170 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1900. 



The dwellincr of Porter, the headman of the small group of native 

 families in this vicinity, is a short distance below the mine. It is of 

 rude construction, and is distinguished from the ordinary dwellings b}^ 

 its circular shape and radiating clapboard roof. Similar houses were 

 encountered in Calaveras County, and an illustration is given in Plate 

 8. They are probably the communal or council houses, or survivals 

 of these. 



TUOLUMNE TABLE MOUNTAIN REGION. 



From Forest Hill we returned to Colfax, and were soon in San 

 Francisco. From this place visits were made to other points of inter- 

 est. Another excursion to the auriferous gravel region was made, by 

 way of Stockton, Oakdale, and Jamestown. At Jamestown we were 

 within easy reach of many interesting points ethnologicall}^ and archaio- 

 logically. This district includes Tuolumne Table Mountain and the 

 mining towns of Sonora, Murphj^s, and Angels, and has furnished 

 much of the testimony upon which the theory of an auriferous gravel 

 man has been supported. In recent centuries it has been occupied by 

 a numerous population of the Sierra tribes. The finds in the aurifer- 

 ous gravels are fully discussed in a paper already referred 'to, and I 

 need here mention them but casually, giving chief attention to the 

 remnants of native population scattered here and there in small 

 bands over the hills and along the valleys. Half a mile south of 

 Jamestown we encountered a small a))original community occupying 

 half a dozen houses, built in the main of sawed lumber and fairly com- 

 fortable. The people were carrying on the usual acorn industry, 

 using utensils of native make and grinding and preparing the meal in 

 the native way, but otherwise showing many indications of contact 

 with the whites. 



A second communitj': of like character and proportions was located 

 a mile to the west, on the slopes of Table Mountain. These people 

 showed indications of thrift, and their simple arts were carried on 

 under the shade of their own vine and fig tree. One man, exhibiting 

 traces of negro blood, and having a wife quite half white, was engaged 

 in rounding the ends of the shingles to be used in giving an ornamental 

 effect to the walls of his house. It is said that in this district, when 

 the mines were being extensively worked and a large w^hite population 

 filled the country, there were also large numbers of Indians gathered 

 on the outskirts of the towns, ten or a hundred times more than are 

 found in the vicinity at the present time. 



Ancient village sites are numerous, and old native burial places are 

 commoti. At Springfield, 10 miles north of Jamestown, an old miner 

 named John Cannon had two well-shaped globular mortars in his 

 back yard. These were so highly valued by Mrs. Cannon as recep- 

 tacles for watering the chickens that we had difficulty in securing one 



