ey seem to me
as good as ours. These Indians were very fond of flowers, of which the
whole country is in the spring so full, it looks in places like a garden
bed; of these flowers they used to make long garlands and wreaths, not
only to wear on their heads, but to reach way down to their feet. These
they wore at festivals and celebrations; and sometimes at these
festivals they used to have what they called "song contests." Two of the
best singers, or poets, would be matched together, to see which could
sing the better, or make the better verses. That seems to me a more
interesting kind of match than the spelling matches we have in our
villages. But there is nothing of this sort to be seen in San Gabriel
now, or indeed anywhere in California. The Indians, most of them, have
been driven away by the white people who wanted their lands; year by
year more and more white people have come, and the Indians have been
robbed of more and more of their lands, and have died off by hundreds,
until there are not many left.

[Illustration: INDIAN MAKING BOWLS.--Page 19.]

Mr. Connor was much interested in learning all he could about them, and
collecting all he could of the curious stone bowls and pestles they used
to make, and of their baskets and lace work. He spent much of his
time riding about the country; and whenever he came to an Indian hut he
would stop and talk with them, and ask if they had any stone bowls or
baskets they would like to sell. The bowls especially were a great
curiosity. Nobody knew how long ago they had been made. When the
missionaries first came to the country, they found the Indians using
them; they had them of all sizes, from those so large that they are
almost more than a man can lift, down to tiny ones no bigger than a
tea-cup. But big and little, they were all made in the same way out of
solid stone, scooped out in the middle, by rubbing another stone round
and round on them. You would think it would have taken a lifetime to
make one; but they seem to have been plenty in the olden time. Even yet,
people who are searching for such curiosities sometimes find big
grave-mounds in which dozens of them are buried,--buried side by side
with the people who used to eat out of them. There is nothing left of
the people but their skulls and a few bones; but the bowls will last as
long as the world stands.

* * * * *

Now I suppose you are beginning to wonder when I am coming to the