The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-30 00:00:00

CALIFORNIA.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER DATED JAN. 1, 1850.
And now to the business part of my letter, which has
been truly unfortunate. Immediately upon our arrival a
custom-house officer was put on beard, who when he
found that our vessel was an English ono, informed us
that all spirits on board would be confiscated, and not
even admitted by paying a duty of 100 par cent. This
was a terrible blow to some cf us, myself amongst the
test, as I had 1.500 bottles of spirits on board. In thst
one item I estimate my loss at 1,400 dollars, that being
the market price here. On 171. worth of blailets I
have been obliged to pay, one way and another, 40 per
cent,., which is a difficult thing to do without a farthing
in ore's pocket. But I will tell you how I managed by
and by. For my medicines I had to pay the same ex-
cessive duties. On every fire-arm or weapon of defence
that a stranger takes in, he is obliged to submit to an
extortion of five dollars, or about one guinea English.
My cutlery also will never see San Francisco, besides it
is quite a drug in the market. The speculation in
watches also is about the worst that could have been
male, at there are thousands of beautiful French gold
watches selling here for leis than cost price; every lean
you meet has several about him for sale. The only
things that do pay an Englishman here are woollen slops,
or warm clothing, and wine and spirits sent in quantities,
packed according to the American law, and, above all,
they must be carried in an American bottom. You will
see by this, that our venture in merchandise has turned
out a pre feet failure; it was a source of great pain and
anxiety to us at first. but it cannot be helped. My mis-
fortunes do not, however, terminate here, for our vessel
does not intend returning to England, owing to the
length of time we have been coming out; and, what is
still worse, no English vessel is allowed to sail up the
liver Eacramento—therefore the vessel, which was to
have been our hone while at the mines, is useless.
I will now give you seme idea of the town. It is
situated in an elevated position, and where six months
ago there were only a few huts, there are now some
5,000 fine wooden houses and as many tents; in fact
there is an entire little town, composed of tents, and
named " The Happy Valley." At present the rainy
season bas commenced, , and will continue about four
months, and the remainder of the year will be fine and
unvisited by a single shower. The town at this season
is a sea of mud, never leis-than knee deep, occasionally
up to the neck. Folks walk about, with their trousers
tucked up as high as possible. Merchants are glad to
give 201. for a pair of fisherman's high boots. There is
calculated to be about 100,000 people in California. in
San Francisco, Bohemia, Montray, and Sacramento
town, there are about 70,000. In San Francisco there
are 35,000 men, and only 126 women! I have been
here 14 days and not seen onel I will give you now
some little idea of rents, &c. For a moderate sised
house run up of wood the usual price is at the rate of
1,8001. per annum; for a small room, about 10 feet
square, lam asked 501. per month unfurnished. Car-
penters, or, in fact, all mechanics, are earning with ease
3/. 10s. a day. Doctors are as common as fleas, yet if
they can only get a house and a patient they do well.
Meat sells at 2s. per lb., bread Is. 6d. far a small loaf
about enough for one meal, onions 6s. per lb., cabbages
from 7s. to 12s. each, potatoes 3s. per lb., board sad
lodging of the meanest description 6/. per week, and at
any comfortable place double that some. Gambling is
carried on to an extent hardly to be believed; every
other house is a hell, and the sums of pure gold I have
seen played for you would not credit me even if I told
you—consequently murders and suicides are very com-
mon; the murders average seven or eight per week, and
the suicides double that number.

Now that I have given you some few general remarks
about the town, I will say a little concerning the mines,
or diggings as they are called: they are situated from'
300 to 600 miles from this place, and it takes a fortune
to get there. The charge is 81. to go up to the Sutter's
Fort, which is only 100 miles up the country. The
muleteers charge one dollar per lb. for luggage,lnd pro-
visions are three times the price that they are here.
Now I will tell you how some of us ere gaining suf-
ficient money to pay our duties, ?cc.:--Captain --. a
young Irishman, who was presented at Court just before
he started, has been earning five or six dollars a day by
retailing eggs at 30s a dozen; another has been going
from door to door with ready-made clothing; he his
made enough to pay his dillies. I have tried wood-zit-
ting and shooting for a livelihood, both of which are
very pretty amusements; but here, in rainy weather, it
is very laborious.