392 RESOURCES 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; 
erect an upright post in the centre about six feet high; lay poles 
from the edge of the hole to rest on this 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 
the 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 
