392 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



of wild clover. Such places are generally on fertile soil with 

 picturesque scenery. The huts are made differently in differ- 

 ent places. In the Sacramento valley, the most common plan 

 was to dig a hole three or four feet deep and ten feet across ; 

 erpct an upright post in the centre about six feet high ; lay poles 

 from the edge of the hole to rest on tliis post ; and cover the 

 poles with grass and then with dirt. In some districts the 

 hut is made by taking large pieces of pine bark and laying 

 them against a frame-work of poles fastened together in a 

 conical shape. In the San Joaquin valley it was more con- 

 venient to make a frame-work of poles and cover it with rushes 

 or tules. These huts may be deserted for a time, but are con- 

 sidered the property of the builders, who move, according to 

 the seasons, to those places where they can obtain food most 

 conveniently. In one month they go to the thickets ; in an- 

 other to the open plain ; in another to the streams. 



Their food is composed chiefly of acorns, clover-grass, grass- 

 seeds, grasshoppers, horsechestnuts, fish, game, pine-nuts, 

 edible roots, and berries. The acorns of California are large, 

 abundant, and some of them are not unpleasant to the taste, 

 but they do not contain much nutriment as compared with an 

 equal bulk of those articles commonly used for food by the 

 Caucasian race. The acorns are gathered by the squaws, and 

 are preserved in various methods. The most common plan is 

 to build a basket with twigs and rushes in an oak-tree, and 

 keep the acorns there. The acorns are prepared for eating by 

 grinding them and boiling them with water into a thick paste, 

 or by baking them in bread. The oven is a hole in the ground 

 about eighteen inches cubic. Redhot stones are placed at 

 tlie bottom of the hole, a little dry sand or loam is thrown 

 over them, and next comes a layer of dry leaves. The dough 

 or paste is poured into the hole until it is two inches or three 

 inches deep. Then comes another layer of leaves, more sand, 

 redhot stones, and finally dirt. At the end of five or six hours 

 the oven has cooled down, and the bread is taken out, an ir- 

 regular mass nearly black in color, not at all handsome to the 



