Half the stories afloat concerning “wealthy returned Californiansâ€� are exaggerated beyond the power of tongue to describe. A case or two in point:—A young man from the West, who had been mining between two and three years, and with whom I had become acquainted, started home on a certain occasion, with about one hundred and sixty dollars over and above his expenses. In speaking of his friends, I asked him what he was going to tell them when he got home. “Oh!â€� says he, “I shall not admit that I have made so little; for, if I do, they’ll accuse me of having been indolent, of gambling, of drinking, or some other disreputable thing that I have never been guilty of; so I’ll give out that I have made twelve or fifteen thousand dollars; and about the time I shall have got them all in a good humor, I’ll take an excursion down to New Orleans, and thence to South America, where I am determined hereafter to seek my fortune.â€� Thus, although he was honorable, and not addicted to habits of dissipation, he had not the nerve to tell the real truth of his own success. This shows how easily these exaggerated rumors are set agoing, and public ignorance imposed upon. The further people live from California, the more credulous are they of golden legends; and I am persuaded that the young man above alluded to had no difficulty in making his neighbors in the West believe he was worth whatever amount he chose to tell them he had made. Extravagant as this story may sound, it is not without a parallel. A man, who had accumulated from three to four thousand dollars, returned on a visit to his friends in the East; and, to test the credulity of the people, he put out the report that he had made five hundred thousand dollars. His story was received by the gaping neighbors without a doubt; and all at once our adventurer found himself the invited guest of nabobs who never knew him before he went to California, though they had seen him hundreds of times. I cannot close these remarks without offering a word of advice to the marriageable ladies. If you seek a rich husband, do not form a matrimonial alliance with an El Dorado CrÅ“sus; for, in nine cases out of ten, a “wealthy Californianâ€� is a poor man.
Admitting all that is claimed for California in regard to her mineral wealth, it affords no reason why every body should rush thither; nor is it any argument that it will ever become the land of promise which an enthusiastic imagination may picture. It is already a pandemonium; and it does not clearly appear how it can become an elysium.
The benefit of mines of the precious metals to the country in which they are found, is still an open question. The weight of authority is against them. The history of Mexico and Peru, in this hemisphere, as well as the new chapter which California is opening, cannot be quoted in their favor. It seems to be decreed that, the more oblique the route by which gold is reached, the greater is its value; while the more directly it is acquired, the more mischievous is it to the morals and the material wealth of a nation. If, as Joseph Bonaparte so happily remarked, “gold, in its last analysis, is the sweat of the poor and the blood of the brave,� the more of these ingredients contribute to produce it, the richer is the result. The concurrent testimony of all ages proves that those nations who obtain their wealth by the indirect methods of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, are more happy and more prosperous than those who dig their treasures directly from the earth. This result is partly brought about by the great diversity of occupations which spring up in such a state of society, and give employment to all classes of the community: whereas, in a mining region, rich only in the precious metals, the resources of labor are fewer, and its tasks less diversified. The moral effect of sudden riches must also be taken into consideration. Few men can gaze undazzled at the splendor of a large fortune: and the more rapidly they acquire it, the more likely are they to grow dizzy in its contemplation. It seems to require time for a man to become habituated to the sight of wealth, in order to enable him to enjoy it with ease or dignity.
We cannot, therefore, conclude that the mere presence of gold is sufficient to advance California to a high position among her sister commonwealths. She produces the circulating medium of the country, it is true: and the intrinsic value of that medium causes the world to overlook the cost of its acquisition. We have endeavored, however, to set people right on that subject in the chapter entitled “The Balance-Sheet,� and shall not repeat what was there said.
We will not urge any complaint against the climate; for, in this respect, all classes and conditions of men can be suited, whether from the burning regions of Central Africa, or from the snow-capped mountains of Russian America. Along the southern line of the State it is oppressively hot, and, as a matter of course, is somewhat enervating; but in the north and north-east, among the mountains, it is extremely cold; and snow, to the depth of from two to ten feet, is found there as late as August. Large quantities of this snow are brought down to the cities, a distance of more than two hundred miles, by teamsters, and sold as a substitute for ice. The northern and southern sections of the State are, as yet, but little inhabited or known, except by the natives, who, like all other North American Indians, are ignorant of any thing beyond the limits of their own hunting-ground. In the middle or central parts of the State, the climate, as a general thing, is delightful, and, withal, highly invigorating and salubrious. Around San Francisco, particularly, during the winter season, when it does not rain, the weather is unusually mild and pleasant; and I have often heard it compared to the climate of Italy. It is not so agreeable in summer, because the dust and winds prevail to such a decree, throughout the dry season, as to become a source of extreme discomfort. The main objection I have to the California climate, as stated in a previous chapter, is the division of the seasons into six months of dry weather, which burns and scorches the earth so severely that nothing will vegetate; and six months of wet weather, during which time the rain falls so hard and so fast, that it is quite impossible to perform out-door labor. These two seasons are general—that is, they affect the entire State; but the temperature of the atmosphere varies very much, according to locality. In and about the latitude of San Francisco, it is rarely ever too cold or too hot: though the weather frequently changes, three or four times in a single day, from calm and warm to boisterous and cool, and from boisterous and cool to calm and warm again. In other places, where the days are intolerably close and sultry, it is necessary to have one or two blankets to sleep under at night. The remarkable aridity and unfruitfulness of the country at large, may be ascribed to the protracted drought of the summer, which begins in April, and lasts until about the middle of November.
