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Fig. 18.—Petroglyphs in Death valley, California.

The spring here is in a basin some 60 to 80 acres in extent in which are ponds and tule marsh. Close by is an extensive ancient Indian camping ground, over which are scattered very many “chips” made from manufacturing arrow points from quartz crystal, chert, chalcedony, flint, and other similar material.

The figures in the sketch inclosed are situated relatively, as to size and location, as they occur on the rock. The latter is cracked and slopes at different angles, but the figures are all visible from a single point of view. There are several other figures in this group that are too indistinct to copy owing to age, or weather wearing. The group copied is the most extensive one seen, but many smaller groups and single figures are to be found on the rocks near by.

The Shoshoni inhabit this region and a few families of Shoshoni live about the Panamint mountains at present.

Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the Department of Agriculture, on his return from the exploration of Death valley, kindly furnished a photograph of a ledge in Emigrant canyon, Panamint mountains, which was received too late for insertion in this work. This is much regretted, as a large number of petroglyphs are represented in groups. The characters are of the Shoshonean type. Among them are “Moki goats,” tridents, the Greek Φ, many crosses, and other figures shown in this chapter as found in the same general region.

In the Mojave desert, about 2 miles north of Daggett station, according to the Mining and Scientific Press (a) is a small porphyritic butte known as “Rattlesnake rock,” “so named by reason of the immense number of these reptiles that find shelter in this mass of rock.” The accompanying Fig. 19 is a reproduction of that given in the paper quoted. The author states that “the implement used in making these characters was evidently a dull-pointed stone, as the lines are not sharp, and the sides of the indentation show marks of striation.”

Fig. 19.—Rattlesnake rock, Mojave desert, California.

Lieut. Whipple reports the discovery of pictographs at Piute creek, about 30 miles west of the Mojave villages. These are carved upon a rock, “are numerous, appear old, and are too confusedly obscured to be easily traceable.” They bear great general resemblance to drawings scattered over northeast Arizona, southern Utah, and western New Mexico.

From information received from Mr. Alphonse Pinart, pictographic records exist in the hills east of San Bernardino, somewhat resembling those at Tule river in the southern spurs of the Sierra Nevada, Kern county.

Mr. Willard J. Whitney, of Elmhurst, Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, gives information regarding nearly obliterated pecked petroglyphs upon two flat granite rocks, or bowlders, on the summit of a mountain 4 miles directly west of Escondido, San Diego county, California. The designs are not colored, and are not more than one-eighth or one-fourth of an inch in depth. There is a good lookout from the eminence, but there are no indications of either trails or burials in the vicinity.

This may be the locality mentioned by Mr. Barnes, of San Diego, who furnished information relating to petroglyphs in San Diego county.

Dr. Hoffman reports the following additional localities in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. Fifteen miles west of Santa Barbara, on the northern summit of the Santa Ynez range, and near the San Marcos pass, is a group of paintings in red and black. Fig. 20 resembles a portion of a checker-board in the arrangement of squares.

Fig. 20.—Petroglyph near San Marcos pass, California.

Serpentine and zigzag lines occur, as also curved lines with serrations on the concave sides; figures of the sun; short lines and groups of short parallel lines, and figures representing types of insect forms also appear, as shown in Figs. 21 and 22.

Fig. 21.—Petroglyphs near San Marcos pass, California.

Fig. 22.—Petroglyphs near San Marcos pass, California.

These paintings are in a cavity near the base of an immense bowlder, over 20 feet in height. A short distance from this is a flat granitic bowlder, containing twenty-one mortar holes, which had evidently been used by visiting Indians during the acorn season. Oaks are very abundant, and their fruit formed one of the sources of subsistence.

Three miles west-northwest of this locality, in the valley near the base of the mountain, are indistinct figures in faded red, painted upon a large rock. The characters appear similar, in general, to those above mentioned.

Forty-three miles west of Santa Barbara, in the Najowe valley, is a promontory, at the base of which is a large shallow cavern, the opening being smaller than the interior, upon the roof and back of which are many designs, some of which are reproduced in Fig. 23, of forms similar to those observed at San Marcos pass. Several characters appear to have been drawn at a later date than others, such as horned cattle, etc. The black used was a manganese compound, while the red pigments consist of ferruginous clays, abundant at numerous localities in the mountain canyons.

Fig. 23.—Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.

Some of the human figures are drawn with the hands and arms in the attitude of making the gestures for surprise or astonishment, and negation, as in Fig. 24.

Fig. 24.—Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.

The characters in Fig. 25 resemble forms which occur at Tulare valley, and in Owens valley, respectively, and insect forms also occur as in Fig. 26.

Fig. 25.—Petroglyphs, Najowe valley, California.

Fig. 26.—Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.

Other designs abounding at this locality are shown in Figs. 27 and 28.

Fig. 27.—Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.

Fig. 28.—Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.

One of the most extensive groupings, and probably the most elaborately drawn, is in the Carisa plain, near Mr. Oreña’s ranch, 60 or 70 miles due north of Santa Barbara. The most conspicuous figure is that of the sun, resembling a human face, with ornamental appendages at the cardinal points, and bearing striking resemblance to some Moki masks and pictographic work. Serpentine lines and anomalous forms also abound.

Four miles northeast of Santa Barbara, near the residence of Mr. Stevens, is an isolated sandstone bowlder measuring about 20 feet high and 30 feet in diameter, upon the western side of which is a slight cavity bearing designs shown in Fig. 29, which correspond in general form to others in Santa Barbara county. The gesture for negation appears in the attitude of the human figures.

Fig. 29.—Petroglyphs near Santa Barbara, California.

