The Osceola times., 1879-04-19
NEW CHINA.

NEW CHINA.
charles Warren stsddard In The CoeIie
atroDghOld ia San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle.
So far we have but nibbled II e shell of
this hardest OF nuts to crack. Open
sesame Shades of special officers protect
us Back of the highly respectable brick
buildings on the south side of Sacra-
mento street there are pits and deadfalls
innumerable and over all Is the black
ness OF darkness, for these moles can
work the earth faster than the ghost OF
the murdered Dane. From the noisome
watts three stories under ground to the
hanging gardens of the fish dryers on
the roofs, there is neither nook nor corner
butts populous with Mongolian monerels.
The better class have their reserved
quarters. With them there is at least
space TO stretch ones legs without bark.
ing the shins of ones neighbor; but from
their comfort to the condensed discom
fort Of the impoverished coolie 10 but
step. Between brick walls we 'hread
our way, single file, and begin descend
ing into the abysmal darkness. The
tSpers, without which it were impossible
TO proceed with safety, bu IN ieebly in the
double night of that subterranesn t ne.
ment. Most Of the hsbitable quarters
under tine grade are like 10 many pigeon.
houses heaped together intiscriminately.
If there were sunshine enough down
yonder to drink up the
SLIME THAT CLOSES EVERY FLANK,
and fresh air enough to sweeten the mil
dewed kennels, this highly eccentric
style OF architecture might charm for
moment by reason OF its novelty There
is, moreover, a suspicion of the pictu.
rescue lurking about the place - but
heaven save us, how it smells We pass
from one black hole to another. In the
first there Is kind IF bin for ashes and
Goals, and pots and grills it is the
kitchen {! A heap of fine kindling in
one corner, a bench or a stool, a. black
as SCOT can paint it, few bowls, a few
bits OF rag, a few fragments of food and
a coolie ,quatting over a fre-a coolie
that rises out of the dense smoke like
the evil genii in the Arabian tale There
is no chimney; there is no window /;
there is no drainage. We are in a cubic
sink in which we can scarcely stand
erect. From the hall door pours dense
volume of smoke, some of it stale smoke,
which our entry has forced out of the
corners. The kitchen will hold only so
much, and we have made havoc among
the cubic inches. Under foot the thin
planks sag into stanting pools, and there
Is the gimme. OF blue just along the
foot Of the wall. Gentlemen, thousands
feed at these troughs. The next apart
ment, smaller vet, and blacker and bluer
and more slippery and shiny, is
AN UNCOVERED CESS POOL,
from which sickening stencil arises and
pervades the quarter and here ave cham.
bers opening upon narrow galleries that
run in various directions, and sometimes
bridge one another in a marvellous and
ingenious economy OF space that outwits
the invention OF mere white man.
The majority of these chambers are Just
long enough TO lie down in and broad
enough to allow srace for the narrow
door to swing in between two single beds,
WIN lWO hittItfo DSu. ne
doors are closed and securely bolted.
Our specials, by authority. demand ad.
mittsnce. There is no response from
within. A group of coolies, who hive
in the immediate vicinity and have fol.
lowed close at our heels ever since our
descent into the under world, assure us,
10 broken English, that there is no one
within. We suspect, and persist in our
investigations still no response. The
door is then forced by the specials, and
behold four of the seven sleepers packed
iuto this sir.tight compartment, and in
sensible even to the hearty greeting we
offer them The air il absolutely over
powering; we hasten from the place, but
are arrested in our fight by the specials,
who lead us to the gates OF the cats.
combs and bid us follow them. | know
not 10 what extent
THE EARTH HAS BEEN RIDDLED
under the Chinese quarter probably no
man knows save he who has burrowed
like a gopher from one living grave to
another TO escape taxation and the de-
tectiye. l know that have threaded
dark passages cut In the earth so narrow
that two OF us might not have crossed
tracks, 80 low that ! oten crouched at
the doorwsys which intercept pursuit at
unexpected intervals. Here the thief
and the assassin seek sanctuary. It is
city OF refuge for lost soul. They know
the forbidden joys Of hell in that black.
ened sepulcher. Dante and Virgil might
look with sorrowful eyes into the bowels
of the earth over which We pass daily
and hourly, and behold horrors not less
appalling than crowd the pages of the
"Inferno.' Even above ground there
are secret ways that elude the eyes OF
the most l'igilant. The numerous gam.
bling hells se 30 cautiously guarded
that only the private police, who are
said 10 be in the pay Of the Chinese
authorities, can ferret them out. Door
upop door i tbpi srsipst you, sod yop