FEOM THE SANTA BARBARA ISLANDS. 279 



lible so far as it goes — enables us to reproduce truly the phase of civiliza- 

 tion to which these people had attained, it does not aid us, except per- 

 haps in a negative way, in forming a correct opinion as to the precise 

 period of time at which they lived and flourished. Indeed, so far as the 

 evidence of the graves is concerned, there is no reason for assigning a very 

 great antiquity to any of these remains. 



Among the crania themselves there is, of course, nothing to indicate 

 that they represent different phases of civilization ; and the implements and 

 ornaments of native manufacture, found buried with glass beads, brass rings, 

 cannon-balls, and other articles of European origin, do not differ, either 

 in degree or kind, from those taken from graves in which there is no such 

 evidence of intercourse with the whites. As the one class of interments 

 undoubtedly belongs to the people inhabiting these islands subsequent to 

 the Spanish conquest, there can certainly be no good reason why the other 

 should not be assigned to the same people, though, of course, it is possible, 

 and even probable, that, taken together, they cover a period of time of 

 long duration. Indeed there can be but little doubt of this, in view of the 

 decayed condition of many of the skulls — so much so that their removal 

 was impossible — and of the fact that the articles of European workman- 

 ship were found in graves of a compai*atively late date. How long these 

 people were in possession of these islands before the coming of the 

 Spaniards, we can never know ; but we do know that, be that period 

 long or short, so far as the testimony of the graves is concerned, there 

 was, from first to last, no advance in any of the arts by which we are 

 wont to estimate the progress of a people in civilization. Bearing these 

 facts in mind, we shall be better prepared to examine some of the points 

 in which these crania are found to agree or disagree among themselves and 

 with those from the mainland, and thus, perhaps, to arrive at a more cor- 

 rect understanding of the ethnology of this section of the Pacific coast. 



Assuming, for the present, unity of race in the people formerly inhabit- 

 ing these islands, and dividing the skulls according to the features that dis- 

 tinguish the sexes, it will be seen that there are one hundred and seventy- 

 eight that are probably those of adult males and one hundred and thirty- 

 seven of adult females. The average capacity of the former is l,372 cc , and 



