"The Schoolmistress Abroad."
All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river.
Alameda, an avenue.
Alamitos, little cotton-wood.
Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar.
Alma, soul.
That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's.
I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson.
Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine.
Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced cahone, is a box.