168 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



above read}' to fall in as the work of the miner advanced. Plates 2 

 and 3 illustrate part of the finds made on this spot. It is observed 

 that these relics do not correspond fully with those of the modern 

 Indian sites, that the mullers are smaller and rounder and more neatly 

 shaped, and that the smaller stone objects are of varieties not now in 

 use. This, however, does not necessarily indicate different peoples, 

 but probably results from changes in ha))its due to contact with the 

 whites and the degenerac}' of aboriginal work in general. 



At Yankee Jim, at one time a very lively camp, but now a small 

 village, we visited a mine being opened by Mr. Robert Clark, and 

 spent an hour at an Indian dwelling on the hill slope near the mine. 

 The photograph of a dismantled mill shown in Plate •! «, was secured 

 at this place. The shallow mortars, similar to those shown in Plate 2, 

 were sunk in the ground so that they can just be distinguished in the 

 picture. The hand stones consisted of several rather rudely shaped 

 ovoid and cylindrical stones (Plate 4 7>), a small, oblong, flatfish grind- 

 ing stone pecked away at one end to make it available as a pestle, 

 and three or four iron wagon-axle pestles. Some of these hand 

 stones evidently served both for pounding and rubbing, while one or 

 two are slightly concave on one side, indicating their use also for 

 cracking acorns upon or as mortars for pulverizing in a small way. 

 The fact that some of the mortars and grinding plates of California are 

 well rounded and finished on the margins and base while others are rude 

 and unfinished has been noted by several writers, but I do not recall 

 mention of the fact that the unfinished ones are intended for planting 

 in the ground, leaving only the concave grinding surface exposed, 

 while the finished ones, at least those of smaller size, are portal)le 

 household utensils. What ethnical significance there may be in this 

 is not determined. The differences in form may be due to the pres- 

 ence of distinct peoples on the site, or to diversity in the practices of 

 a single people at the same or at different times. 



Learning of an Indian settlement in Todd's Valley, 4 miles south of 

 Forest Hill, we drove down and spent a day in the vicinity. Here 

 also we found extensive gravel mines, similarly situated to those at 

 Oro Flat, and native settlements in intimate association with them. 

 The residence of an Indian family stands on the very brink of the 

 mine, and doubtless the site has been long occupied. 



While Dr. McGee was engaged in his usual occupation of securing 

 vocabularies and hiu-ts of the customs and history of the people, I 

 looked into their milling places and learned what I could of their arts. 

 The principal dwelling is a frame house of two or three rooms and a 

 porch, while about are the mill house and other simple shelters. An 

 elderly woman, Susan ])v name (her native name could not be learned 

 from any source), having tattoo marks on her chin, had near at Jiand 

 a very snug little shelter made of sticks, bark, and foliage, in which 



