28 Bulletin Santa Barbara Society of Natural History. Vol. I. 



figured in Vol. vn, Wheeler's Report, on page 215, 

 the uses of which have been heretofore unknown, was 

 used in the following manner: 



Twenty of them were arranged in a square, five 

 on each side; in the center was a bowl of water, be- 

 side which stood the medicine-man, with a long stone 

 pipe shaped like a cigar, in which a herb, called 

 pispivate by the Mexicans, resembling southern wood, 

 was smoked. The smoke was first directed toward 

 the bowl of water, then toward the stones. The peo- 

 ple came and moistened their faces with the water in 

 the bowl, which had been made holy by the previous 

 ceremonies. This ceremony brought rain, caused 

 death to enemies, and various other thing's. 



In conclusion, the evidence which I have obtained 

 directly from the aborigines, the localities in which the 

 implements have been found, the materials of which 

 they are composed, the care and labor necessary in 

 their manufacture, the evident superstitious ideas con- 

 nected with them, and the ignorance of their uses 

 (pretended or real,) favor the conclusion that these im- 

 plements were objects highly prized and religiously 

 venerated. Had they been intended to be used for 

 any ordinary purpose or purposes as assigned to them, 

 the Indians would not have been in ignorance of it, 

 nor would thev have hesitated to give information con- 

 cerning them. 



Note. — The writer has recently obtained a specimen 

 similar to Fig. 30, except that in the side which is flat in 

 the form represented, it is scooped out causing it to re- 

 semble a canoe; it was found in Merced County, Cali- 

 fornia, and is a very interesting addition to the series. 



Other interesting additions are : Two specimens 

 shaped like Fig. 17, which were found, with four oth- 

 ers of the same shape, on the beach at Santa Barbara, 

 in excavating where some human bones had been ex- 

 posed by the action of the surl. They are made of a 

 clear and almost transparent calcite, but had been bu- 

 ried so long that the surface is altered to chalk. 



Santa Barbara, Cal., Aug. 1st, 1890. 



