SOCIETY. 387 
China, and nearly all of them are members of five great com- 
panies, called the Yung-Wo, the Sze-yap, the Sam-yap, the 
Yan-wo, and Ning-yeung companies. These companies have 
each a large building in San Francisco, where they lodge and 
feed all the members of their company when they arrive from 
China, or when they come on a visit from the interior. The 
companies are benevolent associations, and take care of their 
indigent and sick. There are no Chinese beggars in the 
streets, and no Chinese patients in the public hospitals. The 
common laborers are brought to the state under contract to 
work for several years at a low rate of wages (from four to 
eight dollars) per month; and they usually keep these con- 
tracts faithfully. The employers in these cases are either the 
companies or associations of Chinese capitalists. The China- 
men generally are very industrious ; indeed they are the most 
industrious class of our population, and also the most humble, 
quiet, and peaceful. The merchants are considered to be very 
faithful to their promises, and in San Francisco they can get 
credit among their acquaintances quite as readily as other men 
in similar branches of business. In the mines, the Chinamen 
work in the poorest class of diggings. They own no ditches, 
large flumes, hydraulic claims, or tunnel claims. The white 
miners have a violent antipathy to them, will not permit them 
to work in many districts, and will often drive them from their 
best claims in the districts where they are permitted to work. 
Sometimes the celestials venture to dam a stream, but not often, 
They use the rocker more than any other class of miners. 
In San Francisco, the merchants are usually in partner. 
ships, 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 
portion of the food of the Chinamen in the state. They have 
not learned to use bread instead of rice. Those who can af- 
ford 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 compa- 
