38 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



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

 fuste. 



Plaza, a public square in a town. 



Play a, a beach. 



Pozo, a spring or well. 



Pueblo, a town. 

 ' To pipe, 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 

 earthy matter. 



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. 



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

 made for the purpose of separating or marking them. 



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



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

 meant a tract of land used almost entirely for pasturage, 

 rarely 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." We speak of a " milk ranch," " butter 

 ranch," " cheese ranch," " chicken ranch," etc. 



Ranc/iero, (ran-tsha'-ro) a man who owns and lives upon a 

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

 nian. 



Rancheria, (ran tsha ree' a) an Indian hut or a village. 



Reata, (ray ah' ta) a rawhide rope, used for lassoing. 



Rubric, a nourish, which Mexicans and native Californiaus 

 append to their signatures, and which, in fact, they consider 



