ORNAMENTS. 



Undee this heading I have brought together, for brief description, a 

 large and varied collection of articles obtained from the graves on the 

 coast and islands of Southern California, nearly all the forms of which 

 were found by the officers of the Survey during the excavations at Dos 

 Pueblos and La Patera, and are represented on Plates XII, XIII. In fact 

 nearly every large collection which has been made on the coast and islands 

 since Dr. Yarrow's party first explored the region about Santa Barbara, so 

 far as I am aware, shows that the forms of the articles and the materials 

 used for their production are, with slight variations here and there, the 

 same throughout the region designated. Particularly is this the case 

 with the objects made of shell, of which material the Californians have 

 been lovers from the time of the burial of the "Calaveras skull" (in which 

 was found a shell bead identical with those found at Dos Pueblos) to 

 a few years ago, when a horse could be had in exchange for a single 

 shell of Haliotis rufescens. It is well known that since the settlement of 

 the State some shells, particularly Dentalium, in their natural condition, 

 and others which were cut and ground into various shapes, had, like the 

 " wampum " of the early days in New England, a well-understood standard 

 of value in all transactions of trade with the Indians. 



While from the shells of mollusks, as here intimated, ornaments of 

 various kinds were made in great number by the California Indians of 

 former time, other materials were also used to a considerable extent for the 

 same purpose, particularly stone, from which were made beads, pendants, 

 and other articles for personal ornament; and even asphaltum, so often men- 

 tioned in the preceding pages in connection with its varied application, was 

 also employed for ornamental purposes. The claws and teeth of animals, 

 and objects made of bone, were also choice possessions and articles for per- 

 sonal adornment. In addition to these were the little trinkets, of which 



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