26 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Prehistoric California.* 
BY DR. LORENZO GORDEN YATES. 
The ‘‘Abalone’’ (Haliotis), was more generally used by the 
aborigines of Southern California, doubtless on account of the 
exquisite beauty of its irridescent colors and the abundance 
of the shell. Upon this they exercised their ingenuity and 
artistic taste, by working up the fragments into beads and 
ornaments of almost endless variety, of forms; in circles, trian- 
gles, right-angle triangles, squares, rhombs, ovals, spheres, 
crosses, keystones and all sorts of combinations, some of them 
with one drill-hole, and some with several; and, also, making 
use of the natural openings of the shell. 
In addition to the natural beauty of these ornaments the 
edges were often finely notched, or adorned with incised lines 
of the “‘herring-bone’’ and other patterns, as shown in Figs. 
45 to 54, ete., (Plate 5.) They also used the pearls found in 
the Halotis and other shells, by drilling through their long 
diameter; and, in absence of the natural pearls, they formed 
artificial ones from the thick portions or from abnormal 
erowths. These they drilled in the same manner as in Figs. 
15, 16, 17, (Plate 2.) ete., and ornamented them also. Fig. 47 
illustrates what appears to be an abnormal growth, almost 
like a natural pearl, with a hole drilled in the smaller end. 
In addition to the numerous species of shells used for money 
and ornaments, various minerals were evidently highly es- 
teemed for those purposes. Transparent crystals of quartz 
from one to three inches in length and from one-half to three- 
quarters of an inch in diameter have been found in ancient 
graves. One end of these crystals shows the natural termina- 
tion; at the other end a mass of asphaltum has been attached, 
forming a rounded terminus, in which a loop of string has 
been imbedded to facilitate suspension. 
Large numbers of cylindrical, spherical, ovoid, disk-shaped, 
hexagonal, and double-conical beads have been found, gen- 
erally drilled through their long axis; they are mostly made 
of serpentine, steatite, or slate. 
The Indians of Lake and Napa counties make beads from a 
peculiar rock, the locality of which they keep secret. This 
rock resembles in some respects the celebrated catlinite, or 
‘*Pipe-stone.’’ of Minnesota, which was valued by the Indians, 
bulk for bulk, in silver. This Californian mineral is said to 
be easily worked when first quarried and made into beads, 
one of which is represented by Fig. 78 (Plate 7.) The beads 
*Continued from Page 16, Vol. IV, No. 1, January, 1905. 
