The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-28
MEMENTOES OF AN EXTINCT RACE
In THE PACIFIC
OCEAN. ~s
DESERTED CHANNEL ISLANDS.
THOROUGHLY EXPLORED AT LAST
BY PROF. CHARLES FRED
HOLDEN.
Remains That Tell of an Interestino
Tribe of Quite Aesthetic
Tastes.

The deserted Channel islands Of the
Pacific, which lie some twenty miles off
the southern coast of California. have
at last undergone a thorough explora.
ton by Prof. Charles Frederick Holden
with the result that much Of absorbing
interest regarding the extinct inhab-
itants of these lovely isles has been
dicovered. He visited San Nicolas
Santa Catalina and San Clemente and
made many excavations and many rich
finds
Giants once lived in the exquisitely
lovely Channel islands, for many skel-
etons have been found there more than
seven feet high. Tradition has it that
the warlike tribes Of the Aleutian ISL
ands came down in boats more than a
century ago and practically extermi-
mated the Channel islanders. Certain
1t is that most of the unhappy wretches
met death by violence, for nearly all
the skulls discovered are crushed by
blows from blunt instruments. The
club is the weapon Of the Aleutian
savage, and this seems to fit the tradi-
| ton.
| A few escaped, and up to about sixty
years ago the remnants Of the tribe
were still living on San Nicolas. In
1885 the Franciscans Of the Santa Bar
bara mission, Tearing that there were
| hut sixteen Of the strange Indian race
then living, determined to rescue them.
They went over in a sloop and sue
| ceeded in getting all on board.
AT the last moment an Indian woman
returned for her child, and, one Of the
frequent storms Of the Channel islands
springing up, the sIoop was driven
away. It went on the rocks Of Point
Conception and all on board were lost.
So only this woman was left, and she
was soon forgotten.
In 1851, however, Capt. George Nide-
yer visited the island to hunt sea otter,
and was amazed to find human foot
prints in the sand. Two years later he
returned to investigate the matter, and
succeeded in capturing the remaining
Indian, now an old woman.
She was dressed in birdskins, and
was engaged in scraping blubber from
a seal. They took her to Santa Bar
bara, where she lived for several years,
| and was known far and wide as "the
lone woman of San Nicolas" But she
never learned enough English to be
able to tell anything of the life and the
tradition of her strange race.
Prof. Holden in his exploration Just
concluded found many large mounds
in San Nicolas, one 300 feet long by so
wide, composed of abalone shells, which
were brought from the sea two miles
distant, thus showing evidence of a
large population.
TELLTALE DISCOVERIES.
He found objects of stone, bone and
| shell piled in heaps. There were pen
| dants, rings beads and curious objects
In pearl among them, proving that the
! extinct people loved ornamentation.
| That they played games was shown
| by the finding of perforated. and oval
| stones, and many small and peculiarly
! shaped Instruments Some of the NOR
tars picked up were very high and mar
row, others so heavy there was great
| difficulty In rolling them down to the
ship. One showed evidence Of orna-
| mentatiOn with abalone.
SCulptured forms of miniature sea
! lions and whales carved from serpen-
tine prove a love Of art in the aborigi-
mes. According to Prof Holden the
islanders depended for food on aba
|
quently they belonged to an advanced
| period of the stone age
San Clemente, twenty miles long and
three wide, Prof. Holden found. con-
tanned much evidence of ancient hab-
itation. Possibly 300 years ago it had
large population. One square mile
OF Its area was covered with skeletons.
shells and ancient implements and
mortars, some ones Weighing ion
| pounds. Santa Catalina is a high
mountain ridge, the only landing places
being the mouths of canyons.
Up the canyons Prof. Holden located
fifty sites which had been occupied bv
aborigines. Under a small sumner
resort hotel recently built there he
found implements of all kinds. On San
Clemente numerous bone implements
were unearthed, among them needles
and avis for punching shells. Several
mortars found there on San CantaIina
people, for they are highly decorated
with mosaic Of abalone A sword han
die was decorated with a plate made
Of abalone.
Prof Holden declares that the is
lands were inhabited for many centu-
res, Tor ne found heaps of abalone
| shells on the seashore, covered with
twenty feet of a deposit, which he cal
culates required centuries for its for
nation.
The islands have been a mine az
archaeologic treasure ever since 1879
when the first systematic exploration
was made by Mr.W. G.. w. Hartford
OF the United States coast survey. who
subsequently exhibited his small but
valuable collection to admiring scien
t1fic friends in the East. DR. w "A
Dan, Of the National Museum. paid q
| visit to the islands in the folIowin o
! year, and also secured some wonder
Iully interesting specimens of nrimi-
tive art. In 1875 the Smithsonian in
stltute sent out a party of scientific
men, with Mr.. Paul Schumacher in
charge, and these gentlemen in their
explorations discovered several very
remarkable and extensive burial
grounds, as we'll as large ancient vii
Iage sites, buried deep under the cast
away shells Of edible mollusks.
TELLS OF A DEAD PAST
| From the grave yards were unearthed
large number of skeletons, each SIR
| rounded by marvellous examples of the
| products and handiwork of the long
| past dead.
The graves, as described by these in
| Vestlgators and others, make an inter
| estlnS story of themselves. The skele-
| tons lay crowded together in every
| conceivable position, sometimes suner-
imposed three or four. deep, those be-
low forgotten and unmarked, ruthless
| ~ disturbed to make room for the last
| lnterment. Some Of the graves had
rude boxes constructed of the huge fiat
bones Of the whales, in which the dead
| were deposited. The early sea captains
| related grewsome tales of the islands
Where, within the yawning skeletons OF
whales, lay the grinning and bleached
| bones of men exDosed to viaxu b1y ar