be found, but hardly even any bones. My reason for supposing these heaps to be the remains of merely temporary camps, is the small number of flint knives, spear-heads, and other implements found therein, and the total absence of any chips that might indicate the occasional pres ence of a workshop where domestic tools and weapons of war were manufactured-a something that immediately strikes the accustomed eye in viewing regularly well-established settlements. On further examining this class of heaps by a vertical section, we find layers of sand recurring at short intervals, which seem to indicate that they were visited at fixed seasons; those möddings exposed toward the northwest being vacated while the wind from southwest was blowing sand over them, and, mutatis mutandis, the same happening with regard to camps with a southwest aspect while the northwest wind prevailed. It is fair, then, to suppose that these places were only the temporary residences of the savages to whom they appertained; that they were tenanted during favorable times and seasons for the gathering of mollusks, which, having been extracted from their shells, were dried in the sun for transportation to the distant permanent villages. The comparatively small quantities of shell-remains now found at these regular settlements going also to support this theory. No graves have been found near these temporary camps. I discovered, however, one skeleton of an Indian, in connection with which were thirteen arrow-heads, but it was plainly to be seen that the death of this person had happened during some short sojourn of a tribe at this place, as the burial had been effected in a hasty and imperfect manner, and the grave was without the usual lining which, as we shall see, is found in all the other tombs of this region.

On the extremity of Point Sal, the northern projection of which is covered by large sand-drifts, we find, down to the very brink of the steep and rocky shore, other extensive shell-deposits, which, with few exceptions, consist of the Mytilus Californianus and of bones; flint chips being also found, though very sparsely in comparison with the mass of other remains. The sea having washed out the base of this declivity, and the top-soil having, as a consequence, slid down, we see on the edge of the cliff shell-layers amounting in all to a thickness of four or five feet; that part closest to the underlying rock appearing dark and ashlike, while the deposit becomes better preserved as the surface is neared. At other places, for example, on the extreme outer spur of this Point Sal, the shell-remains have been so conglomerated or cemented together by extreme antiquity as to overhang and beetle over the rocks for quite a distance.

Leaving the temporary camps, we shall visit the regular settlements of the ancient aborigines. Traces of these are found near the southern Point Sal, at a place where it turns eastward at an angle of something less than 90°, behind the first small hill of the steep ridge which trends easterly into the country, and which, up to this spot, is, on its northern slope, covered with drift-sand and partially grown over with stunted her

bage, (Fig. 2.) Further traces of a like kind are to be seen on the high bluff between North and South Point Sal, (Fig. 3.) Here the shells are

piled up in shapeless, irregular heaps, as they are met in all localities on the coast where there were the fixed dwelling-places of people whose principal food consisted of fresh shell-fish; for in the neighborhood of these permanent homes the shell-remains were always put away in fixed places, while in temporary camps they were carelessly distributed over the whole surface of the ground. Very vividly did these bleached mounds recall to my mind the immense remains of such heaps as I had seen in Oregon, on the right bank of the Chetko, as also near Năt-enet, and near Crook's Point, Chětl-e-shin, close to Pistol River. I re

membered, also, how I had observed the Indians in various places; for example, near Crescent City, on the Klamath, and on the Big Lagoon, forming just such shell-heaps; two or three families always depositing their refuse on the same beap.

Fig. 3.

To return to Southern California. A deposit similar to that of Point Sal, although much smaller, is found on the left bank of the Santa Maria River, near its mouth. Both at the first-described fixed camps and at this place there are to be found tons of flint-chips, scattered about in all directions, as also knives, arrow-heads, and spear-heads in large numbers. I was somewhat disappointed, however, in being unable to find any graves; such numerous heaps indicating the existence of important settlements, that should have been accompanied by burying-places. I therefore moved farther inland, seeking a locality where the soil could be easily worked, where a good view of the surrounding country could be had, and where, above all, there was fresh water, all of which requirements appear to have been regarded as necessary for

the location of an important village. I soon recognized at a distance shell-heaps and bones, the former of which become scarcer as we leave the shore. Approaching these, on a spur of Point Sal, upon which a pass opens through the coast-hills, and on both sides of which are springs of fresh water, though I did not succeed, after a careful exami nation, in distinguishing the remains of a single house, I think I found the traces of a large settlement on a kind of saddle on the low ridge, where flint-chips, bones, and shells lie in great numbers. At length search revealed to me in the thick chaparral a few scattered sandstone slabs, such as in that region were used for lining graves. Digging near these spots, I at last found the graves of this settlement, called by the old Spanish residents call KES-MA-LI. (Fig. 4.)

Here were brought to light about one hundred and fifty skeletons and various kinds of implements. The graves were constructed in the following manner: A large hole was made in the sandy soil to a depth of about five feet; then a fire was kept in it until a hard brick-like crust was burned to a depth of four or five inches into the surrounding earth. The whole excavation was then partitioned off into smaller spaces by sandstone slabs, about one and a half inches thick, one foot broad, and three feet long; in which smaller partitions the skeletons were found. One of these slabs generally lay horizontally over the head of the corpse, as a kind of protecting roof for the skull, just as I found them at Chetko River, although in the latter place the graves were lined with split redwood boards instead of stones. Such careful burial is not, however, always met with, and must evidently be taken as a sign of the rank or the wealth of the deceased; the more so, as in such graves I usu ally found many utensils, which is not the case with the more carelessly formed tombs, which were covered with a piece of rough stone or half a mortar. The slabs above mentioned were generally painted, and a piece which I carried off with me was divided lengthwise by a single straight, dark line, from which radiated, on either side, at an angle of about 600, thirty-two other parallel red lines, sixteen on each side, like the bones of a fish from the vertebræ. In most cases the inner side of the slab was painted red. Unluckily the specimen I took with me became wet, by rain, before I was able to convey it to a place of safety, and the previously-well-preserved design was blurred.

In these graves the skeletons lay on their backs, with the knees drawn up, and the arms, in most cases, stretched out. No definite direction was observed in the position of the bodies, which frequently lay in great disorder, the saving of room having been apparently the prime consideration. Some skeletons, for example, lay opposite to each other, foot to foot, while adjoining ones, again, were placed crosswise. The skeletons of females have, instead of the protecting head-slab, a stone mortar or a stone pot placed on its edge, so as to admit the skull, which latter, if too narrow in the neck to admit the skull, is simply buried underneath it. Cups and ornaments, both in the case of men and women, lie principally about the head, while shell-beads are found in the mouth, the eye-sockets, and in the cavity of the skull, which latter is almost always filled with sand, pressed in through the foramen magnum. The skeletons were, in some cases, packed in quite closely, one over another, so that the uppermost were only about three feet below the surface of the ground. The indications of poverty are very evident in regard to these, in the scarcity of ornaments, except, perhaps, when they are females, as they are in the majority of cases. I cannot accept the hypothesis that these were the slaves of some rich man and buried with their master; for the lower skeletons were generally found to have been disturbed in a very singular manner, such as could only have been occasioned by a re-opening of the grave after the decomposition of the