30 THE GEYSERS OF PLUTON. RIVER, 
the great diversity in the names of the California 
Indians as given by travellers. In examining the 
various books on this country and articles in scientific 
journals, I find tribes mentioned by names which are 
not elsewhere to be found; and in my own inquiries 
I have found tribes who called themselves by names 
which I never heard of before. *This has induced me 
to believe that the small tribes or bands, which abound 
here more than in any other part of North America, 
when asked to what tribe they belong, give the name 
of their chief, which is misunderstood by the inquirer 
to be that of the tribe itself. 
Their houses are circular, and from. twelve to 
thirty feet in diameter, the interior usually excavated 
about three feet below the surface of the ground. 
Within this circle posts are planted, forked at the top, 
upon which rest poles reaching from one to the other. 
The spaces between the posts are filled in with sticks 
or tules, against which the earth is firmly banked up 
outside. The roofs are dome-shaped, and, in the 
smaller houses, supported by a single post in the cen- 
tre, on the forked top of which rest two main rafters, 
with their outer ends planted in the ground. From 
these are stretched stout poles, about a foot apart and 
thatched with sticks and tules, or rushes closely inter- 
woven, and covered with a solidly pressed layer of 
earth about a foot thick, making a roof completely 
water proof in the heaviest rains. In some villages 
the houses have but one aperture, which is on the top 
of the roof, and serves for both door and chimney. 
This is entered by a sort of rude ladder, or by notches 
cut in the centre-post. Others have an opening at the 
