66 THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
An old gun barrel, unearthed in the Bucking- 
ham swamps, near Monroe, invites speculation, 
It is said to be copper instead of steel. The 
barrel is round instead of octagonal, and the 
bore is the size of the ordlnary 44-caliber rifle. 
It is to be brought to Corvallis for examination, 
The Archzeologist’s Paradise, 
Archzologists will undoubtedly find in south- 
eastern Oregon, relics proportionately desery- 
ing of their attention as the mounds of tbe mid- 
dle west, the cliff dwellings of New Mexico or 
the adobe houses of Arizona, Curios of all kinds 
and description have been found in Coos and 
Curry counties, Not long since a stone canoe 
nine and a quarter inches long, five inches wide 
and three inches deep, and a hollow stone 
three inches long were found near Bandon. 
The articles are richly carved and well shaped. 
Other relics such as carved jugs, spoons and 
implements of war have also been found. Resi- 
dents of that section of the state believe the un- 
earthed articles were made by some ancient 
tribe that occupied that region, for they are 
certainly not the work of the American Indian 
Columbus discovered,— #xch. 
INDIAN RELICS. 
The time will come when aboriginal me- 
mentoes will possess value, and the time is 
fast passing by when_they can be gathered _to- 
gether. No doubt, while time shall last plow- 
shares will turn up arrow-heads not infrequent- 
ly; but we who so closely followed the aborigi- 
nal have set little store on what will be prized 
in time tocome. To us they are common, for 
beautiful arrow-heads are found at fisheries or 
on old camping grounds, or upon the battle- 
fields of the past. We turn up mortars and 
pestles that have histories engraved on them 
When we ask the Indian 
who survives, we are surprised that he has no 
with indifference. 
idea of their origin, and our occassional col- 
lectors cherish images and carved stone work 
that no race claims. “The only answer the 
siwash makes is that they were made and used 
by some race that preceded their own. Mrs. 
W. C. Johnson has antiquarian tastes that are 
shown in a collection of curios and antiques 
gathered, literally, at great expense, from the 
four corners of the earth, including many me- 
mentoes of the aborigines ‘of our own section. 
She corroborates the continual story the 
Indians tell, that these things mostly are left 
from a prehistoric race. She says years ago 
she made a friend of an Indian woman at 
Oregon City, who gave her valuable inform- 
When they talked of making the canal 
and locks at the falls, this woman told her 
ation. 
that her people had found and buried a large 
stone frog that was left by that ancient people, 
that would be right in the path of the canal 
and must be dug up. If dug up, it would be 
followed by floods and storms that would re- 
sult in great damage, for the great spirit of the 
old race resented any meddling with their relics. 
The stone frog was, sure enough, unearthed , 
and thrown out by the canal builders, and, 
sure enough, the winter saw fearful floods and 
the Indians said their prophecy had come true. 
The stone frog was in Dr. Rafferty’s keeping, 
at East Portland, and should be gathered into 
a state museum, wilh all such other relics. 
Mrs. Johnson also tells me that her husband 
remembers that, when he was a lad: of 15, 
vearly or fully half a century ago, men were 
engaged in digging a ditch in front of Governor 
Abernethy’s place, on the river just below 
Oregon City, and uncovered the head and 
shoulders of a fuli-sized stone figure of a man, 
closely resembling the Indian in every respect. 
Rather than unearth and exhume this image of 
heroic proportions, they changed the course of 
the ditch; but some time later, when it occur- 
red to him that this image was worthy of notice, 
he went to find it and it was non est. Thesup- , 
position was that the Clackamas Indians had 
taken it up and consigned it tc the safe keeping 
of the Willamette close by. They attributed all 
these works to a prehistoric race, and were a- 
-fraid to leave them exposed, as they said the 
*spirits who ruled that ancient people were very 
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