24 I- Gustav Eisen : 



are fifty two recognized linguistic families between Mexico and Canada, 

 this will seem the more puzzling and remarkable. Professor Kroeber 

 who has more than any one eise investigated the Indián languages 

 of California accepts fully the arrangement of Major Powell, also 

 making the California languages 22 in all. From his map of these 

 languages we learn that the one spoken by the Indians on the main- 

 land of Santa Barbara was called „Churaash". It was natural to 

 suppose that the language of the island Indians was related to this 

 one. According to a note found in the County History of Santa Bar- 

 bara and Ventura Counties published in 1886, i learn tbat according 

 to Cassac each one of the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel pos- 

 sessed its distinct dialect or language. To what ex'ent this is true 

 I know not as I have not been able to as certain who Cassac was, 

 nor learned any thing about any writings of his. In submitting to 

 Dr. Kroeber the four words left from the language of the last inha- 

 bitant on San Nicolas Island, 1 received from him the following 

 answer. „The Indians of the three north ern of the Santa Barbara 

 Islands are known to have belonged to the same group as the inhab- 

 itants on the main land of Santa Barbara County — the Chumash. 

 As to the three southern Islands nothing definite appears to be really 

 known. Powell says that they presuinably belonged to the same fam 

 ily as the inhabitants of the three northern islands. I have done 

 what I could to compare the four words you sent me. The two for 

 animal hide and body, I have not been able to do anything with, 

 as most of the extant Indián vocabularies do not give the correspond- 

 ing terms. The word for body seems to have a Chumash form, but 

 it may have been mutilated etc, and I attach little weight to it. The 

 two words for man and sky look very much as dialectically differen 

 tiated and perhaps mutilated forms of Shoshonean words. — — The 

 Shoshonean affinity can not be regarded as conclusively proved, but the 

 indications seems certainly to point that way for San Nicolas Island.* 

 Considering these uncertainties a comparison of the bones and 

 other remains of the Indians of the various islands will prove of 

 much interest. 



Summary of our Knowledge of the Island Indians. 



The Indians of the Santa Barbara Islands belonged to at least 

 two distinct linguistic families as far as we know, but it is much more 



