42 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



In San Francisco, the merchants are usually in partnerships, 

 with not less than three nor more than ten partners, all of 

 whom live in the store, and deal chiefly in Chinese silks, teas, 

 rice, and dried fish. The two latter articles form a large por- 

 tion of the food of the Chinamen in the State. They have not 

 learned to use bread instead of rice. Those who can afford it 

 eat pork, chickens, and ducks. Beef, and most of our garden 

 vegetables, do not find much favor with them, even among 

 the wealthiest. The washermen are usually in companies of 

 two or three, and they have numerous little shops in the streets 

 of San Francisco, and in the smaller towns. They sprinkle 

 their clothes, previous to ironing, by filling the mouth with 

 water and then blowing it over them. For ironing, instead of 

 a flat-iron, they use an iron pan with a smooth bottom, and 

 kept full of burning charcoal. 



The Chinese men, women, and children learn English very 

 slowly ; most of those who have been five or six years in the 

 State cannot understand the most common English words. 

 All the Chinamen in California adhere to their national cos- 

 tume, with some slight variations. They wear their hair long, 

 use no white muslin or linen next the skin, and very few ever 

 put on a dress coat or stove-pipe hat. In the cities, they or- 

 dinarily use wooden-soled shoes, with thin cotton uppers. In- 

 stead of a coat they have a short blouse, generally of dark- 

 blue cotton, fitting close up to the neck. The wealthy have 

 this blouse made of silk or fur. In cold weather, if of silk or 

 cotton, it is wadded. The legs and lower part of the body 

 are enclosed in breeches of cotton or silk, tight from the thigh 

 down, and loose above. Trowsers, boots, and felt hats are 

 common. 



The law tolerates the Chinese. A treaty gives them the 

 right of coming to our country, living here, and engaging in 

 business ; but they are excluded from the privileges of natu- 

 ralization. 



The statutes of California levying a tax of $50 each on all 



