250 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



which drifts ashore here in quantities and which was 

 universally used by the islanders. These boxes were 

 filled with choice beads or trinkets, and doubtless 

 belonged to the women; we can imagine them as 

 primitive jewel cases. This collector has lived on 

 the island weeks at a time, and has made several 

 valuable collections, one of which was bought by 

 W. H. Burnham of Orange and presented to the 

 Southwest Museum. Mr. E. L. Doran of Avalon has 

 collected at San Clemente, and has a very attractive 

 collection at his summer home at Avalon. One of the 

 finds is a long stone club, an extraordinary weapon, 

 doubtless a token of office. The Government has 

 published many accounts of these implements; illustra- 

 tions of them can be found in Vol. VII, Geographical 

 Survey. The best collections in California are these 

 of the Southwest Museum and the Chamber of 

 Commerce, Los Angeles; the National Museum and 

 the American Museum have good collections. 



San Nicolas is known to have been ravaged by the 

 Russians from Alaska, who came down the coast a 

 century ago hunting for sea otters, with which the 

 island abounded. It is said that they played havoc 

 with the islanders, robbing and killing the men, and 

 stealing their women. To-day the victims are repre- 

 sented by bones and by their abalones and other 

 shells. These are eternally covered and uncovered 

 by the howling wind. 



In the past twenty or thirty years a number of 

 persons have lived on San Nicolas; some to collect 

 antiquities and shells, some to study the islands, 

 others to get away from the world. Many were Basque 

 herders, a race which seems particularly adapted to 



