IN CALIFORNIA 129 



ley oak (Quercus lobata) the roble of Spanish no- 

 menclature are also much used. There is an un- 

 derstanding among the different bands of Indians as 

 to the usufruct of the tracts, and each is expected 

 to keep to its own preserves. In the autumn, the 

 gatherers collect the winter's store into baskets and 

 barley sacks, and bring it into the rancheria, where 

 up to a generation or so ago the stock was stored 

 in huge basketry receptacles, lifted above the ground 

 on posts to keep rats and squirrels at a distance. 

 Such quaint granaries are still to be met with in out- 

 of-the-way districts. 



The acorns are not eaten raw but are put through 

 an elaborate course of preparation. First the shells 

 are cracked off, then the kernels are ground by hand 

 with a stone pestle in a stone mortar, at the cost of 

 much muscle and patience to make the meal as flour- 

 like as may be. The mortar is sometimes portable, 

 but in many cases the grinders have to go to the 

 mortar, which is a huge flat rock or boulder, in 

 which depressions are availed of for the milling. 

 Throughout California the traveler comes upon such 

 rocks worn away in spots in hollows. Usually there 

 are dozens of mortar holes in one rock, and one can 

 imagine how throughout the centuries the Indian 

 squaws foregathered there on sunny winter days 

 and mingled the music of their voices with the 



