18 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNM. 



Torquemada, a brilliant man, the spiritual adviser 

 of the fleet, has left an account of a temple he observed 

 at Santa Catalina that has caused the island to be 

 well searched, but without avail. The temple, which 

 was devoted to Chinigchinich, consisted of a large cir- 

 cular structure, decorated with feathers. In the centre 

 was a hideous idol which I fear the good fathers at a 

 later day m.ay have destroyed. Just what the idol 

 looked like is not known, but Vizcaino tells us that 

 upon its sides were pictures of the sun and moon. 



The islands are famous to-day for their ravens, and 

 these birds, according to Torquemada, were sacred, 

 and sacrificed to the god. When Vizcaino's men shot 

 them, the natives were much disturbed. "I believe," 

 says Father Torquemada, "that the Devil was in 

 these crows and spoke through them, for they were 

 regarded with great respect and veneration." He 

 further states, that the birds were so tame that they 

 would snatch fish from the hands of women and chil- 

 dren, who dared not resent the attack. 



In 1886, when I first knew these islands, these ravens 

 — or their descendants — were the most conspicuous 

 birds, and were extremely tame, sitting around the 

 camps as though resenting intrusion. They made 

 their nests in the cliffs near Avalon, and were very 

 ingenious in stealing the young turkeys and chickens 

 from the ranch of Chicken John, a character of the 

 caiion back of Avalon. When the wind blew, I have 

 seen these birds flying along the cliff on the north side 

 of Avalon Bay, one hundred feet up, turning complete 

 somersaults in the air, like tumbler pigeons, though 

 evidently in play. 



