172 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



containing a moderate number of houses arranged in rows, according 

 to chance growth and convenience. The house of the chief was dis- 

 tinguished in no way from other houses. 



In or near the ranchcria was the cemetery. In some cases there 

 were several ; grave groups might even l)e found, as a result of village 

 growth and history, amid the very houses of the village. The ceme- 

 teries were restricted in area, the desire of a dying person being to 

 have his bones interred with those of his ancestors. If bones were 

 unearthed in the digging of a grave they were respectfully laid aside 

 and carefully reburied before the new interment was completed. The 

 graves were marked in various ways so that the cemetery was a 

 conspicuous feature, and its location well-known to all. 



The village was governed by a chief whose rule was very demo- 

 cratic. He prided himself upon his liberal and thoughtful judgments. 

 Through association with those men of the tribe who had the greatest 

 traditional knowdedge, he acquired much wisdom and his words were 

 greatly valued as counsel. The chief interfered little in the affairs 

 of families, but represented the village in all dealings with other 

 villages. He was looked upon as a helper rather than a ruler of the 

 people, and so democratic was the whole scheme that women often 

 became chiefs. 



Indian life was not more lawless than life among other peoples. 

 Everything was prescribed by custom, and the average Indian was 

 slow-going and thoughtful, endeavoring to conduct himself in accor- 

 dance with these customs. Enmities existed, of course, between indi- 

 viduals and especially between villages, sometimes of long standing, 

 but these were not permitted to develop into large and useless wars. 

 The people w-ere frugal, although they loved games of chance and 

 personal adornment, as have people of all times. Their lives were, 

 of course, intensely interesting to them. Although their field of in- 

 terest would seem to us a very narrow one, nevertheless it was rich 

 enough to supply all the reactions needed for intense thought and 

 activity. 



The writer's investigations in California included the identification 

 of Indian place names and the studying of the early maps of the 

 region. When Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo steered his two little vessels 

 up the Santa Barbara channel in October, 1542, the Indians who had 

 boarded the ships started naming the pueblos along the shore, and the 

 Spaniards contributed the idea of writing down the names that were 

 being called out. As a result, there exist several lists of place-names 

 many of which the writer has succeeded in definitelv identifying. For 



