History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538

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theless, impelled by his great love, he insisted on follow- ing, even to the world of shades; and at last, moved by his entreaties, she consented, but cautioned him: "Forget not that no earthly eye may ever again see us!"

They pased over a great sea, and entered the realm of ghosts. He saw here no form, but heard myriads of voices-sweet as the tones of zephyrs breathed lightly o'er æolian strings-addressing his spirit guide :"What hast thou here sister! It smells of earth!"

She confessed that she had brought with her a mortal, her husband, and begged that he might be permitted to stay. She rehearsed his mighty deeds and admirable qualities while on earth; but all in vain. Again were the voices heard, still musical, but now stern and threaten- ing in their tones. "Take him away!" they said. " Guided by love he comes, and love pleads his cause; love is all-powerful on earth, but earthly love avails not in the courts of Heaven!"

Abashed by the evident displeasure of these invisible ones, still she braved their anger, and pleaded for her love. She dilated on his many virtues and his great skill, until at last despite their assertion, "that love availed not," the spirit-guard relented and he was allowed to make exhibition of his acquirements, with a view to pos- sible admission. He was required to bring a feather from the top of a pole so high that the summit was scarcely visible; to split a hair of great fineness and ex- ceeding length from end to end; to make a map of the constellation known as the "Lesser Bear," and to indicate the exact location of the North Star. Aided by his wife he succeeded in accomplishing all these tasks to the sat- isfaction of his examiners, but, in a trial of hunting, failed utterly, the game being invisible. A second attempt re- sulted as before, and he had become a laughing-stock throughout the world of ghosts, when his wife advised him to aim his arrows at the beetles which flew past him in great numbers. Acting on her instruction, each beetle, when hit, proved a fat deer, and so many did he slay that the spirit voices commanded him to desist. They then addressed his wife, who was yet to him invisible. "Sis- ter!" they said, " Thou knowest none who enter here return again to earth. Tucupar (Heaven) knows not death! Our brother-in-law hath done full well, yet mortal skill may not avail to win a heavenly prize! We award him the guerdon, LOVE! chiefest of earthly blessings, in thy person; yet only on condition!" Then addressing the husband they said, " Take thou thy wife! Yet remember, thou shalt not speak to her, nor touch her until three suns have passed. A punishment awaits thy disobedience!"

They pass from the spirit-land and travel in silence to the confines of matter. By day she is invisible to him, but at night, by the flickering flame of his camp-fire, he perceives her outline on the ground near by. Another day he remains faithful to his instructions, and by the evening blaze her form appears more plainly than before. The third day has passed, and now, behold, the amorous flame leaps forth to greet her-recumbent by his side, radiant with beauty, and health, and restored, as he fondly believes, to him and love!

But alas! one-half the lurid orb of day yet trembles, poised on the western verge, as with passionate vehemence he pronounces her name, and clasps to his faithful heart not the form he loves, but only a fragment .of decayed wood !

Heart-broken and despairing, he roamed the earth ever afterward, until at last the spirits in mercy sent to him their servant Death, who dissolved his mortal fetters, and carried him, rejoicing, to the bosom of his love.

Many other pretty stories are told by Mr. Reid, but belong more to the literature of fiction, of fairy tales, than to history; and we must therefore conclude that

THE ABORIGINES.

such was the object of the writer, rather than a relation of facts or the recording of any traditions or legends he assumed to have from the Indians.

INDOLENT AND WEAK.

Of the poor beings now becoming so rare in this county, we can have but feelings of pity. Never strong or spirited enough to offer a serious obstacle to the settle- ment of the country, they have not aroused the direful enmity of the invading people as have the extremely savage and bloodthirsty Indians of other sections of America. They were debased to an extreme degree, pro- fessing no knowledge of the mechanic arts save those of making simple implements of the chase and of fishing, making baskets and pounding acorns and grass seed into meal, and making a few articles of ornament. They had no religious rites, ceremonies, or beliefs; seldom any names for individuals, and only general names for geo- graphical objects.

