_Picacho_ (top, sharp-pointed summit), is the name of a post village in Imperial County.
_Pico_ (a surname), ten miles from Los Ángeles. José María Pico of Sinaloa was the founder of this family, and its most notable member was his son, Pío Pico, at one time governor of California. According to Bancroft, the character of Pío Pico was a mixture of good and bad, in which the good predominated. “He was abused beyond his deserts; he was a man of ordinary intelligence and limited education; of a generous, jovial disposition, reckless and indolent, fond of cards and women; disposed to be fair and honorable in transactions, but not strong enough to avoid being made the tool of knaves. He did not run away with large sums of money obtained by sales of missions, as has been charged.”
_Piedras Blancas_ (white rocks). See page 128.
_La Piedra Pintada_ (the painted rock). See page 108.
_Pilar_ (literally “pillar of stone”). Point Pilar may have been named for _Nuestra Señora del Pilar_, (Our Lady of the pillar), from a church at Saragossa, Spain, where there is an image of the Virgin on a marble pillar. Pilar is also a surname, that of a pioneer family, for whom this point may have been named.
_Pilarcitos_ (little pillars, or little Pilar Ranch).
_Pilitas_ (basins or water-holes in rock).
_El Pinal_ (the pine grove), in San Joaquín County.
_Pino Blanco_ (white pine), in Mariposa County.
_Pino Grande_ (big pine), in El Dorado County, near Placerville.
_Pinole_ (parched corn ground into meal). Point Pinole was so named because the expedition under Lieutenant Vallejo had nothing to eat but pinole while they waited at that spot for the return of the _cargadores_ with provisions from Monterey.—(_Memoirs of the Vallejos_, edited by James H. Wilkins, San Francisco Bulletin, January, 1914.)
_Piñón_ (pine kernel, also the scrub pine, a very picturesque tree bearing a delicious nut).
_Point Pinos_ (point of pines). See page 148.
_Tres Pinos_ (three pines). See page 163.
_Pinto Range_ (painted or mottled range). See page 332.
_El Piojo_ (the louse), in Monterey County, a short distance south of Jolón.
_Piru_, near Camulos, the name of a former Indian village.
_La Pita_, in San Diego County. _Pita haya_ is the fruit of the cactus called “prickly pear.”