SOCIETY. 35 



35. Dialect. Bret Harte has attributed to the miners of 

 California a peculiar, strongly-marked, and affected dialect, 

 but he has drawn on his imagination for the greater part of it. 

 A mixed population, like that in the mines, representing every 

 State in the Union, and every county of Great Britain, could not 

 have a dialect ; and nowhere is the English language better un- 

 derstood, or spoken with more force, elegance, and purity, by 

 the poorer classes of people, than in this State. Harte did not 

 come to California until 1857, never lived in the mines, and 

 had no habits of research, nor was it necessary that he should 

 have for success in his department of literature. Slang, as dis- 

 tinct from dialect, is common in California. Mark Twain had 

 excellent opportunities to become familiar with it, and he has 

 made a singular and amusing collection of it in an account of 

 " Buck Fanshaw's Funeral." 



36. Californianisms. The Californians have introduced 

 certain words into the English language, or at least have 

 adopted them in common use in the State, and a list of them, 

 with their pronunciation and definition, may not be out of 

 place here : 



Aparejo, (a par ay' ho) a Mexican pack-saddle. 



Adobe, (a do' ba) a large, sun-dried, unburned brick, some- 

 times two feet long, a foot wide, and four inches thick. 



Arroyo, (ar ro' yo) a brook, or the dry bed of a brook or 

 small river. 



Arastra, (a ras' tra) a primitive mill for crushing quartz. 



Alforja, ( al for' hah) a bag, usually made of raw cowhide, 

 used for holding the articles to be carried by a pack-horse. 



Ear. A low bank of sand or gravel, at the side of a river, 

 deposited by the stream. 



Summer. An idle, worthless fellow, who does no work 

 and has no visible means of support. The word " loafer," like 

 " lounger," does not designate the general conduct or perma- 

 nent character of a man, but only a temporary idleness. A 

 respectable, industrious man may become a " loafer " by mak- 



