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ABORIGINAL ART  IN  OBSIDIAN.                                    255


                  with no  little  the advantage of it  in value.  They are  hardy,
                  and less susceptible to diseases and parasites than sheep.
                     The success of goat  farming  lies chiefly  in feeding  the kids
                  up to the second month.  After that, they shift for  themselves.
                     The  flesh  of the  kids  is a  delicacy worthy of place  on  the
                  most  epicurean  bill of fare ;  and  the  milk of the ewes is  par-
                  ticularly rich and nutritious;  and as a cosmetic is unsurpassed.
                  All in all,  there is much to be learned and much to be enjoyed
                  on a California goat-ranch.
                      lin  .  CAl.


                           ABORIGINAL  ART IN  OBSIDIAN.

                                                 BY  H .  C   Meredith.
                                           in  the  Indian  woman of certain  California tribes
                                          the  art  impulse  found  expression  in  the  ornate
                                          basket which  has  made  her  famous,  so in the  In-
                                          dian  man it  found outlet  in  some equally extraor-
                                          dinary  artifects  of obsidian.  This is  particularly
                                       ,  true of the aborigines who once  peopled the lower
                                          San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.  Their ideals
                                          found  more  perfect  expression  in  form,  line  and
                  color, in  textiles  and  in  stone,  than  did  those  of the Coast  Range  and
                  Sierra  tribes.   They  were  less  given  to  the  warpath  and  the  bunting
                  trail.  They  had  more  leisure  and  more  comfort ;  and  the  art  instinct
                  had  among them a  better chance of development.  Theirs  were the un_
                  dying streams, the abundance of fish;  the countless water-fowl with eggs
                  and young;  the swarms of crickets;  the vast bands of elk and deer that
                  our  American  pioneers  still  found  in  these  valleys ;  the  acorns  on
                  thous  nds  of  burdened  oaks.  What  the  mountain  Indian  gained  by
                  the loag journey,  the  swift  chase,  the  armed  raid,  indulgent  Nature
                  dropped  in  the  lap  of the  valley  Indian.  He  was  neither  invader nor
                  invaded.  Hunting  was so  tame  that  it  took  little  of his  vitality.  He
                  had  time  and  content  to  think.  And  he  did  think-and  feel.  The
                  women wove baskets that it  is no absurdity to call poems-the  most  ex-
                  quisite baskets known to man.  The  men  chipped  tone  as  I  b  lie  e  it
                  was never chipped elsewhere in America.
                    The  resultant  workmanship  in  these lines was art, ev  n b  the  bite
                  man's  canons.  His  artifects  not  only  ministered  to  hi  utilitie  ;  they
                  fulfilled  his  esthetic  tastes.   As  compared  with  other  anci  nt  illage-
                  sites in central California, those of this locality  show  a  far  maller pro-
                  portion  of  broken  or  ill-made  specimens,  chips
                  and  the  single  finds  which indicate the loss of an
                 arrow, in hunting or otherwise.
                    In  150  arrows  taken  from  a  local  site,  only  10
                  were  ordinary  and  but  three  crude.  Among  100
                 carved  obsidian  objects  from  the  same  site,  none
                 were crude. though a few were doubtless unfinished.           1  ·.  Barr Collection ; actual  size.
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