Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-11-13
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
SAN Francisco, Oct. 81, 1873.
SHRIMP CATCHING

SHRIMP CATCHING.
Step into q restaurant in this city and call for
oysters. and, before you are served the waiter will
place before you plate of shrimps. This delic-
ious and nutritious shel.fsh is given you for an
appetizer. The attempts of novice to remove the
covering of these decapods are generally unsuc-
cessfn as requires considerable practice to do it,
Many person as he twists and pulls away at the
shell is apt to give it up as bad job and indulge
in few explosives at his i'll success know lust
about bog he feels for have never yet been able
to become proficient in the business. Shrimp
catching is chiefly pursued by John Chinaman
Probably not less than five hundred moon-eyed
epers are engaged in the business. The shrimps
are caught on the shores Of the bay. Tunnel
shaped nets are used to catch them, which are set
when the tide is coming in After ebb tide these
nets are lifted and the contents carried ashore
5000 pounds are about an average haul. Inex-
'pensive as these fish are, the monthly product
brings to these Cinnamon some $4,000. Tons of
shrimPs are cured by being boiled and the shells
broken and segregated by the Cinnamon tramping
over them with heavy wooden shoes. A winnow-
ing machine is also used. Alter the separation of
the shells the meat is dried and sold 10 this market
Some of it is ground into a coarse -four and used
for soups. The crushed shells are sent to China
where they are used as q fertilizer, and also Is
poison to the worm that is such q pest to the tea
plant.
STYLISH TEAMS.
town so prone to pleasure and fastness as San
Francisco, must OF course contain some very valu.
able specimens of horse flesh. The fancy turnouts
are numerous and to see those as beautiful and fair
as a summers idy, seated behind pair Of mettle-
some bloods is as common as to behold those of the
sterner sex. On Saturdays and Sundays in partic
ular, the avenues of the park present gay and
animated sight. Such splendid equipsgesi Such
high stepping steeds with proudly arched necks
There are double teams, tandem dog carts and i'm
posing four -hands, all dsshing along at furi.
Gus speed. Female equestians are numerous.
The diversions of the road are not confined To the
worlds people. Its allurements are such that sev.
ersl clergymen are to be seen daily pullinu tho
ribbons over spirited flyers. San Franciscan t.ke
to uotting horses with gorgeous gold mounted h.r.
nesses. There are private teams costing So 900.
and numerous livery 'turnouts valued at from
S2,0OO to $4,000. The stables of the wealthy are
full Of Thoroughbred horses which trot in the
thirtys. Flood, Sharon, Tevis, Stanford, Crocker.
Mills, Baldwin and scores Of other millionsires I
might name, are often to be seen seated behind
matched pairs splendidly caparisoned and which
are valued in the thousands. Croker drives pair
of horses which report says can trot in :ls, pull
ing road buggy. For draft purposes the besl
horses used are the Percherons In the interior OF
the State Mexican mustangs are largely used
These animals sell as low as S25 apiece.
CELESTIAL WOMEN.
OF the $500 Chinese females in this CITY all bu,
ahundred or so lead life of infamy. But few Of
the wealthy Mongolians have wives or companions
and those who do keep them so secluded that they
rarely go out of doors. Old bags are constantly
travelling between China and this port engaged in
bringing women here for immoral purposes. None
oil these women have small feet, as the feet Of
girls doomed to = life of prostitution are never
bound but are permitted to grow to their natur,,
size. The wretches who hold these creature. in
involuntary servitude derive an immense revenue
from their shameful calling. None of the upfor.
Inmates know or have the slightest idea Of their
rights, and they ubmit to Whatever befsls them
without murmur. If they fail to attract patron.
age they are beaten. tortured and almost starved
to death. Occasionally one makes her escspe
from the clutches Of those who own her; but when