CHINESE. 47 



etc. It was a most interesting sight for an European, although 

 I must confess that their district was the most crowded and 

 dirty. Chinese women were scarcely to be seen, and the 

 very few residing in San Francisco were exhibited as great 

 curiosities. Not so with the men, of whom there were about 

 ten thousand, all of them finding occupation soon after their 

 arrival. Servants were so scarce, and so dear at that time, 

 that there were no end of applications to the Consulate for 

 Chinese servants and cooks, and I really believe that they 

 contributed in some way to the rapid prosperity of San 

 Francisco. 



From the intercourse that I had with them, I consider this 

 Asiatic race very enterprising, willing, easily contented, 

 patient, good workers, and even affectionate to those who 

 treat them well. In all these respects they resemble extra- 

 ordinarily the American Indians. Anyone who has studied 

 the two races cannot believe otherwise that they belong to 

 the same race of men, the only differences existing between 

 the two being the result of a long separation and I should 

 not be much surprised if one of these days a good linguist 

 wdll hnd analogies between their languages. In 185 1 and 

 1852, the Chinese were welcomed to San Francisco, because, 

 as I said before, servants, male or female, were not to be had 

 easily, and the price of all the indispensable necessities of life 

 was excessive. As soon as the Chinese arrived in numbers, 

 an immediate change took place. The price of servants 

 dropped from 50 to 75 per cent, and became accessible to 

 many; the same with the washing, which the Chinese understood 

 and did well. They were employed for all purposes, and 

 usually gave general satisfaction. Those who were not 

 employed as servants, established themselves as merchants 

 or traders. In their special district all kinds of merchandize 

 were offered for sale. Close to the merchants of dry-goods 

 w^ere barbers, laundries, coffee houses, bathing establishments, 

 restaurants, opium houses, and even a theatre was built by 

 them. Many made a living that way, others went to the gold 

 placers, and as a rule were more successful than the Europeans, 

 because they contented themselves with less, were more 

 patient, more tenacious in their purpose, and more moderate 

 in their wants. They did not drink, they ate sparingly, and 

 at a small cost, and they gambled only between themselves. 

 Their compatriots who had also gone to the placers and 

 established themselves there as hotel keepers, charged them 



4 



