28 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



some small — the finest being at Cabrillo, or the isth- 

 mus, now mostly covered by stables. In 1887 I 

 trenched this with Mexican Joe and Dr. William 

 Channing of Boston, and worked down through four 

 or five layers of graves. The upper ones dated in 

 all probability from since Cabrillo's time, as in them 

 I found Italian beads, bell clappers, files, mattocks, 

 and copper wire. The iron mattocks were evidently 

 highly valued as they had been carefully wrapped 

 in cloth and buried with the owners; the cloth had 

 literally turned to iron. This was by far the most 

 interesting deposit on the island, a typical graveyard. 

 The lower graves contained no metal — nothing but 

 stone, bone, and shell implements, showing that the 

 natives had had no bartering with the whites, and 

 ante-dated Cabrillo. 



I have located many ancient town-sites on Santa 

 Catalina. One was at Empire, one at Rowland's; 

 there is another on the coach road, a mile beyond 

 Eagle's Nest; and, not ten minutes' walk from the 

 latter, up the hill and on a great divide extending down 

 from Black Jack, and near the summit, is a typical 

 cave of the Stone Age. When I first saw it, its entrance 

 was choked with cactus growing on a heap of abalone 

 shells {Haliotis) which had been brought up from the 

 sea a mile or more. The cave is large and deep 

 enough for a small family, and faces the south. On 

 the side were red marks, a sign of some kind. Near 

 this cave was a smaller one, doubtless used as a kitchen, 

 and the smoke on the rocks could still be seen. 



The cave was two or three hundred feet from fresh 

 water. In and near it I found a number of interest- 

 ing implements. At Little Harbor, a few miles north, 



