SOCIETY. 39 



as an important part of their signatures, and the most difficult 

 to imitate or counterfeit. They often use their " rubrics " 

 alone as signatures. To rubricate, to sign with a rubric. 



Sluice, a trough used for washing pay-dirt. 



Ground-Sluice, a trough cut in the ground for washing pay- 

 dirt. 



Tail-Sluice, a sluice put in below a number of other sluices, 

 and depending on them for its supply of dirt and water. 



Sluice-Fork, a fork similar to a manure fork, but with 

 blunt prongs, as wide at the point as at the heel. The fork is 

 used for throwing stones out of the sluices. 



Sluice-Head, the quantity of water used in a sluice ; a con- 

 stant stream of water running through an aperture, usually 

 two inches high, and from five to fifteen inches long, under a 

 pressure of seven inches. 



Slum, slimy mud. 



To strip, to throw oif worthless dirt from the top of pay 

 dirt. 



Sierra, (see er' ra) originally a saw, a chain of mountains. 



Square Meal, a good meal at a table, as distinguished from 

 such meals as men make when they are short of provisions, a 

 condition not uncommon among men who make adventurous 

 trips into the mountains. 



Tailings, the waste of a sluice, torn, rocker, or quarta-mill. 



Tom, a wooden trough, from ten to fifteen feet long, for 

 washing pay-dirt. 



Tom- Stream, or Tom- Head, the amount of water used in a 

 torn. 



Rocker, or Cradle, a machine resembling a domestic cradle, 

 for washing pay-dirt. 



Wing-Dam, a dam in a creek or river, running partly 

 across. 



37. Spanish Californians. The people of Spanish blood 

 in the State are mostly natives of California, Mexico, and Chile. 

 As a class, they are poor and ignorant. The Mexicans and 



