20 INTEODUCTIOK 



nation seems to have been a barrier to the southern descent of the Shoshone 

 tribes. 



In the same region where have met Shoshone, Yuma, and Athapascan 

 nations, the greatest development of the North American Mongoloids, next 

 to that of Anahuac, has taken place, and here are found the ruined dwell- 

 ings of an ancient people, and their probable descendants the Pueblo 

 tribes. 



Mr. Bancroft* gives a general account of the Indians of Southern 

 California which agrees in all essential particulars with the statements made 

 by the several authors I have had the opportunity to consult, and will be 

 freely used in the following brief notice of the people. It will be observed 

 that very many of the statements made in the following resume' are fully 

 sustained by the evidence furnished by the objects which have been found 

 in the graves and about the sites of the villages of the several tribes, as 

 described and figured in the following chapters. 



Mr. Bancroft writes : "As we approach the southern boundary of Cali- 

 fornia [from the central portion of the State] a slight improvement is 

 manifest in the Aborigines. The men are here well made, of a stature quite 

 up to the average,f comparatively fair complexioned, and pleasant features 

 * * * The beard is plucked out with bivalve shells, which answer the 

 purpose of pincers." 



While often going naked they were also found, by the early voyagers, 

 to wear skirts and capes made of skins. The variation in this respect noted 

 by several writers is probably accounted for by the different customs of 

 the many distinct tribes that formerly existed on the coast, and by the 

 difference in the time of year in which the observations were made. It is 

 evident from the fragments of fur garments which have been found in the 

 graves, particularly at Dos Pueblos, that the people of the vicinity of Santa 

 Barbara made use of garments, though very likely they were discarded or 



* Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. i, pp. 402, 422. 



t This statement is shown to he correct hy the numerous skeletons and portions of skeletons 

 ■which have heen ohtained. 



As already noted, Mr. Powers' volume on the "Trihes of California" has appeared since these 

 pages were written, and though Mr. Bancroft had the use of certainly a large part of Mr. Powers' 

 manuscript, the volume should he read as the most valuahle work on the present Indians of the State 

 of California. 



