Plate LXXX (A, B, C) represents colored pictographs found by Dr. Hoffman in 1884 on the North Fork of the San Gabriel River, also known as the Azuza Cañon, Los Angeles County, California. Its description is as follows:
A and B are copies, one-sixteenth natural size, of rock painting found in the Azuza Cañon, 30 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California.
The bowlder upon which the paintings occur measures 8 feet long, about 4 feet high, and the same in width. The figures occur on the eastern side of the rock, so that the left arm of the human figure on the right points toward the north.
The map (C) at the bottom of the plate presents the topography of the immediate vicinity and the relative positions of the rocks bearing the two illustrations. The map is drawn on a scale of 1,000 yards to the inch.
The stream is the North Fork of the San Gabriel River, and is hemmed in by precipitous mountains, with the exception of two points marked c, c, over which the old Indian trail passed in going from the Mojave Desert on the north to the San Gabriel Valley below, this course being the nearest for reaching the mission settlements at San Gabriel and Los Angeles. In attempting to follow the water-course the distance would be greatly increased and a rougher trail encountered. The pictograph A, painted on the rock marked b on the map C, shows characters in pale yellow, upon a bowlder of almost white granite, which are partly obliterated by weathering and annual floods, though still enough remains to indicate that the right-hand figure is directing the observer to the northeast, although upon taking that course it would be necessary to round the point a short distance to the west. It may have been placed as a notification of direction to those Indians who might have come up the cañon instead of on the regular trail. Farther west, at the spot marked a on the map, is a granite bowlder bearing a large number of paintings part of which have become almost obliterated. These were drawn with red ocher (ferric oxide). A selection of these is shown in B on the plate. This is on the western face of the rock, almost vertical. This also appears to refer to the course of the trail, which might readily be lost on account of the numerous mountain ridges and spurs. The left-hand figure appears to place the left hand upon a series of ridges, as if showing pantomimically the rough and ridged country over the mountains.
The middle figure represents gesture, which in its present connection may indicate direction, of the trail, i. e., toward the left, or northward in an up-hill course, as indicated by the arm and leg, and southward, or downward, as suggested by the lower inclination of the leg, and lower forearm and hand on the right of the illustration.
The right-hand figure, although similar in manner of delineating gesture and general resemblance to the Shoshonian method, is not yet determined in that connection.
These illustrations, as well as other pictographs on the same rock, not at present submitted, bear remarkable resemblance to the general type of Shoshonian drawing, and from such evidence as is now attainable it appears more than probable that they are of Chemehuevi origin, as that tribe at one time ranged thus far west, though north of the mountains, and also visited the valley and settlements at Los Angeles at stated intervals to trade. It is also known that the Mojaves came at stated periods to Los Angeles as late as 1845, and the trail indicated at point a of the map would appear to have been their most practicable and convenient route. There is strong evidence that the Mokis sometimes visited the Pacific coast and might readily have taken this same course, marking the important portion of the route by drawings in the nature of guide boards.
CHARTS OF GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES.
Dr. W. J. Hoffman states that when at Grapevine Springs, Nevada, in 1871, the Pai-Uta living at that locality informed the party of the exact location of Las Vegas, the objective point. The Indian sat upon the sand, and with the palms of his hands formed an oblong ridge to represent Spring Mountain, and southeast of this ridge another gradual slope, terminating on the eastern side more abruptly; over the latter he passed his fingers to represent the side valleys running eastward. He then took a stick and showed the direction of the old Spanish trail running east and west over the lower portion of the last-named ridge.