100 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



in New York at a rental of from 300 to 400 dollars 

 a-year, cost here at least 10,000 dollars to build tLem, 

 the lots on which they were erected being valued at 

 sums varying from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars, according 

 to the locality. Many spots of ground, just large 

 enough for a small trading-house or a tent to stand 

 upon, let at from 1200 to 2000 dollars. 



*' Amongst the various emigrants who daily flocked 

 into the city — for each day brought its fresh arrivals 

 — were numerous Chinese, and a very considerable 

 number of Frenchmen, from the Sandwhich Islands 

 and from South America. The former had been 

 consigned, with houses and merchandise, to certain 

 Americans in San Francisco, to whom they were 

 bound by contract, as laborers, to work at a scale of 

 wages very far below the average paid to mechanics 

 and others generally. The houses they brought with 

 them from China, and which they set up where they 

 were wanted, were infinitely superior and more sub- 

 stantial than those erected by the Yankees, being 

 built chiefly of logs of wood, or scantling, from six to 

 eight inches in thickness, placed one on the top of the 

 other, to form the front, rear, and sides ; whilst the 

 roofs were constructed on an equally simple and inge- 

 nious plan, and were remarkable for durability. 



" These Chinese had all the air of men likely to 

 prove good citizens, being quiet, inofi*ensive, and par- 

 ticularly industrious. I once went into an eating- 

 house, kept by one of these people, and was astonished 

 at the neat arrangement and cleanliness of the place, 

 the excellence of the table, and moderate charges. It 

 was styled the ' Canton Restaurant ;' and so thoroughly 

 Chinese was it in its appointments, and in the manner 

 of service, that one might have easily fancied one's 



