hslicniK'H and n.'uii^aturs used clunis\' rafts made of nislies, and 

 rudinu'ntarx lioats. The numerous sea-faring canoes reported 

 by X'enegas and other early Spanish historians as dotting the 

 Pacific Ocean near the Islands, indicate that by slow degrees 

 the making of boats of wood had by that time developed to a 

 remarkable stage on the Southern shores of California. 



Stout canoes, quite sea-worthy, and capable of withstand- 

 ing the buffeting of the northwest gales, were necessary to trans- 

 port persons across fifty miles of open seas. The primitive 

 emigrant entrusted the precious burden of his family and his 

 belongings to a well-calked craft ; a canoe, paved over with 

 bitumen as a waterproof covering, became his means of naviga- 

 tion. This construction, suggested by the early historians, is 

 confirmed by miniature steatite models found, and by informa- 

 tion secured from the few surviving descendants of the native 

 cribes still living in Southern California. 



This precious cement, impervious to moisture, aboriginal 

 artificers found most useful, too, in mending the steatite utensils 

 that became cracked, thus transforming them into admirable 

 storage vessels. 



New implements of warfare, hitherto unknown, the native 

 made with the aid of asphaltum. By using the rib of a whale as 

 a shaft rolling one end about in bitumen until a heavy mass of 

 the substance was formed, he had an effective weapon, a new 

 kind of war club, of unusual manufacture. Applied as a handle 

 to the primitive knife or saw, asphaltum made the implement 

 much more convenient and practical. Later when the islander 

 had perfected his stone knife, and learned to fit it with a wooden 

 handle, he found that bitumen made an excellent adhesive be- 

 tween wood and his flint or obsidian blades. Arrow and spear 

 points were affixed to their shafts with the same material. 



By the time this was accomplished, after generations of 

 slow progression, he dared to. make a boat of wood large 

 enough to accommodate many men, and in it set forth to explore 

 the seas far from his accustomed fishing grounds. With infinite 

 care and patience he felled trees, laboriously split them, and 

 roughly hewed them into planks, which he with difficulty trans- 

 ported to the shore. There he surfaced and smoothed them, 

 fitted them together — binding them with thongs, — and water- 

 proofed his craft by the application of liquid asphaltum. This 

 curious method of construction is well established by specimens 

 from San Clemente and San Nicolas Islands and Redondo 

 Beach. The surfacing process, as practiced by the natives be- 

 fore the Spaniards came, was most unique and interesting. Ac- 

 cording to one of the oldest survivors of the Gabrielinos (prob- 

 ably the last one) who was personally interviewed by the 

 writer, a rope of hide — made of the skins of sea lions, which 



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