The herald., 1893-11-15
THEN THERE WERE INDIANS,
DR.. +. M. Palmer's Remarkable
Collection of Relics,
Showing the Life and Habits of
Southern California Natives.
Thousands of Articles OF Stone, Boae
and sheils-The Result OF 15
Years Research-The
Collection.

city the completest collection OF Indian
relics. pertaining to the Indians ol
Southern California.
Yet such is the fact, and DR.. F. NJ,
Palmer, the collector and owner, yester-
day exhibited his treasures to Mr..
Joseph Medill, editor and proprietor oi
the Chicago Tribune, II. o. Collins, Esq,
and HERALD reporter.
For l5 years past DIR. Palmer has been
engaged upon bis labor of love, and al
though his collections have been drawn
on twice for eastern museums, yet the
cream of them all he has kept, and the
remarkable display was described by
him with pardonable pride in it's ethno-
logical Importance and completeness.
The articles were arranged systemat-
ically on tables in his cosy cottage at tho
corner of Toberman and Seventeenth
streets, and number several thousand.
The most remarkable feature OF the
exhibit is the preservation of the arti-
cles. All broken and marred specimens
he was enabled to reject, owing to the
abundance of the supply, go that the
entire list is composed of specimens
without blemish.
The articles have most of them been
found by DIR. Palmer himself in his re-
searches and came from the counties of
Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Ventura,
Santa Barbara and San Bernsrdino, and
the channel islands of Catalina, San
Clemente, San Nicolas, San Miguel,
Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz.
They comprise vessels of stone for
grinding corn and stone implements of
L. l,l. Ill
implements for fishing and hunting,
arrow heads, spear heads, and curious
articles of stone, the use of which can
only be conjsctured.
The islands appear to have been the
most prolific field OF search, and one
marked characteristic of the articles 10
the ingenuity and taste which the tribe
of Southern California Indians dis.
played.
From them and what is known OF the
Indisns very complete idea has been
formed by DR.. Palmer of the civilza-
tion and habits of the Indians before
the advent of the Spaniards and their
decadence and final disappearance.
In those days the Indians were very
numerous in Southern California, and
had many villages on the islands and
the mainland.
They appear to have been one tribe,
and so powerful that the valleys between
the ocean and the mountains were held
by them as a hunting ground. They
could keep back the encroachments of
other Indlane, and they rarely molested
them, remaining in the desert or up in
the mountains.
The great majority of the Indians
| lived along the coast and on the islands,
where subsistence was easiest.
The evidences of their presence has
been found most frequently on the coast
between Santa Monica and Ksdondo by
! DR.. Palmer, although he says they were
all along the coast. Hequoted from the
hardy sailor, Cabrillo, who upon his
first voyage along the southern coast
speaks of seeing either signal or village
fires dotting the whole coast, and be-
traying large population.
DIR. Palmer never found the remains
of a village of any size more than two
miles from the coast. The relics of the
vanished tribes show that the coast In
dians were much superior to the noun
tain Indians, and there is no comparison
at all in their work.
But the most powerful subdivision OF
all appears to have been on Catalina
island.
They discovered soapstone there in
what ia now known as Potts valley, in
the central part of the island. They
manufactured articles and vessels of all
descriptions, and appear to have solo
and traded in them extensively, ae ar
ticles from the island have been found
far away from it. at the quarries can
still be found the holes from which pot
forms were taken, and pot sherds, or
| failures, which had been thrown aside.
Their workmanship was very good,
and some of the articles thus manufac-
tured and now in DR.. Palmer's posses
sion are beautiful specimens OF what
could be done by these patient stone
working aborigines.
The value of this collection ie more
easily realized when it is stated that the
sites of all the villages and burial
grounds of the Indians have been thor
oughlv explored and all the emains of
the departed race have been removed to
various museums in the east and to DR..
Palmer's collection.
Nearly all this articles were found
within Eve feet of the surface, although
some were much deeper.
In all his digging DR.. Palmer never
found but one article showing any pro-
fciency in pictorial art, and that was
little engraved etone tablet on Catalina
island. There were several figures on it,
and it was evidently symbolical of some
Indian superstition relative to the Great
Spirit. A number of articles in the col
lection were decorated by rude diagrams
and lines, but this was the only effort
at pictorial art which has ever been
found.
Stone axes were not made by the
Southern California Indians, but one
beautiful specimen obtained by the doc
tor in San Bernardino county is in his
collection.
The pots and various articles show a
very large use of asphaltum by the Indi-
ans. They learned to use it in many
ways, using it as kind of cement, and
some of the stone implements chow that
they had been used as tinsmith uses
soldering iron, to join articles together.
That this was frequently done in attach
ing woven baskets on top of pots and
vessels of stone is shown in the collec-
tion by pot and woven top found in
use among the Indians at San Jacinto.
In the collection are number of stone
vessels OF all descriptions, displaying
fine work, cut out OF sandstone and
made out of soapstone. and lying near
by O most unique collection OF tools for
doing this kind of work. These tools are
fascinating iu their way, and one ie lost
in astonisnment at the polish and finish