ANTHROPOLOGHCAL STUDIES IN CALIB^ORNIA. 163 



muUer are almost equally niinieroiis, and it i.s probalily to the acorn 

 that the region owes the remarkable development of these utensils; 

 and the wide distribution of the oak tree over the slope in a measure 

 regulates the distribution of the tribes, tending to foster a very gen- 

 eral but rather scattering oecupation by small conmiunities. It is thus 

 that the tribes have always been ])ut slightly associated and wholly 

 without the al)ility to unite in concerted action. 



Simultaneoush' with the development of the mortar and grinding plate 

 there grew up the art of olla or stone vessel making, and the discovery 

 of extensive deposits of soapstone on the far-away island of Santa Cata- 

 lina led to a new and distinctive group of artifacts confined to the 

 channel islands and the neighboring coastal districts. 



A most notable peculiarity of the art of the region is the rarity of 

 earthenware, which for some undiscovered reason was never utilized, 

 save in the making of rude balls of baked cla}^ for use in slings and in 

 sporadic efforts at vessel making. The rude earthen vases found in 

 the Tulare region and elsewhere are probably mainly of recent" origin, 

 and the practice of the art by the mission tribes of the South is no 

 doubt a late Shoshonean transfer from the Colorado Valley. Utensils 

 of stone and wood occupied the tield covered ])y pottery in other 

 sections, and basketry grew into unexampled importance, displaying 

 remarkably varied phases of form, technique, and embellishment. 



Sea shells, which abound along the entire coast, and especially the 

 haliotis and the clam, have furnished material for personal ornaments 

 and helped to determine their character, and the great deposits of 

 obsidian toward the north have probabh^ given an impetus to liaked 

 stone art among all the tribes. 



We might expect at first glance to find dividing lines, more or less 

 distinct, between the peoples of the south and those of the north, and 

 between those of the Sierra belt on the east, the chain of valleys trav- 

 ersing the middle of the State from north to south, and the coastal 

 zone, but the difi'erences are not of great importance, as no barrier 

 exists to prevent free intercourse between neighboring sections. The 

 north has evidently been affected b}" the farther north, but the south 

 has hardly felt the influence of the more advanced tribes of the Colo- 

 rado Valley. 



That the peoples are of Asiatic origin I see no reason to doubt, ])ut 

 to speak of them as Chinese, Malay, or Tartar in origin, without very 

 considerable qualification, is a great mistake. Although all may have 

 arrived, more or less directly, from the north, and primarily from the 

 shores of Bering Sea and bevond, it is not likely that any particular 

 Asiatic strain ever passed the north Pacific arch, ran the gauntlet of 

 interfering and opposing nations, and reached far-away California in 

 even approximate purity. That any particular language of the many 



