22 INTRODUCTION. 



are placed behind his back, conveying the idea of a prisoner securely bound; 

 and as, I believe, the Aleuts do not wear their hair in a queue, it would 

 seem as if they had at some time taken prisoner either a queue-wearing 

 Asiatic or a Californian. 



Tattooing was, according to Father Boscana, a custom of some of the 

 tribes of Southern California, the girls being tattooed in infancy.* 



In common with savages in other parts of the world, the Californians 

 were fond of ornamenting themselves with paint of various colors. As is 

 the case the world over, red ochre, or hematite, was most used for the 

 purpose, and considerable masses of it have been found in the graves. 

 Wad, or hydrous oxide of manganese (bog manganese), was also used as a 

 paint and has been found in the graves, generally in receptacles, such as 

 shells and small vessels made of stone. A mixture of wad and a specular 

 variety of hematite, evidently prepared for use by the addition of a small 

 quantity of clay, has been found in masses cut into various shapes. ■ Similar 

 carved masses of prepared hematite, without the admixture of wad, have 

 also been found. Besides these there is often found a black pitchy mixture 

 which was probably used as a paint. Mr. Bancroft, when writing of the 

 Central Californians,! states that the tribes of that part of the State were 

 more lavish in the use of pigments than those of the southern portion, and 

 particularly mentions that cinnabar was used, and that "the New Almaden 

 cinnabar mine was a source of contention between adjacent tribes." I have, 

 however, not yet detected cinnabar among the substances which came from 

 the graves in Southern California, and Dr. Yarrow informs me that it can 

 hardly be supposed that cinnabar, or sulplmret of mercury, was used to 

 any extent as a pigment, for its constant employment would assuredhy pro- 

 duce constitutional derangements of a serious nature. 



The accounts we have of the various articles in common use among 

 the Californians as domestic utensils, weapons, etc., agree with those found 



*Mr. Powers, in his "Tribes of California," gives several illustrations of the various patterns of 

 tattooing adopted by numerous tribes. The custom is apparently confined to females, and is thought to 

 be principally for the purpose of tribal identification. It may be noted in this connection that the coast 

 Peruvians also tattooed, as is shown by an arm, from the ancient cemetery at Aneon, now in the Peabody 

 Museum. 



t Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, i, p. 370. 



