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quite a picturesque landscape, which, together with the excellent huntingground, is really most inviting for a settlement. Probably, on closer examination, the remains of a settlement might be found in the plain on the right bank, where the elder-bushes give welcome shade to man and beast. I have no doubt that the banks of Alamo Creek and the surrounding country will yet yield many remains of former settlements, as also the banks of the Santa Maria River and its tributaries, where, besides the settlement of Wă-le-khe, which I explored, there are two others, known to the ever-roving Vaqueros.

With regard to the general character of the domestic utensils, arms, and ornaments which I found in examining about three hundred skeletons in the graves of Kes-mă-lī, Tě-mě-tě-ti, Nī-po-mō, and Wă-lě-khẽ, they all resemble each other very closely, seeming to show that their possessors all belonged to the same tribe. First of all, the large cookingpots attract attention. They consist of globular or pear-shaped bodies, hollowed out of magnesian mica. The circular opening, having a small and narrow rim, measures only five inches in diameter in a pot with a diameter of eighteen inches. Near the edge of the opening, this vessel is only a quarter of an inch thick, but its thickness increases in a very regular manner toward the bottom, where it measures about one and a quarter inches. Made of the same material, I found other pots of a different shape, namely, very wide across the opening, and narrowing toward the bottom. With these I have also now in my possession many different sizes of sandstone mortars, of a general semiglobular shape, varying from three inches in diameter and one inch and a half in height to sixteen inches in diameter and thirteen inches in height, all external measurements, with pestles of the same material to correspond. There were, further, quite an assortment of cups, measuring from one and a quarter to six inches in diameter, neatly worked out of serpentine, and polished. The smallest of these was inclosed, as in a doubly-covered dish, by three shells, and contained paint, traces of which, by the way, were found in all these cups, from which we may suppose that they were not used for holding food.

Neither spoons nor knives were found in these graves. I got, however, three beautiful serpentine pipes, shaped like cigar-holders, much stronger than, but similar in shape to, those found in Oregon. Not many weapons were picked up here, only a few arrow and spear heads; these, however, were mostly of exquisite workmanship. A spear-head of obsidian, five and a half inches long, was the only object I found of this material; another lance-point of chalcedony, nine and a half inches. long and one and a quarter inches wide, was beautifully shaped and carefully made.

A remarkable object is a bronze cup which was found at Tě-mě-tě-ti. It was filled with red paint, and contained also the pretty paint-cup inclosed in the three shells mentioned before. I also found in the same grave, a Spanish coin of the last century, and a bronze buckle,

which latter was lost. The bronze cup, the coin, and a pot of burnt, coarse, sandy clay which was found at NI-po-mo, and also a few remains of corroded iron knives, found in the three graves, tell us of the last days of the existence of these people at a time when they evidently had hc'd intercourse with the advancing missionaries, who, almost everywhere in America, were the pioneers of civilization.

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Most of the objects were found perfect; and those which were not, had been broken by the pressure and shifting of the soil, as could easily be seen from their position. It is, therefore, certain that the bulk of the property buried with a person was not purposely broken nor destroyed, the same thing being true of my investigations in Oregon. I even found mortars and pestles which had been repaired and cemented with asphaltum. The richer occupants of the graves had shell and glass

Cave forming 900 with the two Birds.

beads in great numbers, sickle-shaped ornaments of the abalone (haliotis) shell, and an ornament resembling dentalium, but made of a large clamshell, strewed about their heads.

During my explorations I also diligently searched for caves which might have been inhabited and from which important information might have been obtained. But in these investigations I did not meet with much success, partly because I had not the time necessary at my disposal, for scarcely had I got to a place where they existed, when my duties demanded my attention and obliged me to give up the exploration. I could, therefore, only designate on my map the place which I might, with some degree of certainty, suppose to be a formerly-inhabited cave, so as to facilitate later investigations. Once I was obliged to suspend work at Point Sal for a whole week on account of thick fog. I had time, however, to search in the gorges and rocks, hoping to find ethnological objects. I discovered and opened at that time the graves of Kes-mă-li, and not far off the cave, (Figs. 4 and 6.) But I was rather disappointed, when, after clambering through and over almost inaccessible places, I reached the cave, and found that it was only eight by four feet wide and eight feet high; and that there were in it only one pestle, with many oyster-shells, bones, and teeth. The floor was formed of stratified brown ash-like soil, in which were the above-mentioned objects. The circular entrance to the cave measured three feet in diameter. On the right-hand side of the entrance was a niche which had evidently been worked out of the hard but cracked sandstone, and was large enough for one person to sit comfortably therein. Toward the back part, the cave has also been worked out, so that a person might lie down stretched out; that is, I found that I could comfortably occupy these positions, although I am seventy-three inches in height. The whole cave, it appears to me, has been artificially made with a chisel. I did not examine the articles which it contained very closely, and must, therefore, refer to the collection itself. For the same reason, I have not said much about all the other objects of the collection, but refer for more particulars to the following catalogue and to the collection itself.

