

g T ^ r * 1 ^ 



mm* 



280 



THE AUEIFEEOUS GEAVELS OF THE SIEREA NEVADA. 



of the nature of the objects which have been discovered. It shows, as the 

 writer thinks, very decidedly that no portion of the evidence has been gotten 

 up to deceive. Persons anxious to impose on the u unsuspecting geologist " 

 would have been likely, in some cases at least, to endeavor to palm off' on 

 him some specimen of writing in an unknown tongue, some article of fin- 

 ished workmanship, or perhaps an imitation of some portion of the human 

 figure ; or possibly even something as preposterous as the " Cardiff giant " 

 in its make and style. 



One reason why this has not been done, perhaps, is that the miners, as a 

 general rule, have very little appreciation of the great geological age of the 

 formations in which they are working. They see that the " high gravels " 

 look very much like those often occurring in the present river beds, and 



■ 



they do not ordinarily take into consideration the immense amount of erosion 

 and denudation which the region must have undergone since these gravels 

 were deposited. This inclination to see in all the objects found in excavat- 

 ing in the older detrital formations a resemblance, or identity even, with 

 species now existing in the region is well illustrated by the fact that the 

 miners almost invariably declare the impressions of leaves and the fragments 

 of wood occurring in the gravel to belong to trees and shrubs exactly like 

 those now growing in the Sierra. Yet the reader will have seen, from what 



* 



has been published in the preceding pages, how different most of these are. 



Another consideration may be introduced. Some persons are inclined to 

 think that the implements found in the gravels are simply works of the 

 present Indians, which, lying scattered over the surface, have been washed or 

 carried down into the gravels, through fissures or in slides, or in some other 



ft* 



not exactly defined manner. Some would suppose that these things might 

 have been intentionally buried, either in funeral ceremonies or for conceal- 

 ment. Had this been the case, it would have been expected that finds 

 similar to those announced as of such frequent occurrence in the mining 



i 



— occasionally, at least — in the Coast 



region would have turned up 



Ranges. No instance of this, however, so far as known to the writer, has 

 ever been heard of. The soil and detritus of the region about the Bay of 

 San Francisco have been excavated for all sorts of purposes, and in a great 

 many localities bones and teeth of extinct animals have been found in abun- 

 dance. Never, so far as known, have any human bones or works of human 

 hands been met with in connection with these remains, while they are com- 

 mon enough on the surface. This non-occurrence of proof of the existence 



i 