THE INDIANS OF SAN LUIS OBISPO

Were taken in charge by the missionaries shortly after their arrival in 1772, and when Father Junipero Serra died there had been baptized 616 at this mission. They were then in large numbers, but evidently less than in former times, and if increased at any time by collecting others from a distance, rapidly decreased after the secularization of the missions in 1833, until, as shown by the census of 1870, the number had dwindled to 137, and less will be found at the present time. The mission of San Miguel is reported to have counted 5,000 in its service or vicinity at one time.

Of the appearance and manners of the Indians on the first visit of the exploring party under Governor Portala, we take the following extract from a lecture by Hon. Charles H. Johnson, who has been an industrious student of the early history of the county.

"The Indians, although numerous, gave no trouble to this party of Europeans. They were divided into tribes and rancherias; used apparently no shelter except stone corrals simply as a protection against bears. The men were naked, but the women and children went partially clothed with deer or hare skins. When game was scarce with them they had a novel way of eating dried meat. A piece being attached to a cord was partially masticated and then swallowed; after a short interval it was drawn up into the mouth and again masticated. This operation was repeated several times until the morsel was consumed. At times they would squat on the ground forming a cir- cle, and pass a piece of meat tied in the above manner from one to the other, chewing and swallowing it by turns.

The tribes occupying the coast from San Francisco to this place were called Olchones and Mutsers. They spoke different languages and in their rancherias a variety of dialects. Their numerals extended only to four. To express five they extended a hand; six, one hand and one; seven, one hand and two; eight, one hand and three; nine, one hand and four; ten, both hands, twenty being the extent of their arithmetical knowledge. They divi- ded the year into six seasons, commencing in midsum- mer.

THEIR RELIGION.

Their religious ideas were confused; some recognized the existence of a Supreme Being only. The Olchones adored the sun, and believed in the existence of a benefi- cent and an evil spirit. When one of the tribe died, they adorned the corpse with wild flowers, shell beads, and feathers, and burned it amid the shouts of the spec- tators, extending their hands in the direction of the setting sun. Other tribes simply burn their dead with bows, arrows, etc. Selecting, generally, some high cliff over- looking the sea, as a place of sepulcher. The use of the metals was unknown to them. Their domestic and warlike instruments were made of flint and other stones, also wood hardened by fire. Their marriages were celebrated by an exchange of presents. Polygamy was practiced only to a limited extent.

TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS.

The mission of San Luis Obispo de Toloso was estab- lished September 1, 1772, and soon became one of the most prosperous in California. Extensive buildings were erected, schools established, and the Indians were instructed in the mechanical arts. Orchards and vine- yards were planted, and the country stocked with horses, sheep, and cattle. The missions were secularized by decrees of the Mexican Congress of August 17th and 2 Ist of November, 1833, and their property turned over to administradors, who were directed by the Govern- ment to make provision for the support of the Indians by distribution of cattle and horses, and by assigning them sueretes-small patches of land-for cultivation. But these orders were not obeyed in full. The reparti- mientos-distribution of stock-were made to the friends of the administrador:, and the Indians driven off in large numbers. Those that remained were kept as serfs, and, becoming brutalized by neglect and ill-treatment, soon disappeared.

INDIAN RELICS AND GRAVES.

In the Indian graves near the beach of San Luis Obispo Bay, are found finely-worked spear and arrow heads of obsidian and other hard stone; many mortars and pestles of basalt, sandstone, and granite; pots or stone kettles of steatite, or soapstone; beads made from the claws of the crab and bear, and among other sub- stances ornaments from abalone shells, sharks and whales' teeth; stone hammers and weights; needles of bone, and other utensils of stone in great variety and for purposes that cannot be divined. Many of these relics are of exceeding great interest to the archæologist, show- ing the industry, the ingenuity, and skill, of the man of the Stone Age, who was evidently superior in his art and more æsthetic in his tastes than the savage found on this coast by the earliest pioneers of civilization. No metal whatever has been found in the ancient graves of San Luis Obispo.

