asphaltum aided him to a marvelous de.m'ec in his aesthetic ad- 

 vancement. His albatross-hone Hute, his ])elican-l)one whistle 

 had certain tonal qualities due entirely to the length and thick- 

 ness of the l^one employed. With the aid of asphaltum, how- 

 ever, remarkable changes took place in the manufacture of these 

 instruments. Many of the flutes and whistles had the size of 

 the air passages reduced within the bone by the introduction of 

 layers of asphaltum of varying" thickness. This modification 

 gave an individual tonality to most of the instruments ; ; orches- 

 tral effects were rendered possible, and not improbable. Favor- 

 ite instruments were covered on the exterior with bitumen upon 

 which choice bits of abalone shell were inlaid in geometric pat- 

 terns. 



Stone pipes and vessels were often incised, the spaces filled 

 with asphaltum, and elaborate designs wrought upon them in 

 sections of bird-bone inset. 



Having thus" reached what must be considered a high nat- 

 ural and independent development, neolithic man first came in 

 contact with the white man. From him he learned much, but 

 forgot, also, most of his own customs and industries. He no 

 longer buried his people as his forefathers had, yet he retained 

 his appreciation of asphaltum — the precious material of his 

 ancestors — and payed the caskets of his Christianized people 

 with it, as a last reminder of his original culture. 



Nehemiah, when he poured the thick water on the sacrifice 

 "a great fire kindled," but long before that marvelous occur- 

 rence which must have inspired its beholders with fearsome 

 awe, bitumen had already played an important part in the 

 world's civilization. According to the accounts of Herodotus 

 it cemented together the walls of Babylon. 



In the Book of Genesis are found two notable references 

 to the use of slime — ("slime" was bitumen in the Vulgate) — : 

 "Slime had they for mortar" in the construction of the Tower 

 of Babel; and we are told (Genesis XIV, 10) that the vale of 

 Siddim "was full of slime pits." In Job we find that "the rock 

 poured me rivers of oil." 



Diodorus records that the bitumen of Lacus Asphaltites 

 (Dead Sea) was collected by the inhabitants and sold to the 

 Egyptians for the purpose of embalming the dead. In China 

 and Persia traditions exist concerning the religious and eco- 

 nomic use of bitumen, as do they also in Mexico and South 

 America. 



And here on the California shores we discover new confir- 

 mation of the universal brotherhood of man in his practical 

 application of occasional material. It substantiates the claim 

 that handicraft has from the infancy of the race, determined, in 

 no small degree, the advance of the genus homo on the long 

 and wearisome path of cultural progress. 



44 