CATALOGUE OF IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN THE DIFFERENT GRAVES.

1. Cup for preparing paints, together with an egg-shaped grinder, No. 42. Kěs-mă-li.

2. Mortar for preparing paints; found with red paint in bronze vessel.

Tě-mě-tě-ti.

3. Mortar, soft gray sandstone. Ni-pō-mō.

4. Mortar, bard gray sandstone. Ni-pō-mō.

5. Mortar, soft gray sandstone. Ni-pō-mō.

6. Paint-cup, dark stone, was found, together with the pipe, No. 46.

N.*

[blocks in formation]

Ni-po-mō; K, Kěs-mă-li; T = Tě-mě-tě-ti; W = Wă-lě-kbe

[blocks in formation]

11. Mortar, from graves at the mouth of San Luis Obispo Creek. (See

[blocks in formation]

18. Mortar, repaired with asphaltum. W.

19-22. Mortar-halves, as found protecting skulls, (mostly of females,)

N, K, and T.

23. Pot of magnesian-mica, pear-shaped. W.

24. Pot of magnesian-mica, wide opening. W.

25. Pot of magnesian-mica, globular. N.

26. Pot of magnesian-mica, globular. N.

27. Pot of magnesian-mica, globular. T.

28. Pestle, sandstone. N.

29. Pestle, sandstone. N.

30. Pestle, sandstone. N.

31. Pestle, well worked, found in cave at Point Sal. 32. Pestle, fragment. N.

33. Pestle. N.

34. Pestle. N.

35. Pestle, fragment.

36. Pestle, repaired with asphaltum. T.

37. Pestle. W.

38. Pestle. N.

39. Doubtful, at the shell-heaps. Point Sal.

40. Flesher, (dressing skins.) Point Sal. 41. Whetstone. K.

42. Egg shaped pestle, (to cup No. 1.) K. 43. Egg-shaped pestle. K.

44, 45. Arrow-shaft polisher. N.

46. Pipe. N.

47. Pipe. N.

48. Pipe. N.

49. Amulet, (serpentine.) K.

50. Fossil, vertebra of (?) K.

51. Pot of burnt clay. N.
52. Cup of talco-slate. N.
53. Bronze cup. T.
54-66. Skulls. K.

Skull No. 57 supposed to be of a white man, and was found, with the rest of the bones, among the rubbish of a shellheap at Point Sal.

[blocks in formation]

73. Slab, of which the linings of graves, in most cases, consisted. 74. Shell-ornaments.

N.

75. Teeth, shell-heaps. Point Sal.

76. Cup covered with three shells. T.

77. Glass beads. N.

78. Shell beads, (dentalium-like.) N. 79. Ornament. Point Sal.

SO. Plate, (fragment.) N.

81. Plate. N.

82. Plate, (machine-drilled hole.) N.

83. Beads made of shells. K.

84. Bone(-bow?) shell-heap. Point Sal.

85. Hair, &c.

86. Bill of a bird, found in the mouth of a skeleton. N.

87. Red color, found in a pot.

88. Beads of serpentine and shell. N.

89. Mortar, (ornamental?) N.

90. Rim of a bowl of serpentine. N.

91. Seed found in a pot. N.

N.

92. Arrow-heads found with skull No. 105, on a temporary camping

ground, as remarked in the text.

93. Ear-ornaments. N.

94. Shell ornaments. K.

95. Seed found in a pot. N.

96. Abalone ornaments. N.

97. Abalone found in excavity of brains. N.

98. Crystals of quartz. N.

99. Shell ornaments, (dentalium-like.) N.

100. Cave results.

101. Bead of shell, finely finished and carved. K.

102. Shell ornaments.

103. Wall of grave. K.

104. Skull, animal, found on shell-heap.

Point Sal.

105. Skull found on temporary camping-ground, as mentioned in text.

with arrow-heads, No. 92.

106. Spear-heads and arrow-points. N.

107, 108, Lance-heads.

109. Knives,

as found especially on temporary camping-grounds.

110. Ornaments of serpentine. N.

111. Stone blade. N.

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