320 SANTA EOSA ISLAND. 



pum, the Facliydesma crassatelloides for beads, and the Haliotis for orna- 

 ments. The specimens in bone were principally whistles, perforators, 

 needles, »&c. We found a bone implement some eighteen inches long 

 and shaped like a butcher's cleaver ; also bone swords or spears. 



Although more than sixty years have elapsed since the last survivors 

 left this island, yet the material of which their houses were constructed 

 remains undecayed. A circular excavation was made to the depth of 

 three or four feet, around which the ribs of whales were planted point- 

 ing inward at the top, and covered with " sea-grass." Those we exam- 

 ined had fallen inward, and the bones and grass were covered with debris 

 to the depth of a foot or more, but perfectly preserved. In many in- 

 stances they had used the circular depressions, where these dwellings 

 had been erected, for burial places. 



It was not unusual to find the teeth very irregularly set in the jaw, 

 and sometimes an extra tooth would appear. This probably gave rise 

 to the story of skulls having been found on this island with double rows 

 of teeth. I have frequently heard this related of the Indians that once 

 inhabited this island and the main-land, but after exhuming some 5,000 

 skeletons, during eight or nine months' explorations in this portion of 

 California, I failed to meet with a single case of the kind, nor have I 

 been able to learn of a well-authenticated instance of such a find. In 

 some instances the skulls indicated great longevity. The bones were 

 generally large, and the markings of the muscular attachments indi- 

 cating a very stout race of people. 



