and all the large towns there are regular
gambling-houses; and in the mining camps
they spend a great portion of their leisure in
playing—generally for "pice," or other low
stakes. The keepers of these houses must be
wealthy, as they invariably pay the large
fines which are sometimes inflicted on them
when detected infringing the act passed
against gambling-houses. They seem to
have no idea of the binding nature of a
legal oath, and accordingly their evidence is
always received most cautiously. In the courts
of law they are usually sworn by breaking
a plate, cutting the neck off a fowl, or by
burning a piece of paper before them. They
do not intermarry with the whites, and few of
the labourers bring wives with them. There
are upwards of fifteen hundred of their women
on the Pacific coast, one thousand of whom are
in San Francisco, and nearly all of them are of
the vilest class. The children are tolerably
numerous in San Francisco, and are pretty
little creatures, with their sparkling black eyes
and queer little queues behind, eked out with
green or scarlet silk. Suicides are very
common among them, the Chinese seeming to
care nothing for life. They are mostly
Buddhists of a very corrupted type, though a few
Christians are found among them. The former
have a fine temple in San Francisco, and in
every house is a little family temple, or Joss-
house, before which papers are burnt and
offerings made at stated times. "With the
exception of gambling and opium smoking,
they have few amusements. In San Francisco
they support a curious little theatre, where the
music is a demoniacal band of gongs; and the
same play seemed to have been going on for
several years when I last visited it, and is not
yet finished. Kite-flying is a favourite out-of-
doors amusement. Chinese kites, made in the
form of butterflies and birds, which give out a
singing noise, are in great demand among the
youth of the Pacific coast. Occasionally, on a
Sunday, a few of them will have an "out" on
horseback, or in a waggon. On these
occasions some of them dress in European clothes,
and the horsemanship and general display is a
sight for gods and men! Except on the great
festival of their new year, you see very little
dissipation among them. These holidays
generally last three or four days, when all
business is suspended, and you must wear foul
linen until .John your washerman has finished
his jollification. The morning of the first day
of the holidays is ushered in by a loud display
of crackers and other fireworks, and before
nine o'clock the streets are covered with red
papers. Sometimes, to the great delight of
young California, a whole caskful is let off at
once. A Chinese merchant told me that it
generally costs about one thousand pounds
each new year for fireworks alone; and some
houses in the city will expend from sixty to
eighty pounds for this item alone.

During this season no allusion to anything
sad, such as death, sickness, losses in business,
or any misfortune, is tolerated by any one.
Every sentiment must be of hope, good will,
and good cheer. Every true subject of the
Flowery Land does his best; and the attire of
some of the wealthy Chineae far exceeds in cost
the dresses of the richest of the whites. A
sable cape, silk trousers, and embroidered silk
jacket, make a very expensive turn out. The
greetings and salutations are very ceremonious,
and all imaginary blessings are included in the
interchange of good wishes. Upon almost all
the stores, places of business, and tenements
of the Chinese, may be seen during the holiday
season, sundry strips of red paper pasted up,
inscribed with Chinese characters. They are
usually five in number, and are recognised in
common parlance as "charms," but among those
familiar with the usages of these people as the
"five blessings." Each is inscribed with a
separate blessing, such as health, wealth, friends,
long life, and posterity. At this period they
also visit the temple, observing certain religious
rites, and making offerings of roast pigs and
other dainties to their idols, which are afterwards
withdrawn and eaten at their own feasts.
The first four days at the beginning of each
new year are appropriated for the lower
classes, and thirty days for the gentry, as a
time of feasting in China, but on the Pacific
coast the custom is somewhat modified. Some
of the wealthy Chinese keep up a round of
festivities for two or three weeks, while the special
holiday season may be said to expire at the end
of three or four days. They have also other
holidays in the course of the year. About
these times, indigestion and other ills trouble
John, and the doctor has to be called in. There
are many of these professional gentlemen on
the Pacific coast, grave looking old fellows,
but generally arrant rogues. Deer-horns when
in the "velvet" are eagerly bought, being
esteemed a valuable medicament by the Chinese.
The gall of a bear is valued at its weight in
gold, and the rare Albino deer is equally
prized.

In 1864, there was quite a furor in San
Francisco about a Chinese doctor, whose
consulting-rooms were besieged by the élite of the
city. His success was said to consist in careful
regimen, his medicines being very harmless.
He used, however, to insure attention to diet
and general conduct by laying down strict rules,
to diverge from which, he informed his patients,
would cause certain death to ensue from the
medicine. He was of a fine appearance, richly
dressed, and spoke through an Englishman as
an interpreter. His lionisation lasted a few
weeks, and after that he gradually dropped
into oblivion, to make way for some other
sensation. On the whole, the rapidly
increasing Chinese population is an advantage
to the American States and territories on
the Pacific, as well as the British colonies
further north. They cultivate ground which
no one else will, and work gold mines
disregarded by the whites. They are consumers
to some extent of European and American
manufactures, and whether or no, their
merchants pay taxes and import duties. On the