46 CALIFORNIA. 



houses of bricks and mortar. During my stay in San Francisco^ 

 about two hundred of them were built. But the principal 

 curiosity amongst the useful and important buildings was the 

 great Wharf, at the end of Montgomery Street. It was the 

 wildest and longest of all, over one mile in length, and they 

 were still adding to it. 1 think it was the longest wharf known. 

 Hundreds of ships were constantly waiting their turn to dis- 

 charge their cargoes or take in fresh ones, although a great 

 many of them were obliged to sail without any return freight, 

 as the commerce of exportation was nearly nil at that time. 

 The said wharf was built on the sea for the most part, and 

 they were gradually filling the sea with the detritus of the 

 town. Very often I went fishing from that wharf, and I 

 caught large quantities of fish belonging to many different 

 species. 



At the end of December, I removed from the small bay 

 to another part of the town, at the top of Stockton Street, 

 close to the Chinese Consulate. There were only two other 

 houses in that part of the suburbs. In fact we were quite in the 

 country. The small Villa, built entirely of wood, w^as divided 

 into three fine rooms on the ground floor, and a very large 

 room above. The cost was twenty-five dollars monthly. There 

 was a front and a back garden. I remained in this house 

 eight months. The Chinese Consulate, which w^as also a 

 museum and a bond house, where the goods of many Chinese 

 merchants were kept, being near, I wxnt there very often, and 

 made friends with the inmates. I received many Chinese curiosi- 

 ties from them in exchange for fish which I usually caught 

 from the great Wharf. I remember particularly a species of 

 Siluridae, or Cat-fish, which I caught abundantly. I did 

 not care for them, so I always gave them away to my friends 

 of the Consulate, who were very fond of that fish. On these 

 occasions they took me in their store-rooms, which were 

 crowded with all sorts of goods — ^umbrellas, fans, pipes, 

 beautifully lacquered chests of all sizes, straw hats, crackers, 

 idols, etc., etc. In fact, to me it was like a museum of 

 Chinese curiosities, and I found great pleasure in looking at 

 all these pretty things, and they always gave me something, 

 so that little by little I made a small collection of them, some 

 of which are still in my possession. 



Chinese immigrants were very numerous at that time, 

 and they had already their own district, the centre of which 

 is Sacramento Street, occupied with hotels, boarding houses, 

 opium dens, gambling houses, shops, playhouses, temples^ 