Among the household implements recovered is a kettle of steatite exhumed in 1882 by Rev. R. W. Summers, Episcopal clergyman of San Luis Obispo, an enthusiastic student of archæology. This is one of the largest ever

HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

found, being nearly a globe in form, of about eighteen inches in diameter, hollowed to about one inch in thick- ness, and with an opening at the top of about ten inches across. This kettle had been used on the fire, as the outer surface still bore the blackened color given it by the flame. As no steatite is found anywhere on the southern coast but on Santa Rosa Island, off Santa Barbara, it is presumed that from thence it was brought. Many beads, shells, and trinkets were found in it, indi- cating that it had been the property of a personage of great wealth and importance, and had been consigned to the tomb with the mortal remains of its owner. Such a pot was undoubtedly of great value in its day of useful- ness, the material brought from so great a distance and wrought into shape with such artistic care. Probably the property of some dying chieftain, it was filled with his treasures and deposited in his grave to sustain his bank account in the unknown world.

All the mortars, pestles, smaller kettles, and other implements of use, symbols of authority, and weapons of warfare and the chase, found in the grave were broken, but the great one-the treasure safe-was whole. The theory, as founded upon the acts of other Indians, is that all implements are broken-or killed-in order to release the spirit that the spirits of the things might accompany the spirit, or soul, of the master to the spirit land. In this is given the proof that the prehistoric man of southern California had a belief in the immortality of the soul, or a life in spirit beyond the grave; and proving a state of mind, of thought, and of art far in advance of the California savage of modern times.

INDIAN IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES.

Stone mortars and pestles are familiar to the people of the Pacific Coast, as most have seen them, and in the decade following the gold discovery they were seen in constant use by the Indians in pounding to meal acorns and grass seeds. In the Sierra Nevada, where the hard granite or slate protruded through the soil, the food material was pounded upon the bare rock, wearing little basins in the surface, and thus making stationary mor- tars. In the alluvial regions these were portable and of varying size. Those found in San Luis Obispo are from the size of a small teacup to that of a large wash- bowl, going through all the gradations as the well- arranged crockery supply of a modern household. The uses for these can only be surmised. One has evidently belonged to the toilet service of some belle-a small pebble in which is worked a cavity but little larger than a thimble. In this was found some toilet paint, the evidence of its use. We can imagine the dusky lady of that distant time, actuated and inspired by the desire for beauty, decorating herself according to the arts and fashions in vogue, preparing her paint with a skill that has enabled it to retain its brilliant color and unchanged condition through the intervening ages, and recording the natural and unchangeable vanity of the sex. Others showed that substances of which paint was made had been triturated in them, and others of various uses.

Bitumen, or asphaltum, which is so common in this

county, was much used by the Indians, as shown in the utensils that have been repaired by its aid. Pipes of stone, resembling clay pipe-stems, drilled through from end to end, were found in the graves, but whether they were for smoking or other purposes, is not known.

Human skeletons were numerous, in some cemeteries buried in a sitting posture, in others lying on their side, but always with the knees bent and brought near the chin. No regularity was ever observed in the direction which they faced or were lain, whether to the north or south, toward the sunrise or the sunset, but without order.

PAINTED ROCKS.

Besides the graves and the implements found therein, the disposition thereof, and the manner of burial which make a record, partly obscure, but partly in unmistakable language of arts and manners, the pre-historic man has left another record of his existence, perhaps of his religion or his history, which still awaits the student of archaeology to translate. These are the mysterious paintings found on the rocks in various and numerous places throughout the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. Northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo extends a series of rocky peaks, and many of these bear the strange figures.

THE GREAT NATURAL TEMPLE OF CARRISA.

In the eastern portion of the county is the great Carrisa Plain, and on the rocks bordering it the most important of these paintings appear.

On both the easterly and westerly sides of the plain the mountains are composed of a light-colored sandstone, generally looking as if ready to wash away as a sand bank. But it evidently does not disintegrate so readily. In many places on the rocks have been painted strange characters and figures, evidently with careful design, resembling the hyeroglyphs of Egypt or the picture writings found in Mexico and Yucatan. Three colors have been generally used, red, black, and white. In various places on both sides of the plain have these singular and mysterious paintings been found, and the " oldest inhabitant " says that when the Spanish mission- aries came a hundred years ago they found them as they now are, and wondered at their origin and meaning. The ignorant savages of modern times know nothing of them, nor have they any traditions regarding them, always being a subject of wonder.

