182 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, KOO

number

of entorprisino- collectors haveoccupied this field, andin

Los

Angeles ] hadthe pleasure of studying

some

fine collections

made

by Dr. F.

M.

Palmer, a type ^series,wellarranged and labeled, beingdis- played in the

museum

^of the

Chamber

of

Commerce. Mr. W.

S.

Campbell, a localdealer in Indian relics, has

many

interesting things, prominent

among

which are a

number

of rare and beautiful l^askets

made by

the Santa

Ynez

Indians, a tribe

now

approaching extinction.

Othercollections

made by

Rev. Stephen

Bowers

are partly in his

own

hands and partly in possession of

Mr,

H. N. Rust,of South Pasadena.

Inaddition, a largeand valuablecollection, not, however,purelylocal, is

owned by

Mrs. A. C.

Low,

of Pasadena.

Mr.

Rust's collection also contains an interesting series of objects

from

an ancientvillagesite in the suburbs of Pasadena, and he permits

me

to introduce here two

plates, in which are seen a large

number

of the objects collected

—

Plates 43 and44. In this collection there are noglo])ular mortarsor cylindricalpestles,but

numerous

mealingplatesshowingextensiveuse,

and man}^ oblong and discoid mullers. Several annular and stellar

shapedstonesareunique.

The

whole

group

seemsto indicate apeople related in

many ways

with the tribes of the Sierra.

The

village site

from which the specimens illustrated

were

collected issituated onthe bluff overlooking South Pasadena and on the line of

Buena

Vista street.

When

the grading of this street was under

way Mr.

Rust watchedthe

work

daily, saving

more

^{than a}

hundred

implements and

utensils.

He was

able evento locate

some

of the lodge sites by ^the larger

number

and greater variety of specimens found within limited areas. Besides th© stone implements

shown

in the plates, one bone awl and^{atire stick}

were

recovered.

Few

flaked implementsarefound

in the Pasadenaregion, and thereis nopottery, and burial places and

human

remains have been soughtfor in vain.

At

Santa Barbara I

was

permitted to examine a valuable collection

made by Mr.

L. G. Dreyfus, and the

museum

of the local historical societyhas

many

specimensof interest.

The

region hasbeenexplored

by

a

number

of scientific students, including Schumacher,

Henshaw, Yarrow,

andYates.

The

principal village site at Santa Barbara ^ison the extremeend of a picturesque

promontory

atthe lower endof the city, andthe sea is slowly cutting itaway.

The

location ofthe burial

ground

is indicated in the view presentedin Plate 45

by

a

group

of appletreesseen distinctly in the lowerpicture.

Near

by, on the low ground, is a large oblong

mound, now

^{occupied by a residence and}

believed by Mr. Dreyfus and others tobe of artificial origin.

From Los

Angelesitis a short railway journey to San ^{Pedro, on} thecoast, and a steamervoyageof2.5miles out intothe Pacific carries one to Avalon, a village occupying an exquisitel}' picturesque little

harbor near the eastend of SantaCatalinaIsland.

While

atthisplace I had the opportunity- of examining

two

of the noted arch^ological

ReportofU.S.NationalMuseum, 1900.—Holmes. Plate43.

>

:A

ReportofU.S.National Museum.1900.

—

Holmes. Plate 44.

Report of U.S.NationalMuseurr, 1900.

—

Holmes. Plate 45.

Views of Santa Barbara Point, the Site of a Prehistoric Cemetery.

r ANTHROPOLOGICAL

STUDIES IN CALIFORNIA.

183

sites of this island

—

^the soapstone quarries of Potts Valley and the shell deposits of the isthmus. These sites

were

explored by Schu-

macher many

years ago, and the rich collections obtained b}^

him

are

now

preservedinthe

museums

at

Washington

andCambridg-e. Ineed not do

more

in this place than briefly record

my

observations and impressions regarding these sites.

Pearly in the

morning

of

November

2, 1898, 1 setout on horseback with

Mexican

Joe as guide, to

And

the soapstone quarries

some

10 milesto the northwest.

We

climbed the steep slopes

from

Avalon,

meandered

the lofty sinuous crests of the island, passing across the shoulder of Black

Jack —

^{a mountain rising} nearly 1,800 feet above the

sea—

and descended into Potts Valley, which, if

my

identification be correct, opens

down

totheseaon thenorthof theridge.

At many

points

we

encounteredoutcrops of steatite, and evidences of ancient mining were apparent onall hands.

There

were shallow excavations and heaps of debris surrounded

by

fragments of partially shapedves- sels and the rude stone picks,

hammers,

and chiselswith which the ({uarrying and shaping

work was

done.

Near

thesiteof thepi'incipal (|uarry reported

upon

by

Schumacher

there has been

some

recent quarrying

by

white settlers, but fortunately the outcrop

from

which the aborigines cutso

many

pots remains undisturbed.

At

theheadof the shallowamphitheater ^of Potts Valle}^ which descends tothe shore half a mile or

more

below,

some

greatmassesof ruggedrockrise

from

the otherwise

smooth

slopes. Portions of these masses are

composed

of soapstone, and the surfaces

from which

lumjjs of softrockwere cut are in plain view.

A

vigorous

growth

of cactus plants covers the lower part of the exposure, but

enough

remains in sight to tell the st(jry of former enterprise.

The

scars left

by

the

workmen

extend over100 or 500 square feet of the steep surfaces of the rocky mass, andthe views

shown

in Plate46 disclose the scars andchisel

marks

to excellent advantage.

The work

of

removing

the rounded masses of stone

from

which the vessels

were

to beshaped was identical in char- acterwith thatobserved in the

many

soapstone quarries of the East- ern States, but so far asthemarkings

now

remaining show, thecutting- hasbeen

more

^skillful, and it seems not impro})al)le thatthe

work

in the examples illustratedhas beendone with metallic tools. It is rea- sonableto suppose thatthe trade in soapstone pots, carried on exten- sivelybetween the islanders andthe tribes ofthemainland, continued to flourish for a considerable period after the

coming

of the white man, and in the latest

work

iron picks and shovels

must

have been used. Scatteredaboutthis rock and on the slopes above and })elow were fragments of partiallyshaped and brokenvessels,besides numer- ous rude cuttingtools

and

picksof hard stone.

The

latterimplements had lieen shaped

by

flaking with

hammer

stones,

some

of which are distributed with the debris.