The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-22 00:00:00

and sponge at will, till the chance offered of their ,
ruining some other voyage, if peradventure any one'
could bo found to receive such worthies on board his
vessel. It was the Sydney whaling barque Lucy
Ann, Ca?tain Ventom, that had the honour of
hrinring 1 vpee-Omoo livrtn-in Melville to Tahiti ; and in
the month of June, 1818, this said barque Lucy Ann was
lying at ituatain, one of the New lielandes, taking in san-
dal wood So much for the way in which the cook used to
pick her to piers for firewood. Herman Melville undoubt-
edly the rimtleader of the mutineers, was lying in the call-
house when I was dragged there; and from the an-Eng-
lish way in which the ruffian who assaulted me handled
his knife, I have the strongest suspicion that it was Her-
man Melville who threw himself upon a hound, defenceless
man; and I only regret that, amongst his other remini-
SC*: IlebS, he omitted to take notice of this. That he was in
the cilibose at the time there is nut a question; and that
the mtn WAS a Yankee who threw himself upon roe I will'
swear, not only from the peculiar intonation of his voice,
his pale unwhisken.-d face, and the thatch-like way in'
which his hair feU on either side of it, but from the

like nsture of his tongue—a qualificatiOn by no means-un-
common with ordinary American seamtm, which may be
account..l for from the fact, that many of them are grown
men before they think of gratifyin4 a roving fancy, and arc
much more devoted to loafing and reading than attending
to their duties.

The follow extract gives an interesting view of life
in the place towards which so many thoughts and so
many adventures have turned full of golden hopes.

