AUEIFEROUS GRAVEL MAN IN CALIFORNIA. 403 



but it was a trick spruno- on the spur of the moment, in a spirit of 

 humorous hilarity, Ijy Matthews, Scribner's partner in busin(\ss. But 

 the Doctor, being the victim, did not see the point." 



This story is interesting- as emanating from Mr. Scribner, wiio, 

 according to man}^ accounts, knew more than any other person regard- 

 ing the origin and early movements of the skull. 



At Angels Camp I visited Mr. liasmussen, a former )>usiness part- 

 ner of Mr. Scribner's, but he had given the matter little attention 

 and did not know whether Scribner believed in the authenticity of the 

 skull or not; but Mr. George Stickle, present postmaster of the vil- 

 lage, showed a decided interest in the matter. He had been closely 

 associated with the Scribner coterie in the early days, and knew all the 

 principal people of Angels Camp almost from its foundation. It is 

 his belief that the whole affair grew out of the "joshing" proclivities 

 of his fellow-townsmen, and he laughed heartily as he recited the cir- 

 cumstances- of the finding and subsequent misadventures of the so- 

 called Calaveras skull. He went on to state that the skull had been 

 in his store several weeks before it fell into the hands of his fun- 

 loving associates. Together with a companion specimen, it had been 

 brought to him from a burial place in Salt Spring Valley, 12 miles 

 Avest of Angels, by Mr. J. I. Boone. I was extremely sorr}^ not to be 

 able to visit the supposed place of origin of so famous a specimen, for 

 the stories seemed sufficiently circumstantial to warrant scientific 

 attention. 



Ih It a changeling skull f — According to some of the current stories 

 of the region, the skull was placed in the mine b}' one of Mattison's 

 neigh))ors mereh' as a joke, while he was at home for dinner, and he 

 is supposed to have found it where it was buried among the debris at 

 the bottom of the shaft. This may or may not be true. At any rate, 

 as no names are given, the statement can not be verified. 



The remark made b}^ Mr. Stickle and others that the skull obtained 

 by Whitney did not come from the Mattison mine or through Mattison 

 at all ma}^ also have little value as evidence: but it is suggestive, and 

 gives rise to a legitimate inquiry as to the possibilities in the case. 

 There were ancient skulls in plenty in this region in early times, and 

 the valley and county received their name Calaverm — which in Spanish 

 signifies skulls — from this circumstance. 



The Indians of the high sierra do not })ury their dead, but cast them 

 into pits, caverns, holes in the rocks, and deep gorges. (Icnei-ation 

 after generation follows one another into these gaping Golgothas where. 

 in a confused heap, along with rude personal belongings and sacri- 

 ficial offerings, the bodies decay and are covered by accunudating debris 

 and deposits from running or percolating waters. As mining opera- 

 tions went on these burial places were cleaned out and the bones 

 became public property. Skulls were plentiful at Angels in those 



