SOCIETY. 383 



To knock down^ a miner's phrase, meaning to steal rich 

 pieces of auriferous quartz from the lode. 



Manada (ma nah' da), a herd of breeding mares under the 

 lead of a stallion. 



Mecate (may cah' te), a rope of hair, used for tying horses. 



Mochilas (mo chee' las), large leathern flaps for covering a 

 fuste. 



Plaza., a public square in a town. 



Playa^ a beach. 



Pozo, a spring or well. 



Pueblo^ a town. 



To ^np^i to wash dirt by the hydraulic process. 



Pay 'Dirt., auriferous dirt rich enough to pay the miner. 



Placer., from the Spanish, a place where gold is found in 

 dirt near the surface of the ground. 



To prospect., to hunt for gold diggings ; to examine ground 

 or rock for the purpose of finding whether it contains gold, 

 and how much. 



Prospect., the discovery made by prospecting. 



Podeo (ro day' o), a collection of wild or half-wild cattle, 

 made for the purpose of separating or marking them. 



Pecojida (ray co hee' da), a similar collection of horses. 



Pancho (ran' tsho), before the Americans took California, 

 meant a tract of land used almost entirely for pasturage, rare- 

 ly less than four square miles in extent, sometimes as much as 

 ninety-nine square miles, and in most cases not less than thirty 

 square miles. Since the conquest, rancho., and its American 

 derivation " ranch," are often applied to small farms, and 

 sometimes, in the way of slang, to single houses, tents, and 

 liquor shops. " Ranch" is sometimes used as a verb ; thus a 

 man who opens a farm, according to common parlance, "has 

 gone to ranching." 



Panchero (ran tsha' ro), a man who owns and lives upon a 

 rancho. It is usually understood to mean a Spanish Califor- 

 niart 



Pancheria, an Indian hut or a village. 