All this eastern section of the county, embracing an area of about half a million acres, is comparatively unoc- cupied, being mostly held in large tracts of from 20,000 to 60,000 acres by single individuals, and reserved for speculation or devoted to grazing. In the southwestern part of the Carrisa Plain Mr. Chester R. Brumley and. family settled in 1865, having as a nearest neighbor the cattle rancho at La Panza, twenty-five miles distant north_ west. In this wilderness, about three miles south of Mr. Brumley's residence, stands in the open plain an exceed- ingly singular rock, made more interesting from the paintings of which it constitutes a grand and unique gallery. This bears the name of "The Painted Rock,"

THE ABORIGINES.

and is a most wonderful curiosity. From outward appearance the rock is a cone of about 750 feet diameter at the base, and 150 feet in height. On the east is an opening about 20 feet wide leading into a great room 225 feet in length by 120 feet in width at the widest place, the interior space being shaped like an egg, the point at the entrance. The walls are irregular, in places slightly overhanging, and in others slightly receding from the perpendicular, the highest point being about 132 feet above the inner base .*

The appearance is that of the crater of a volcano with one side broken away, but the rock is coarse sandstone. On the inner surface near the base, and at heights not exceeding twelve feet, are great numbers of paintings such as before described. Generally they are well pre- served and the colors bright and distinct; but where most exposed to the rain, winds, and animals, they have become somewhat dimmed, but on the whole show a remarkable preservation. This, to the ancient pagan having a glim- mering idea of religious belief, would be a grand and awe- inspiring temple made without hands, and even to the highest civilization must ever be regarded as a most inter- esting object. At present it is used as a corral, holding 4,000 sheep, closed by a short wall and set of bars at the entrance.

INDIAN REMAINS IN SANTA BARBARA.

Mr. J. D. Mason, in Thompson & West's history of Santa Barbara, writes as follows of the painted rocks of that county :-

About eighty miles from Santa Barbara, near the boun- dary line of the county, on a level piece of land near the foot of the mountains, is one of the most singular and important relics of the prehistorical races, perhaps, that exists in California. It appears to have been a stone wigwam forty or fifty yards in diameter, built on a stone floor of so compact a character as to much resemble a natural stone. The center of the place, as in the paved court before referred to, is of earth, as if to receive posts or timbers. The roof has fallen in, and the place is much dilapidated; all of the walls remaining are covered with paintings of halos, circles, with radiations from the center, like spokes, and in some instances, squares. Every available space is occupied with figures of some sort. A variety of colors is used, though blue seems to pre- dominate. A cross, five feet in length, in white paint, on the highest portion of the remaining walls, seems to have been a work of some of the fathers at a recent date.

On the Cuyama River are found some rocks of a lightish gray sandstone, also painted with figures differing from the others. One of these is a representation of the sun. Another figure represents a man with extended arms, as if reaching for something. The Spanish popula- tion named it El Sol. All of these works evidently belong to another race than the swarthy Indian that occupied California at the coming of the white man.

PAINTED CAVE.

Near the summit of the Santa Barbara Mountains, and not far from the San Marcus Road, is one similar in character, though other things than circles are introduced, some of the paintings representing nondescript dragons and snakes, monsters in fact. Every available inch of

space is covered with paintings of some kind. The cave is about sixteen feet in depth by twelve in width, and is in a perpendicular rock some fifty feet or more in height, the mouth being several feet above the base of the rock, is a soft, friable sandstone, which is breaking away from exposure to rains and weather. The face of the rock gives indications of once having been also covered with paintings. Five different colors are recognized in the decorations, if they may be called such. They must have been the work of many months of industry. Other rocks in the vicinity are painted, but in a less pretentious manner. There is no doubt but these figures are the work of people living some hundreds of years since. Their design and use may possibly be deciphered by Mexican antiquarians.

FROM CABRILLO'S TIME TO THE MISSIONARV PERIOD.

