Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/688

 Almes] a uriferous gra vel man 621

Neale called a " side channel," that is, the bed of a branch of the main Tertiary stream, about a thousand feet in from the mouth of the tunnel, and 200 or 300 feet vertically from the surface of the mountain slope. These measurements were given as esti- mates only, but at the same time they were, he felt sure, not far wrong. Four or five of the specimens he gave to Mr C. D. Voy, the collector ; the others- also had been given away, but all trace of them had been lost. Mr Neaie spoke enthusiastically of the size and perfection of these implements, and as he spoke drew outlines of long notched blades in the dust at our feet. Some had one notch (see figure 27), some had two notches, and others were plain leaf-shape blades.

����Fig. 27— Outline of obsidian implement said to have been found in Montezuma mine, as sketched by

Mr Neale.

Desiring to find out more concerning these objects, he went on to say, he showed them to the Indians who chanced to be present, but strangely enough, they expressed great fear of them, refusing to touch them or even to speak about them ; but finally, when asked whether they had any idea whence they came, said they had seen such implements far away in the mountains, but declined to speak of the place further, or to undertake to procure others. This statement by Mr Neale struck me at once as interesting and significant, and I was not surprised when a few days later it was learned that obsidian blades of identical pattern were now and then found with Digger Indian remains in the burial pits of the region. The inference to be drawn from these facts is that the implements brought to Mr Neale had been obtained from some one of the burial places in the vicinity by the miners, who found no spot too sacred to be invaded in the eager search for gold. An additional inference is that the Indians were aware of the

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