CHAPTER IX.
SUNDAY IN CALIFORNIA.
The Sabbath in California is kept, when kept at all, as a day of hilarity and bacchanalian sports, rather than as a season of holy meditation or religious devotion. Horse-racing, cock-fighting, cony-hunting, card-playing, theatrical performances, and other elegant amusements are freely engaged in on this day. If I remember correctly, it was about two months after my arrival in the land of gold and misery, that I had the misfortune to become acquainted with a renegade down-east Congregationalist preacher, who invited me to accompany him, on the following Sunday, in a deer-chase. Throughout the country, and in the mines, shooting-matches and bear-hunting afford pleasant pastimes; gambling is also practiced to a considerable extent, though not so much as on other days. But we shall probably learn more of the manner in which Sunday is spent, if we confine our attention to one of the larger cities, San Francisco, for example. Here regattas, duels and prize-fights are favorite diversions; and the Lord’s day seldom passes without witnessing one or the other, or both. Here, too, for a long time, gaming was licensed on Sundays, as it is yet on week days; but recently the city fathers have passed an ordinance prohibiting the desecration, and I believe their example has been followed by three or four of the other cities. There is no State law upon the subject.
Connected with a tippling-house, on the corner of Washington and Montgomery streets, there is one of the finest billiard-saloons in the United States. It is very large, and magnificently decorated, has twelve tables, and is furnished, I am informed, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. To this place hundreds of infatuated men betake themselves every Sunday; and it is an unusual thing, at any time, to find one of the tables unoccupied. Every day of the week, from breakfast time in the morning till twelve o’clock at night, this saloon, like many others of a like kind, is thronged; but the crowds are particularly large on Sunday, because people have more leisure on that day. Though, in this particular place, they are not allowed to gamble publicly on the Sabbath, they lose and win as much money in the way of secret wagers as they do openly on any other day.
What can we expect but an abuse of the Sabbath, when we take into account the contrariety of characters, tastes, dispositions and religions here huddled together? When we scrutinize society, we find that some of its members, the Chinese and other pagans for instance, know nothing at all of our system or division of time, and that they are, therefore, absolutely ignorant of the meaning of the word Sunday. There is no unity of thought, feeling or sentiment here; no oneness of purpose, policy or action. There is no common interest; every man is for himself, and himself alone. Society is composed of elements too varied and dissimilar;—it is a heterogeneous assemblage of rivals and competitors, who know no sympathy, and recognize no principle, save that of personal profit and individual emolument. Nearly all colors and qualities of mankind are congregated here. The great human family is, as it were, sampled and its specimens formed into one society, each communicating to the other his own peculiar habits, and each contending for the same object—the acquisition of gold. It is manifest, therefore, that there can be but little concert or harmony of action. Masquerade balls, cotillion parties and jig dances fill up the list of Sunday diversions. On Pacific street alone, the most notoriously profligate thoroughfare in the city, there are from twelve to fifteen dance-houses, in which the terpsichorean art is practiced every night during the week, but usually with greater zest and animation on Sunday nights. These fandangoes are principally under the superintendence or management of Mexican girls, of whom there is no small number in San Francisco and other cities of the State. Before I ever saw any of the Mexican ladies, I had heard the most glowing descriptions of their ravishing beauty; but I must either discredit the accounts, or else conclude that my ideas of female beauty are very imperfect, for I have never yet beheld one of them who, according to my standard of good looks, was really beautiful. Their pumpkin hues and slovenly deportment could never awaken any admiration in me, even in California.
Bonnets among them are quite unknown. Half the time they go bare-headed through the streets and to church, just as they do about their premises; but most of them have a long, narrow shawl, which is sometimes worn over the head, as well as the shoulders. This shawl is, in fact, an almost indispensable article of apparel, especially with the better classes, who never appear in a public place, whether in winter or summer, without it. They wrap it around their face, head and shoulders so ingeniously that spectators can not obtain a glimpse of any part of their features, save the forehead, eyes and nose; the mouth, chin and cheeks are cautiously concealed. There is a gross lack of consistency among these women. Notwithstanding they engage in the lowest debaucheries throughout the week, they are strict attendants of the Catholic church; and dozens of them may be seen any Sunday on their way to matins, mass or vespers, clad in habiliments of the greatest possible variety. If they can only get one fine, fashionable garment they think it makes amends for the bad material and ill shape of all the others. Nor are they particular to have their whole person clothed at the same time. I don’t think I have ever seen one of them fully attired in my life; something was always wanting. Sometimes they may be seen promenading the streets, robed in the richest silks that were ever woven in Chinese looms, but when you gaze down at their lower extremities you discover them stockingless, their feet thrust into a pair of coarse slippers, which expose to view a pair of rusty heels that look as if no ablution had been performed upon them for at least three moons. The Mexicans, however, in most cases, are fond of aquatic exercises; and they have several bathing establishments in San Francisco, for the accommodation of the public, (at one dollar per head for each bath,) as well as for their own convenience and gratification. Unless I have been misinformed, it is a custom with the proprietors, when a gentleman retires to take his bath, to dispatch a female servant to his room to scour and scrub him off! As I resided near an American bath-house, I always patronized it in preference, and did not acquaint myself with Mexican usages in this respect.