The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-30


riguez Cabrilo the Portuguese naviga-
tor, sailed up the coast of California in
1912, he stopped for a day or two at each
of the Channel Islands, and his records
bear testimony that on the islands of San
Ia Barbara, California, San Clemente and
San Nicolas there was a vigorous and
lusty race of natives, who thronged the
shores Of the little bays and headiands,"
and gazed in wonder at the white-sailed
ship of the navigators.e To-day the islands
stand as they did more than $50 years ago,
but the natives are only a memory, repre-
scented by immense quantities of stone i'm
PIGMENTS, barrels OF line Wampum and lit
orally cart loads of human bones.
San Nicolas Island, which lies eighty
miles off the little city of San Buenaven-
tura recently called by the modern and
easier name of Ventura, is the most in
teresting of all the Channel islands from
many points of view. As far back as the
memory of any person in Southern Calfor-
MIA runs, hundreds Of white skeeto
have dotted the valleys and hillsides.
Strange utensils Of serpentine sandstone,
and steatite are found there among the
human bones, and the island and its in
habitants have a history SO curious that
it is difficult of comprehension.
In 1885 the franciscan padres in the
Santa Barbara mission, learning that
there were but sixteen of the strange In
dian race then living, determined to rescue
them from the island. They went over
in a sloop and succeeded as they thought
in getting all on board. At the last mo-
ment an Indian woman returned for her
child, anc one of the frequent storms of
the Channel Islands springing up, the
sloop was driven away. The sloop went
on the rocks of Point Conception, and all
on board were lost.
Sixteen years later Capt. George Md
ever and two men went from the coast
n cir tO h1fpf off off
las On landing they, like Robinson Cru
soc, were astonished to discover human
footprints in the sand. They saw no one,
however, and a storm compelled them to
put to sea. 1t was two years later that
the captain revolving in his mind the
sight of the footprints, determined to go
and discover and bring over the lonely
woman of whom he had vaguely heard.
Men accompanied him, and at length they
saw on the surf-beaten shore a woman
with long tawny hair dressed in queer
garb of colored bird-skins, and scraplng
with bone knife the blubber from seal
They surrounded and approached her
stealthily. Although suddenly confronted,
she did not appear to be in the least
afraid, but smiled, and then, falling on
her knees, prayed to the sun. She Of
fered no objection when, by signs, she
was made to understand that she was to
go with them in the boat
4Hcy IGdCuGu santa DdIbdId dCIOoS NilS
rough sea, and the first thing the Indian
woman saw was DR.. S. L. Shaw, who is
still living at the age of so years, riding
a horse. She had never seen a spectacle
like it, and thought the man and horse
were one, and she knelt on the shore and
offered her devotions to it. Two weeks
afterward the last inhabitant of rock
ribbed tempest-beaten San Nicolas died
from eating food to which she was I'M
accustomed, and the curtain fell on her
race forever. In speaking of that death at
meeting of the Southern California Med
ical Society, the other day, DR.. Walter
Lindley said that If the woman could have
been spared for a few years, a story of
one of the strangest races that ever lived
in the southwest and had had no con-
tamination from the whites might have
been learned. The woman, known as the
Lone Woman of San Nicolas" has been
the subject of a score of romances and
poems and food for lot of philosophy of
the coast.
San Nicolas is ten miles long and four
miles across at the widest point Its top
orsaphy shows a nearly level plateau.
with an elevation of from 800 to 1000 feet
Two-thirds of the surface is covered with
drifting sand, and the remainder grows
species of nutritious grass and moss. on
which 1000 sheep find pasture. Several
springs have been discovered, but the wa
ter is slightly brackish. OF late years the
island is rarely visited except by sheen
shearers and shell gatherers, who make
annual trips in schooners, fishing smack5
or Chinese junks. The only safe landing
ground is at Coral Harzor, a pretty cove
FORMED by two sandstone arms thrust out
from the main barrier of the shore. The
entrance is only six or seven Yards across
and the water within is placid as a lake
and sufficiently deep to float a vessel of
twenty tons burden. On the bleak sill
very strip of beach immense white peli-
cans are to be seen at almost any sea-
son of the year, promenading with a state
~ dignity On the approach of the dingy
they spread their heavy pointed wings
and vanish over the rocks. Further IIp
the slope of the beach there is A dilan nj
uated snearing shed and a weather-worn
shanty belonging to Chinese shell gather
ers' who haunt these cliffs during the late
summer and fall.
Nothing more desolate than the general
appearance of the island can be ingained
AS far as the eye can trace there are bar
rem levels, with innumerable circular de-
pressions, showing where primitive dwell
mss once stood. Not a vestige remains of
the materials used in the construction of
these rancherias. Hundreds of shell
mounds are scattered about. and are found
70 consist of astonishing numbers Of mol
lusks' the bones of every species of fish
round in the channel skeletons of seals.
SSa elepHdutS, WnaleS, sea offers, the is
land fox and various aquatic birds With
out question these animals were used for
food by the tribes that once thronged the
island. There are also numerous canine
skeletons, several of which Indicate a
species of bull terrier Judging from the
immense quantity of dead land mollusks
everywhere, there must have been a time
when the Island supported luxurlant vege-
tatlon. OF all this vendure nothing is seen
to-day but a few stunted thorn bushes,
and now and then a cactus forlornly
reaching It's grotesque arms out of the
sweeps of sand. An examination OF some
OF the mounds discloses all sorts OF Gu
rlous utensils, stone cooking pots, water
olas, mortars, pestles, drills, bone needles
and fish hooks shell beads, charm stones.
pipes, cups and a few arrow heads, spear
points and swords made of bone. The abb
sence of many weapons proves the peace
ful attributes of the Islanders. Small imi-
tations OF boats and fishes carved from
crystallized tale and serpentine also show
rudimentary knowledge of the art of
sculpture. In many places conical piles of
small black pebbles contrast oddly with
the white sand In sOrna Instances 4beoa