T'he Days of a Man Cisso 



the Chance" on the side toward town, and "First 

 "i'^^^ „ Chance" next the wharf. One day we had a call 

 from a man who remarked that he starved out in 

 that place, and had dropped in to see how business 

 was going with us! Next arrived a fat squaw call- 

 ing herself Ramona and insisting "Me want whisky." 

 It took some minutes to persuade her that the 

 "Last Chance" had gone dry. Finally, however, 

 we succeeded in leading her out of the shop, her 

 little son pushing vigorously from behind. 



At that time, throughout California, there was a 

 good deal of complaint about "Chinese cheap 

 labor." In San Diego, at least, this was mainly 

 talk, the people meanwhile allowing the Chinese 

 fishermen to depopulate the bay by the use of fine, 

 small nets trapping everything, little and big — 

 all of which they dried, salted, and sent to China. 

 That disastrous practice I attempted to stop "in 

 the name of the law." The men accordingly came 

 "Mr. to know me as "Law" or "Mr. Law," and they 

 ^^"'" seemed to think that the fishery statutes, not ex- 

 ecuted until after my arrival, were of my own 

 making. On our return later in the year they 

 stopped work entirely, evidently fearing to take 

 any chances with "Law." To secure specimens, 

 therefore, I had to hire men to fish for me. 



In the town we found a thriving Natural History 

 Society, of which Daniel Cleveland was the lead- 

 ing spirit. One of its most active members was 

 Rosa Smith, who later married Eipenmann, my 

 assistant and successor in Zoology at Indiana Uni- 

 versity. Miss Smith accompanied us on various 

 scientific excursions, going, in fact, as far as Port- 

 land. She discovered and described a few species 



I 204 ;] 



