l86 Audubon's Western Journal 



good many of them both roasted and raw, by way 

 of variety, though objecting to the flavor. I have 

 seen one or two nearly three inches long. Out of 

 these acorns the Indians make their "payote," a 

 kind of paste, which they dry, and then put into 

 water in flakes, no doubt to allow the acrid matter 

 to escape. 



[No date.'] Stockton. For the last five days 

 we have passed over vast plains of sandy soil and 

 all the recollections of the desert would come upon 

 us, but for our nightly returns to the river. Passing 

 two small rivers, we came to the Stanislaus, and 

 went down it to the ferry, having once tried, unsuc- 

 cessfully, to cross it. We had to pay a dollar each 

 for about twenty yards, and went on our way to 

 Stockton. 



This mushroom town of skeleton houses and 

 tents, with every class of dwelling from log cabin 

 with rush roof, to the simple blanket spread to 

 shelter the hardy miner, is situated like Houston, 

 Texas, on an elevated flat, so level, that the water 

 lying after every shower, makes the mud as deep 

 as I ever saw it on the rich levees of Louisiana in 

 winter. I find the climate much the same as that 

 in Louisiana, but without the beautifully luxuriant 

 vegetation of that country, and from all accounts it 

 is quite as healthy, except that the high mountains 

 here give a pleasant retreat in summer from the 

 diseases incident to that season. 



