SOME PRIMITIVE CALIFORNIANS. 



489 



formity. Fig. 3, from a photograph of this skeleton mounted, 

 shows the attitude in which its owner was compelled to live for 

 many years. This ossification had also partially extended to 

 other parts of the body : he could not move his ribs in breathing, 

 he could not lift his head. Another interesting discovery noted by 

 Mr. Hughes was the fact that one of his arms had been broken 

 and most skillfully reset. As Mr. Hughes remarked, the finding 

 of this skeleton, interred, as it had been, carefully, with a fine 

 mortar, two or three bone 

 implements, and an aba- 

 lone shell, tells us that the 

 former inhabitants of the 

 Robles Rancheria had ad- 

 vanced far enough in civ- 

 ilization to care for the 

 old and decrepit members 

 of their little society. This 

 one at least must have 

 been practically helpless 

 long before his death. 



The objects interred 

 with the skeletons are 

 made of stone, shell, and 

 bone ; of stone implements 

 the mortar and pestle are 

 the most common ; in fact, 

 they are surprisingly com- 

 mon, indicating the pos- 

 session of a great number 

 within the same tribe. 

 They are of the stone 

 found in the immediate 

 neighborhood, with one 

 exception, and are of all 

 grades of finish, as seen 

 in Fig. 4, which shows us 

 all varieties, from the rude 

 bowlder, in which two or 

 more slight concavities 

 have begun to be worn, 

 to the finished mortar, 

 smooth within and with- 

 out. The most finished mortar of all found was a small one used 

 for grinding paint, shown in Fig. 5. The series of this implement 

 taken from this rancheria furnishes a beautiful illustration of 

 the evolution of what is perhaps the most primitive of human 



Fig. 3. 



