110 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



rate of two bits (twenty-five cents) a drink, the drinkers little 

 dreaming that they were gulping down a perfect catalogue of 

 poisonous drugs at each potation. Each of these establish- 

 ments had its gambling hell, where newly arrived greenhorns 

 were scientifically fleeced by experienced blacklegs, who had 

 flocked here from all parts of the Union in anticipation of a 

 windfall. I visited one of them one evening. Ascending a 

 dark stairway in the rear of the building, I entered a low room 

 densely packed with humanity, and reeking with the fumes of 

 tobacco and bad whisky. The players were seated at their 

 tables and busily engaged in solving the mysteries of monte, 

 a game peculiar to Mexico and California, but now introduced 

 into the Mormon Zion by its accomplished and unscrupulous 

 votaries. It was a sad sight, to see the self-satisfied composure 

 wath which the blackleg drew in his fraudulently obtained 

 gold ; while the plucked victim would utter curses loud and 

 deep at his luck, but would again, lured on by the infernal 

 spirit of gambling, venture another stake, which would be 

 certain to follow in the wake of its predecessors to the coffers 

 of the scientific " dealer." It was odd to see what little value 

 money possessed here, where double-eagles were tossed about 

 like coppers by the excited gamesters. The gambling tables 

 were surrounded by eager lookers-on, who seemed almost as 

 much absorbed in the game as the players themselves, and did 

 one of the latter become tired or " broke," there were numbers 

 ready to take his place. Having staid until my curiosity was 

 fully satisfied, I retired from this above-ground Pandemonium, 

 and wending my way to my lodging-house, I moralized, as I 

 trod the gloomy streets, on the frailties of poor human nature. 

 The tradesmen of Great Salt Lake City were revelling in 

 the present flourishing state of affairs as greatly as the mer- 

 chants and grog venders. The shoemakers, in particular, wore 

 a look of independence, which spoke of plenty to do and high 

 rates for the doing. These sedentaries unblushingly de- 



