_Contra Costa_, the name of a county, signifies opposite coast, from its being opposite San Francisco. _Mount Diablo_, which is in this county, was named from the following circumstance: In 1806 a military expedition from San Francisco marched against the tribe "Bolgones," who were encamped at the foot of the mount; the Indians were prepared to receive the expedition, and a hot engagement ensued in the large hollow fronting the western side of the mount. As the victory was about to be decided in favor of the Indians, an unknown personage, decorated with the most extraordinary plumage, and making divers movements, suddenly appeared near the combatants. The Indians were victorious, and the incognitio (Puy) departed toward the mount. The defeated soldiers, on ascertaining that the spirit went through the same ceremony daily and at all hours, named the mount "Diablo," in allusion to its mysterious inhabitant, that continued thus to make his strange appearance, until the tribe was subdued by the troops in command of Lieutenant Gabriel Moraga, in a second campaign of the same year. In the aboriginal tongue "Puy" signifies "Evil Spirit;" in Spanish it means Diablo, and Devil in the Anglo-American language. _Calaveras_ signifies skulls, and the creek thus styled was named from the fact of three thousand skulls having been found lying on its banks by its early discoverers. They were the remnants of a great battle between the Indians. _Tuolumne_, which has been spelt so many different ways in the letters from California, is a corruption of the Indian word "talmalamme," a cluster of stone wigwams. _Mariposa_ means butterfly. The river was so named in 1807, by a hunting party of Californians, from the fact of their encampment there having been surrounded by myriads of most gorgeous butterflies. _Solano_ was so named after a celebrated Catholic missionary. _Yolo_ is a corruption of the Indian word "Yoloy," and means a place abounding with rushes. _Marin_ was so designated after a great Indian chief, who made war so desperately against the Spaniards. _Sonoma_ is an Indian word, signifying valley of the moon. The Indians so named the valley in which the present town of that title is situated. _Napa_ was the name of the Indian tribe who inhabited the valley of the same name. _Mendocino_ was so named after the first Viceroy of Mexico. _Yuba_, a corruption of "uba," originally alluded to the immense quantities of vines which shaded the river. _Butte_ is a French word signifying hill, and was given by a party of hunters from the Hudson Bay Company to a range of high hills in the valley of the Sacramento. From thence the county is named. _Coluse_ county was so called after an Indian tribe of which it was the name. _Shalta_ county is so styled after an Indian tribe also. CHAPTER XV. A GENERAL VIEW OF CALIFORNIA AT THE PRESENT TIME.