SOME PRIMITIVE CALIFORNIANS. 487 



size was notable, and at once made us suspect that this mound 

 had not been built up purposely, but had rather accumulated 

 through the debris and the burials of some generations of Indian 

 life and death. All our excavations bore out this idea, thus tak- 

 ing the structure rather out of the category of mounds into that 

 of middens. 



The excavations made from time to time resulted in the dis- 

 covery of some thirty skeletons of both sexes and of all ages. 



Fig, 



many of them undisturbed and often accompanied by various 

 objects of use or ornament. Each cross on Fig. 1 shows the spot 

 from which a skeleton was taken ; the arrows indicate the point 

 of the compass toward which the face was turned. The varia- 

 tions in this latter respect furnish negative evidence that the 

 inhabitants of Robles Rancheria had no fixed superstition in con- 

 nection with the heavenly bodies. It will be seen that there is 



