98 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



and the excitement of some of the losers was frequently 

 fearful to contemplate. Some who gained largely 

 prudently withdrew ; and I was informed that, a few 

 days previously to my arrival, a new-comer from the 

 States, who was bound for the mines, having come 

 into the saloon, and tried his fortune at the monte 

 tables, luckily made twenty thousand dollars, with 

 which he returned home, by the steamer, two days 

 afterwards. 



"The 'Golden Eagle,' (VAguila d'Oro) is another 

 gambling establishment, situated in one of the streets 

 leading into the Plaza. It is a canvas house, about 

 fifty feet square, fitted up with the requisites for play, 

 and let out by the proprietor at the rate of fifteen 

 hundred dollars a month. Every available spot around 

 the tables was crowded to inconvenience by persons 

 who were engaged deeply in the game, the majority 

 standing up and watching the chances with counte- 

 nances betokening the greatest excitement. 



" I now proceeded to the City Hotel, a large but 

 somewhat antiquated building, constructed of adobS, 

 after the Spanish fashion, but hybridized by American 

 improvements. The interior was even more insuffer- 

 able than the El Dorado, in respect of the boisterous- 

 ness of its frequenters. In the first room that I 

 entered were five gambling-tables, doing a ' smashing 

 business' — a term employed, somewhat in contradic- 

 tion to its import, to denote prosperity. The majority 

 of the players were Americans and other foreigners, 

 intermixed with a goodly number of Spaniards of the 

 lowest order. There was the same excitement, the 

 same recklessness, and the same trickery here, as at 

 the other gambling saloons, only infinitely more noise 

 and smoke, and swearing and inebriety. 