Some extraordinary fatality must have overtaken the Indians during the century which elapsed between the discovery of the coast and islands by Cabrillo, and the coming of the missionaries, for no such numbers as Cabrillo mentions were found by Father Junipero Serra. There are traditions of a terrible destruction of the island Indians by the hunters of the otter from Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The gentle Aztec was no match in a struggle for life with the fierce Shoshone of the interior. Even the Spanish, with their fire-arms and superior knowledge, often found their match when the Mokelkos and Cosumnes swooped down upon their herds of cattle and horses. What chance then had the comparatively peaceful Aztec? There are many indications of a catas- trophe among the island Indians. Numerous skeletons have been unearthed, which showed fractures of the skull. During a recent high wind fifty or more skeletons were uncovered, all having the appearance of perishing by violence. Those who study the type of the few remaining Indians will have no difficulty in distinguishing the mild, dignified, and intellectual face of the Aztec from the swarthy, low-browed, square-built Shoshone, who retreated into the mountains at the coming of the white man, and kept up a predatory warfare until the coming of the gold-hunters made a change of base necessary.

NO ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS.

In studying the relics of the prehistoric people of Cali. fornia, the student fails to find any remains of architect- ural structure. Aged and peculiar as the relics exhumed from the graves appear, they show but the rude utensils, weapons, and baubles of savage life. With the exception . of a few structures commonly, or poetically, called tem- ples, though mere stone corrals, probably as a defense against bears or other enemies, there are no evidences of a prehistoric architecture existing in California. The architecture of Palenque and Yucatan-possibly the fabled Atlantis-in enduring stone and massive structure, appears to have antedated the shadowy arts that have left their crude and dim traces on the painted rocks and in the trifling toys found in the graves.

The hills, and mountains, and beds of streams were filled with metal, in many places the shining gold glisten- ing in the sunlight, yet for countless ages they remained untouched and the native man roaming over them. The working of mines leaves an indelible mark, but the sav- ages made none. They used no metal and cut no stone but such as were broken by each other. Pieces of metal have, in a few instances, been found in graves, but these

* As measured by a spool of thread by Mrs. Brumley and her daughter, Miss Helen Brumley, who take great interest in this wonderful natural temple.

HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

were probably obtained from ships visiting the coast and of a comparatively recent period.

RECENT EXPLORATIONS.

Recently, within the past ten years, scientific men have made diligent study of the Indian graves and remains found along and near the coast of this and the neighbor- ing southern counties of California. Among these were Le Compte Pierre de Cessâc, a highly learned gentleman in the service of France; Doctor Schumacher, in the serv- ice of the Smithsonian Institute ; and Doctors Yarrow and Rothrock, of the United States Army, accompanying the United States Geographical and Geological Survey under Lieutenant Wheeler. All made extensive excavations and gathered many tons of relics and fossils, which they forwarded to their respective departments. These savans can fix no estimate of the age of many of the antiqui- ties, but think the people who made and used them con- temporary with the mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley. Their study is exceedingly interesting and im- portant, Count de Cessâc assuring the people that they had in their midst antiquities which had begun to interest the whole world. During the occupancy of the country by the white race, until within recent years, these relics and graves have been passed over unobserved save with an indifferent notice as a passing curiosity, and now, while many tons have been transported to distant parts of the world, but few regard them of sufficient importance to preserve. While great attractions in the museums of other countries, no museum has yet been established to preserve them in California.

MUSEUMS OF ARCHÆOLOGY.

Many tons of the relics found in the graves of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara have been sent to the East, enriching the museums of Boston, New York, Washington, and other places. Upon this subject Rev. Mr. Summers, of San Luis Obispo, writes: "While the whole State is rich in the remains of a former race of men, there is no field more interesting than our own county presents. Great numbers of burial places have been discovered along the coast, and tons of mortars, pots, pestles, ornaments, weapons, etc., unearthed and sent East, enriching their museums at the expense of California-a fact which I, for one, greatly regret. I be- lieve that each county should preserve its own relics until such time when the State can erect a fire-proof building for their reception, and appoint some competent person to arrange, classify, and care for them. In the little ex- perience I have had in digging into the old burial places, I find skeletons in every position, extended, sitting, etc. head towards any point of the compass convenient. With these, beside the stone mortars and pestles which are so common, I have found in abundance ornaments of stone, bone, and shell-gifts with which 'the last lament was said.' Also two or three colors of the paints the savage man loves to adorn his person with, placed in the grave by loving hands that the departed warrior might appear well in the happy spirit-land. Many of the inter- ments are quite modern, dating from the time of the con-

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History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West Number of Pages: 538

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538