The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-02-05

1.-THE following from a gentleman who formerly
resided here will give some idea of a portion of Cali
fornia which has attracted considerable notice, and
to which some Of our residents have gone to settle.
The picture is not q very attractive one ]
New SAN DIEGO, December 10, 1869.
Mr.. EDITOR Before leaving Honolulu, several
of my friends pressed me very urgently to write q
description of the place, after 1 became fairly located
in it. 1 made so many promises that [ would do 80,
that my only available way to fulfill them is to
solicit space for a few lines in your paper, hastily
drawn up. The first noticeable feature which a
stranger observes on arriving IS
The HarbOr,
Which has a perfectly safe entrance at all seasons of
the year. The harbor is twelve miles long averaging
one and a half miles in width, and it has been said,
can float all the navies in the world. 1t is completely
landlocked and has a perfectly safe anchorage, or
&C holding ground where, if you put down an
anchor it stays until you want to move it. My
friend, Captain c., said of it eff one could
make a harbor for himself, he could not beat that of
San Diego, not a point" He ought to know as he
is a sailor by profession and has followed his pro-
fession for thirty years, or more.
As you round sBallast Point which is a very
high cliff, on which conspicuously stands the light
house, you look across the peninsular which forms
the sea-wall of the harbor, and see
New San Diego,
Which is splendidly situated on high ground, which
rises with a gentle grade to the mesa, or table-lands.
Strangers coming in from the sea, see the whole
town at q glance, and are agreeably impressed with
its appearance. The town is of one years growth
only, has six hundred and twenty-eight houses,
mostly frame and mere shanties, each occupied by
six persons on the average. There are but q few
good dwellings here that deserve the name, and we
have two brick buildings really well built and occu-
pied, with two under construction. There are fifty
nine more of the aforementioned sc houses going up.
There is no danger of n mans being forced to be
temperate as the place is cursed with about forty
" whisky mills - of all styles and descriptions, SO
that our good citizens can enjoy q disgusting row
every now and then, and have their countenances
beautifed with various black, blue, purple and red
spots, which show that they have suffered for whis-
ky's sake. Whisky is cheap here: Bit a drink,
sir - G Five drinks for a half!' will stare you
everywhere 1 insert the above for the benefit of
tipplers in Honolulu. They can kill themselves here
at half it would cost in Honolulu. Economy is a
good thing, in most cases.
Society,
Here is most decidedly g mixture, viewed from my
standpoint as we have good, bad and Indifferent
a very little good, a decided excess of bad, and too
luz VI 1HS hAAhCAOh Il GhO1A4 oJ ~ 10 P~OA
place for unmarried young men, az they must have
society of some sort. But married men, bringing
their families, of course bring their society with
them.
The Sell
Is good wherever it can be irrigated, and for some
grains it is at all times sufficiently irrigated. 1t is
producing all sorts of vegetables and weeds, mostly
the latter. Fruit trees are doing well for their age.
L think that the country is safe, if it depends on the
soil only. But of course to iFrigate you must have
Water.
Wen, the water is like the society, good, bad, and
Indifferent. You strike :" water everywhere you
choose to dig, and plenty of it, but you are not
certain what kind of water you viii find. The
water in our well is very ~brackish, while our neigh
Dor has most excellent water. There is talk of laying
pipes from the "Sweetwater creek to this town
when we will have plenty of water to drink as we'll
as to sprinkle our streets.
The Climate
However makes up in most peoples ideas. for all
else that is not acceptable here. There is never very
cold weather here, it is true, nor very warm but if
one has lived in Honolulu a long time, I think that
ne would sigh for home if he suffered with cold feet
and hands as much as I do at this present moment.
Land Titles
Are not so good as one could wish to have them.
The town-lots, 1 believe, are all right 50 far as titles
are concerned, and those buying of grant-holders
consider themselves safe. But there are miles Of
land here taken up by "squatters, % which is not