356 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Near the houses, where in all probability the cooking debris had 

 first been deposited, it is now and then found in heaps almost desti- 

 tute of sand ; but, no doubt, after a large quantity had thus been ac- 

 cumulated, it was spread over the ground of the town, evened, and 

 smoothed by layers of sand. The proportion of sand mixed with the 

 cooking debris is about one-half the weight of the whole mass. The 

 size of a town-site varies from about 100 metres in length and width, 

 like the one illustrated in the figure, to 1,200 metres, or three-quarters 

 of a mile, in length, and from 100 to 300 metres in width, the extent 

 of Os-bi, a rancheria in Santa Barbara County, about five miles south 

 of Point Sal, which is the largest shell-mound derived from permanent 

 habitation thus far explored on this coast. 



The same features of an aboriginal settlement we observe in Ore- 

 gon, 1,000 miles to the north. If we take, for instance, the ruined 

 settlement of the Chetl-e-shin, situated on the commanding elevation of 

 the north bank, and near the mouth of Pistol River : in front the 

 wide ocean expands, with a number of large outlying rocks; Pistol 

 River washes the base of the bluff upon which the station is situated ; 

 its waters are stocked with trout, and, in certain seasons, abundantly 

 with salmon ; to the left, or eastward, a mountain-brook empties into 

 the river at the foot of the rancheria, and a spring issues between the 

 upper and lower town-sites ; back of the coast the country extends in 

 a gradual rise toward a steep and heavily-timbered ridge, beyond 

 which it becomes almost impenetrable, owing to thick forests and 

 their undergrowth, and vines, the safe home of elk and bear. The 

 rocky ground upon which the town was located is covered with a 

 deposit of sand, of Which the neighboring beach offers an abundance, 

 and kjokken moddings of great age in its lower layers, with that 

 peculiar mouldy, ash-like appearance, sprinkled with particles of de- 

 cayed shells, so characteristic of an aboriginal settlement. 



It is evident that such a ground, needing artificial foundation for 

 the establishment of a town, was not suitable either for a burying- 

 ground site; we must, therefore, look for the graves of these people 

 within the artificial mounds. There is an exception to this when the 

 ground is naturally sandy, or soft ; then we must look for the graves 

 within an easy distance, say about 150 metres, in some prominent 

 place and in sight of the rancheria. The graves consist of a pit vary- 

 ing between two and fifteen metres square, and not over two metres 

 in depth, partitioned into smaller spaces by whales' bones and slabs 

 of stone, or by wood. On the islands the gigantic bones of the whale 

 are almost exclusively used; while, on the neighboring mainland, 

 limestone, which splits board-like into slabs, and also whales' bones, 

 and pine and red-wood, are used. Graves of this description have 

 been found in California south of San Francisco, while in Oregon the 

 mode of burial is different, the interment being either made in de- 

 tached graves, or in houses previously demolished by fire. 



