, if unsuccessful, entail certain destruction on both. The boy was completely Indianized, and expressed himself perfectly delighted with his present life and without the slightest desire to change it.. The poor girl parted in tears from her compassionate countryman, who returned to Guaymas with the news. Immediately on receipt of the information, the brothers of the young lady, well armed and provided, set out for the Ceri country, resolved to rescue their sister at all hazards. When I left Guaymas they had not returned, nor had any advices been received as to how they had sped in their mission.