Half a mile farther east, on Dr. Coe’s farm, is another smaller bowlder, in a cavity of which various engravings appear shown in Fig. 30. Parts of the drawings have disappeared through disintegration of the rock, which is called “Pulpit rock,” on account of the shape of the cavity, its position at the side of the narrow valley, and the echo observed upon speaking a little above the ordinary tone of voice.

Fig. 30.—Petroglyphs near Santa Barbara, California.

Painted rocks also occur in the Azuza canyon, about 30 miles northeast of Los Angeles, of which Fig. 31 gives copies.

Fig. 31.—Petroglyphs in Azuza canyon, California.

Just before his departure from the Santa Barbara region, Dr. Hoffman was informed of the existence of eight or nine painted records in that neighborhood, which up to that time had been observed only by a few sheep-herders and hunters.

Mr. L. L. Frost, of Susanville, California, reports the occurrence of pictographs (undoubtedly petroglyphs) 15 miles south of that town, on Willow creek, and at Milford, in the lower end of the valley. No details were furnished as to their general type and condition.

On Porter creek, 9 miles southwest of Healdsburg, on a large bowlder of hornblende syenite, petroglyphs similar to those found in Arizona and Nevada are to be seen. They are generally oblong circles or ovals, some of which contain crosses.

Figs. 32 and 33 are reduced copies 1/32 of original size of colored petroglyphs found by Dr. Hoffman in September, 1884, 12 miles west-northwest of the city of Santa Barbara, California. The locality is almost at the summit of the Santa Ynez range of mountains; the gray sandstone rock on which they are painted is about 30 feet high and projects from a ridge so as to form a very marked promontory extending into a narrow mountain canyon. At the base of the western side of this bowlder is a rounded cavity, measuring on the inside about 15 feet in width and 8 feet in height. The floor ascends rapidly toward the back of the cave, and the entrance is rather smaller in dimensions than the above measurements of the interior. About 40 yards west of this rock is a fine spring of water. One of the four old Indian trails leading northward across the mountains passes by this locality, and it is probable that this was one of the camping places of the tribe which came south to trade, and that some of its members were the authors of the paintings. The three trails beside the one just mentioned cross the mountains at several points east of this, the most distant being about 15 miles. Other trails were known, but these four were most direct to the immediate vicinity of the Spanish settlement which sprang up shortly after the establishment of the Santa Barbara mission in 1786. The appearance and position of these and other pictographs in the vicinity appear to be connected with the several trails. The colors used in the paintings are red and black.

Fig. 32.—Petroglyph in Santa Barbara county, California.

The circles figured in b and d of Fig. 32, and c, r, and w of Fig. 33, together with other similar circular marks bearing cross lines upon the interior, were at first unintelligible, as their forms among various tribes have very different signification. The character in Fig. 32, above and projecting from d, resembles the human form, with curious lateral bands of black and white, alternately. Two similar characters appear, also, in Fig. 33, a, b. In a the lines from the head would seem to indicate a superior rank or condition of the person depicted.

At the private ethnologic collection of Mr. A. F. Coronel, of Los Angeles, California, Dr. Hoffman discovered a clue to the general import of the above petroglyphs, as well as the signification of some of their characters. In a collection of colored illustrations of old Mexican costumes he found blankets bearing borders and colors nearly identical with those shown in the circles in Fig. 32, d, and Fig. 33, c, r, w. It is probable that the circles represent bales of blankets which early became articles of trade at the Santa Barbara mission. If this supposition is correct, the cross lines would seem to represent the cords used in tying the blankets into bales, which same cross lines appear as cords in l, Fig. 33. Mr. Coronel also possesses small figures of Mexicans, of various conditions of life, costumes, trades, and professions, one of which, a painted statuette, is a representation of a Mexican lying down flat upon an outspread serape, similar in color and form to the black and white bands shown in the upper figure of d, Fig. 32, and a, b, of Fig. 33, and instantly suggesting the explanation of those figures. Upon the latter the continuity of the black and white bands is broken, as the human figures are probably intended to be in front, or on top, of the drawings of the blankets.

Fig. 33.—Petroglyph in Santa Barbara county, California.

The small statuette above mentioned is that of a Mexican trader, and if the circles in the petroglyphs are considered to represent bales of blankets, the character in Fig. 32, d, is still more interesting, from the union of one of these circles with a character representing the trader, i. e., the man possessing the bales. Bales, or what appear to be bales, are represented to the top and right of the circle in d, in that figure. In Fig. 33, l, a bale is upon the back of what appears to be a horse, led in an upward direction by an Indian whose headdress and ends of the breechcloth are visible. To the right of the bale are three short lines, evidently showing the knot or ends of the cords used in tying a bale of blankets without colors, therefore of less importance, or of other goods. Other human forms appear in the attitude of making gestures, one also in j, Fig. 33, probably carrying a bale of goods. In the same figure u represents a centipede, an insect found occasionally south of the mountains, but reported as extremely rare in the immediate northern regions. For remarks upon x in the same figure see Chapter XX, Section 2, under the heading The Cross.

Mr. Coronel stated that when he first settled in Los Angeles, in 1843, the Indians living north of the San Fernando mountains manufactured blankets of the fur and hair of animals, showing transverse bands of black and white similar to those depicted, which were sold to the inhabitants of the valley of Los Angeles and to Indians who transported them to other tribes.

It is probable that the pictographs are intended to represent the salient features of a trading expedition from the north. The ceiling of the cavity found between the paintings represented in the two figures has disappeared, owing to disintegration, thus leaving a blank about 4 feet long, and 6 feet from the top to the bottom between the paintings as now presented.