1877. ] Notes on the Aboriginal Money of California. 31 
three and a half or four feet long, e, the ends of which are fast- 
ened to the ends of a cross-bar, d, about eight inches long, in the 
centre of which is a hole through which the shaft plays easily. 
A circular wooden disk, e, serving as a fly-wheel, is fastened on 
the shaft about four inches from its lower end. 
In using the drill, which is inserted in the lower 
end of the shaft, f, the loose cross-bar (to the ends 
of which the buckskin string is fastened) is twisted 
around the shaft a few times, the drill placed in 
position, the fingers of the right hand resting on 
the loose cross-bar, d, and on both sides of the shaft, 
a, when, by a quick downward pressure on the cross- 
bar the shaft is made to revolve, and receive suffi- 
cient impetus to wntwist the string from the shaft, 
and twist it around in the opposite direction, rotat- 
ing the drill to the right and left, the holes being 
drilled from both sides. 
The shell of the “ abelone ” (Haliotis) is formed 
into pieces resembling “ key-stones ” (Figure 2, C) (#19-3.) DRILL. 
and circular disks, plain as in Figure 2, D and ornamented as in 
Figure 2, E ; these appear to be used also as ornaments for bask- 
ets, and worn on head-dresses, necklaces, ete. 
The shell of Olivella biplicata Sby. is also (or was) used as 
money, the writer having found them occasionally in the 
“mounds ” of Contra Costa and Alameda counties, mixed with 
the small flat disks described above. 
They were made, first by rubbing the apex of the shell ona 
stone until a hole is made large enough to receive a string which 
is passed through the shell parallel with its axis (Figure 2, F) ; or 
by breaking the shell and using the pieces of the larger whorl, 
in the same manner as the disks made from the Saxidomus. 
(Figure 2, G.) 
The “ Gold Coin” of the aborigines is a long bead made of a 
peculiar kind of rock, the locality of which is kept secret by the © 
Indians ; it appears to be a magnesian silicate, beautifully banded 
or mottled; the colors being white, brown, and yellowish, the 
former color predominating. The writer having been unable to 
obtain even a fragment in its natural state, all the specimens 
seen having been subjected to the action of fire, either before be- 
ing worked out, or previous to being polished, does not feel satis- 
fied as to its mineral character. The money made from this ma- 
terial is of a cylindrical form (Figure 2, H), about three fourths - 
