Spanish and Indian Place Names of California: Their Meaning and Their Romance

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A.M. Robertson, 1914 - History - 443 pages
 

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Page 15 - Know that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it was peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they lived in the fashion of Amazons.
Page 198 - Nova Albion, and that for two causes : the one in respect of the white banks and cliffs, which lie towards the sea: and the other, because it might have some affinity with our country in name, which sometime was so called.
Page 199 - ... narrow ridge of broken hills, terminating in a precipitous point, against which the sea breaks heavily. On the northern side, the mountain presents a bold promontory, rising in a few miles to a height of two or three thousand feet. Between these points is the strait— about one mile broad in the narrowest part, and five miles long from the sea to the bay. To this Gate I gave the name of Chrysopylte, or GOLDEN GATE; for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium (Constantinople afterwards)...
Page 199 - Chrysoceras (golden horn). The form of the harbor and its advantages for commerce (and that before it became an entrepot of eastern commerce) suggested the name to the Greek founders of Byzantium. The form of the entrance into the bay of San Francisco and its advantages for commerce (Asiatic inclusive) suggest the name which is given to this entrance.
Page 299 - ... dress. They immediately crowded around us, and we had the inexpressible delight to find one who spoke a little indifferent Spanish, but who at first confounded us by saying there were no whites in the country; but just then a well-dressed Indian came up, and made his salutations in very well-spoken Spanish.
Page 422 - Julian, the Lord hath sent me to thee, for thy penitence is accepted, and thy rest is near at hand," and then vanished from their sight.
Page 15 - Amazons. They were of strong and hardened bodies, of ardent courage, and of great force. The island was the strongest in the world, from its steep rocks and great cliffs. Their arms were all of gold; and so were the caparisons of the wild beasts which they rode, after having tamed them; for in all the island there is no other metal. They lived in caves very well worked out; they had many ships, in which they sailed to other parts to carry on their forays.
Page 122 - Vescovo) was the nephew of the last-named saiut, son of the King of Naples and Sicily. Like his kingly uncle-saint, he was piously reared by his mother. When he was but fourteen, his father, being made prisoner by the King of Aragon, gave Louis and his brothers as hostages. He became wearied of everything but religion, and in 1294, when he was made free, he gave all his royal rights to his brother Robert, and became a monk of the Order of St. Francis. He was then twentytwo years old. Soon he was...
Page 273 - ... houses were of bark, sometimes thatched with grass and covered with earth: the bark was loosened from the trees by repeated blows with stone hatchets, the latter having the head fastened to the handle with deer sinew. Their ordinary weapons were bows and stone-tipped arrows. The women made finely woven conical baskets of grass, the smaller ones of which held water. Their amusements were chiefly dancing and football; the dances, however, were in some degree ceremonial. Their principal deity was...

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