CHIPS FROM CALIFORNIA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2525, 15 September 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHIPS FROM CALIFORNIA.

«. A COBKK.SPONDKKT of the Wellington Post writer from Sin Francisco as follows :—A few lines about California, as it appears to me, may be of some little interest to a few of your readers. Iu the first place, after a good deal of reading about California from i's press, and hearing of it for many jeu-s from othors who have been through many of its counties, one baa to make a kind of mental zig-zag line of demarcation between fact and fiction, fact and exaggeration, fact and the cuiilcur de roue, in comparing , what one has read with that which one sees. Arriving in Sau Francisco on Saturday, the 9th June, we of course had fine weather on landing, and getting detained by a row with the Customs about the number of passengers, having our roll-call gone over twice, etc,, we landed, too late for delivering letters, doiug any banking, etc., to the great annoyaucc of those having to go on Eist. Strolling about the query presented itself, Where shall I go ? Chinatown at once suggested itself, and on stepping into a cigar store to enquire tho way, I was met with the following from the young man in charge, who could duly recently have been transplanted from tho Fatherland:—" You vant to co to Chinatown. Veil, you goes right a heat tree plocks, den you gnus two plccks up to de left, den, if your nose is vorth a tam den you shmell em, den follow de shraell two plonks more, den you in Chinatown sure." This programme was carried out very much to the satisfaction of my love for the curious. On the occasion of a subsequent visit with one who knew tho ■rruuud we went through as many public places as any one was permitted, who wore no pigtail. An obliging John priest showed us over a Joss House, telling in his native language, I suppose, tho names of the diffi.r-L-iii gods, their different powers, &0., !cc, so wo learned from some attempted English. The amount of labour expended on these figures ami other work was astonishing, the candle held up by our guide (it was about midnight)," showing all details. On coining down the stair a door was pointed out by my friend with Chinese characters on the side. It was a gambling den. This struck me as queer, and the idea seemed to me the same, as if, say, St. Peter's Church in Wellington had a small cor.ier reserved for Yankee grab. But one cannot understand John. On we went, noticing all the odd sights—the gambling dens, with their watchmen at the outer door, rope in baud, lookiug sharply about him, ready to pull thn alarm anil warn those inside. We went into the aristocratic tea house, whero everything is as dean as possible, and where a siipmior cup can bo had. Hero at times comes the Chinese merchant with his friends to enjoy themselves with tea, &c, and a smoke, instead of having them to his house. On a birthday too, a rioh Chiukie invites here his friends and relations to keep high festival. To lower regions we went, where cooking could bo seeu with all its peculiar features a Iα Chink. To the dark, dirty alleys, where the fish and fruit were selling, surrounded by dirt and filth, sufficient to disgust one from eating for a week, me For neatness, cleanliness, and tidiness, give me a well trained Chinaman ; but for dirt and filth take a squint at a slovenly one. This will apply to many lauds one course. On my first Sunday night's stroll, enjoying the coolness of the air, I came to a siju ire with a few people talkinsr loudly ; then a moment's confu-ion and then that detestable sound of a pistol shot. Two young fellows and two girls, all fellow-workers in a factory, had been spending the day pleasantly iu tlie midst of the beautiful surronndiugs of (jnldcu Gate Park. Oα their way home jocular remarks of questionable tastj from some bystanders; rough replies, then a blow; his companion hands a revolver—and then young Bain is on his back, and in half an hour his holiday and his life are both ended. Oh ! that cursed habit of pistol-carrying 1 Home to my hotel and bed. *