58 CUP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDARIAN SCULPTURES. 



fornia. I have also seen them in Napa Valley, fifty miles north of San 

 Francisco; indeed, I deem it safe to say they may be fonnd in nearly every 

 portion of California, especially on and near the old village sites once 

 inhabited by the less nomadic tribes. 



"But the most remarkable of these excavations I discovered on the 

 summit of the Santa Inez range of mountains, in Santa Barbara County, 

 about one mile west of the stage-road-crossing, and at an elevation of 2,500 

 feet above the sea-level. Here is an open space of nearly level land, sev- 

 ei'al acres in extent, where springs of cool sweet water rise, and, uniting, 

 send a sparkling rivulet down the mountain-side. Elevations, covered 

 with timber, form this into an amphitheater, while mountain-peaks rise in 

 every direction. In this romantic spot the aborigines founded a village, 

 wliich must have been occupied for a great lengtli of time. Although the 

 place is now enclosed as a field, and the site of the old village has been 

 ploughed and tilled by white men, yet the circular depressions indicating the 

 dwelling-places of the Indians are plainly seen. Marine shells, brought 

 from the ocean, six or seven miles distant, are scattered over the entire 

 surface of the old village site, with bones and other kitchen ddbris. Near 

 this village site is a sort of natural grotto in the solid rock, covered with 

 rude paintings of a very interesting character, which probably record the 

 more important events in the lives of the villagers. 



"Within the confines of the old town are two large boulders of sand- 

 stone, into which conical excavations have been made, and used as mortars 

 for triturating grain, acorns, etc.; also cup-shaped depressions, the purpose 

 of which is not clear to my mind. The largest of these boulders (Fig. 45) 

 is twenty-five feet in length, by about ten feet in width, and shows twenty- 

 five excavations, measuring from six to twenty-six inches in diameter at the 

 top, and from five to sixteen inches in depth. The average width of these 

 luortar- cavities is a little over thirteen inches, and the depth something more 

 than eleven inches. The smallest is six inches in diameter and five inches 

 deep, while the largest is twenty-six inches in diameter and sixteen inches 

 in depth. In one instance a wide groove is cut between two of these exca- 

 vations, one being probably used for pulverizing the grain, and the other 

 as a receptacle for the meal. In another instance two of the cavities are 



