PREHISTORIC ART. 



573 



U 



^^fl 



1^' 



mouthpiece. Both tubes are opeu from end to eud, and it is suggested 

 that they have been blown upon not as a flageo- 

 let, but across the hole in the open end of the 

 tube instead of across the lateral hole in the side. 

 What use the four linger holes were is quite un- 

 determined, for, while they are not too great in 

 number, they are so far apart that no person can 

 cover them all at the same time. 



Brums and rattles. — There seems to have 

 been among the California aborigines, whether 

 ancient or modern, an almost total absence of 

 these instruments or any musical instruments of 

 percussion. 



Oapt. George M. Wheeler, United States Engi- 

 neer in charge of the geographical survey west 

 of the one hundredth meridian, and principally g 

 on the coast of southern California, made, or g 

 caused to be made, extensive archneological in- §, 

 vestigations into the jirehistoric occupation on ^ S 

 the Paciiic coast of southern California, especially ^ ^ 

 among the islands. This expedition had the aid i§ ^ 

 of persons at that time the best qualified in the I i I 

 United States to make such investigations. The ^ |" 3 

 result was published in Volume VII of the series, k: ^ ^ 

 and is entitled "Archaeology." In the introduc- f I I 

 tiou (p. 26), is found the following: I g I 



In the \vav of musical entertainiuents it is evident tliat s' ,S- 



^ ■ j^ 



the Californians were limited to very iiiimitive instru- ^j^ 



ments, the only kinds that have been found in the graves = 



consisting of whistles made of bones of animals. Some g 



of these, however, exhibit considerable ingenuity, and it F 



may be that they were played upon with skill. 



This statement is verified by Mr. W. H. Dall, 

 verbally, whose opinion and observation is en- 

 titled to great weight because he had, prior to 

 that time, made elaborate and extensive eth- 

 nologic investigations among the aborigines of 

 Alaska, prehistoric and modern, where he had 

 found such an extensive and almost universal 

 use of the drum. 



The United States National Museum possesses 

 neither drums nor rattles from the southern coast 

 of California, and as for rattles, while they are 

 rare, tliose which are found belong to modern 

 Indians far in the interior. They are also pecu- 

 liar in their construction and quite different from 

 those found elsewhere among the aborigines. 



Fig. 213 represents an object of pottery, possibly a rattle, from 