LIFE TN SAN FRANCISCO.
Shortly after the conquest of California, the city of
San Francisco was planned; and streets, crossing each
other at right angels, were mapped on a. shoal extending
400 or 300 yard: into the sea. The water privileges thus
tlirown open to the good citizens of California found ready
buyers at 16 Bois. and 18 dole. the lot ; but since then the
mighty influx of immigrants has so incalculably raised the
price of land, that I much doubt whether I shall obtain
credence fur par-ntters that transpired before my own
eyes.
In the " Declaration of High's," section 17, it is pro-,
sided—That foreigner' who are, or who may hereafter
become, bona -fide resident' of this State, shall enjoy the
same right. in respect to the possession, enjoyment, and
inheritance of property, es native-born citizens." This
appears to me a liberal and wise provision ; hut it has
opened the most extraordinary field for adventurers that
has ever been seen or heard of in the annals of the world.
Be it remembered that the gold of the country is inex-
haustible, or assumed to be so, and be it known that gold
dust is the general circulating medium, receives! at 16 dolt.
the ounce troy weight: speculators or schemers, or land
sharks, or whatever other term they are known by, who
hail scarcely a dollar to bless themselves with on their first
arriving in the country, becoming convinced of the fact
that the mines were banks not likelyl.ooll to break, and fore-
seeing, moreover, the mighty mass of population that must
eventually find its way to this wonderful region, commenced
gambling in real testate, by degrees at first, and assisted by
credit. Supported by the influx of new corners, glad for a
season to get housed any where, houses have been rattled
up, and sales of land effected unexampled before the era.
The gamblers have aided this state of things by the enor-
mous rentals they are willing to pay for their stations, and
which, per consequence, keep up the rental of every descrip-
tion of property at rates hitherto unheard of. For any
sort of room, ten feet by twelve, forty and fifty dollars per
month is the lowest sum asked and paid. A small wooden
cottage, connoting of two rooms and a kitchen, will let
erudite, at 200 duls. per month; and any kind of a store,
with one or two rooms off it, leases at from 1,500 doh.
to 2,000 slob. per month. The merchants in San Frunciseo
, wished to erect a building for an exchange, and a land-
holder having a spot of land deemed eligible for its site, ap-
plicateni was male to him for it: he declined selling, but
offered to lease it at the modest ground rent of 14,000 dells. per
annum. And what may the reader imagine was the extent of
this piece of land ? 117.5, it did not exceed eiyAly fret by
sixty. I was present when the merchant deputed to make
the inquiry put the question, and heard the response. At
inn I thought the matter was a jest, and treated
ft as such : but sulks itvntly, the merchants not
agreeing to pay this enormous ground-rent, the same piece
of land has been leased at a rental of 29,000 dole. per
annum. But that "there is method in the people's mad-
ness" is shown by the way in which the lease is prepared,
as it contain. a clause regulating the rental every six
months, subjecting it to addition or subtraction, according
to the rise or fall of property; and arbitrators are to he
appointed half-yearly to fix the rental fur each ensuing six
months.
The merchant who inquired the price of the land on
which it was contemplated to erect an exchange, shortly ,
after made a boitUjide purchase of one of the lb dole. water
privilege", for which he paid 20,000 dole. ; and an he and I
were taking a walk, we made a descent into a sandy hollow,
be,nlering on the sea, where much wretchedness and sick.
seas were found under canvas tents, but which hai, received
la mockery the name of the " happy valley ; " and coming
to a wooden shanty, occupied by some Sandwich Island
Kanakae, my companion inquired whose lease and lot they
were occupying.
Mine," said sue of the men.
"Then why don't you sell it, and go to
your own coun-
try, where you never sneer from cold and sickness as you
are now doing 1 Why, I dare say, you could get a thousand
dollars for it ! ' urged my companion.
" It's worth more than that, air, " replied the man, in
very good English. " I was offered 5,000 dots. for it, and re-
fused it."
This was a clincher, and we renewed our jaunt, which
we continued till we reached the mission of Saint Dolores;
and here squatters were locating themselves in every direc-
tion, it being part of the general constitution of the Gutted
States that any wiatelipied government lands may be taken
pienession of by her citizens, and in this country the privi-
lege extends to foreigners, who may claim pre-emption
rights and obtain foe-simples of property thus acquired by,
payine the government upset price of land. This privilege
extends only to a certain proportion of land for each indivi-
dual, and the land must be occupied and improved.
Successful speculators in San Francisco have gone further
afield, and projectors have planned towns and cities on
ranchos ur tracts of land, in the hope of obtaining similar
results. At the confluence of the Rivers Sacramento and
San Joaquin, "blew York City of the Pacific " has been
laid out. Besides this, on the route to the city of Sacra-
mento, there arc San Raphael, Benicia, Martinez, Monte-
zuma, Sulsoon, Webster, and Suttorville, no less than eight
cities within a distance of forty miles; but with the excep-
tion of New York and Benicia, which have a sprinkling of
wooden houses, the others, at present, only rejoice in the
name.
The city of Sacramento may be estimated its eighty or
ninety miles from San Francisco. The land is more elevated
here than at parts lower down the river, and spreads away
into a vast plain tar as the eye can gaze. The city has been
laid out with some regard to its future destinies ; fine wide
streets are left for public traffic, and many of the giants of
the forest remain unscathed by the axe, imparting a sylvan
appearance and grace to the roads, without in any way in-
terfering with the busiest wayfarers or traffic that can
throng the scene. The place is covered with houses and
tent', which have arisen as if by the touch of a magic
wand. What a few months ago was primeval forest land,
bears now the worn traces of a truffle that has annihilated
all such primitive vestiges, with the exception of the trees
above alluded to, judiciously spared to promote both
elegance and comfort; for I um told that nn the summer
season the climate is intemperately hot, and the country
deluged with showers of impalpable duet *wept front the
plains, by the then prevalent strong winds. The banks of
the Sacramento are, generally speaking, low and marshy;
and I have heard that the city itself is occasionally subject
to being flooded. I think it exceedingly probable, although
I could detect no indications of such an event being of re-
cent occurrence. Lower down the river there is no want of
the most conclusive evidence un this point, the bushes and
trees furnishing irtefragable testimony thereof.
Ships of 200 and 300 tons burthen, and many smaller
eraft, lie moored to the banks off the city. Whether they
will ever get away again is problematical. Having accom-
plished the voyage thus far, it is not unlikely that their
sacrifice can be submitted to. Nut a vessel in San Francisco
possesses its complement of men. Mine all quitted as MOOR
as it suited their convenience, and we were compelled to
hire others at 3 doffs. a day. From Sacramento City is one
of the greatest thoroughfares to the e diggings," which may
account fur its unexampled rise; and landholders, both
there and San Francisco, have found themselves, without
any effort or exercise of judgment, suddenly the possessors
of princely income', merely by the rental of lands formerly
of no value, and which, in the wildest dreamings of intsgs-
nation, could never have been contemplated as likely to
yield more than a bare existence, if even they were capable
of doing that.
About two miles from Sacramento City, in an easterly
direction, is Suttor's Fort, a quundam trading post. esta-
blished sonic years ago by a Swim gentleman, known as
Captain Suttor. Tired with the busy hum of civilised life,
Shia gentleman sought retirement in the wilds of California,
and, like the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company. de-
voted his time to traffic with the Indians and the endeavour
to improve the country. He had (so it is asserted) hundreds
of Indians in his employ, and became a little king amongst ;
his dependant', who looked to him for food and clothing.
The fort is an oblong square of adobe walls, with bastions
at the four corners ; compartments run round the interior of I
the walls, and in the centre of the square stands a two-
storied house of greater pretensions, and which, probably,
was Sutton's residence. It is now converted into a public-'I
house. Captain Suttor's exertions were not confined to very
narrow limits, for whilst he was engaged in conetructime a
dam for the purpose of irrigation at a plies upwards of forty
miles from the fort, his people, in cutting a mill race tat
drive a saw, ripping the timber necessary for the construes
don of the dam, chanced to hit upon the wonderful die-
cover,' of the great fecundity of the gold in the coon
From that moment, Othello 's occupation was gone :" the
news spread like wildfire. Thousands rushed to the tease,
and Captain Sutter has become more notorious, and is more,
forced into society of the roughest and must uncongenial,
nature than ever fate could have exposed him to in any—,
the most densely crowded--city in Europe. I pity his psi-,
tion, as he is looked upon as a sort of cora arts, and every
successful man in the country considers himself at liberty
to intrude upon hint with his rough courtesy and congratu-
lations: by rough courtesy I mean—" vou take to
drink, Captain Sutton?' and the extent to which this is
conducted in Sacramento City is a "caution." "Hells,"
open to the light of day andwith doors that are dosed
against the public but for a few hours' intermission, are as
crowded here as they are in San Francisco, and Eight and
day the poisoned chalice is presented to the lips of the =-
reflecting who are in search of pleasure and excitement.
The steam-boats plying on the river are not free from these