, 1882-06-16

learn how to evade them, they are
coerced into implicit obedience to the
dictates OF their own tribunals. The
Chinese community is therefore,
wherever found on our shores, a gov
ernment within q government. They
do not defy our laws except in rare
instances, but in administering their
own they ignore ours. There are, be-
sides the six companies, several So
cieties, or trades unions among them,
representing different trades and pur-
suits; as for instance, there is the
Washerman's Guild, an association
composed of Chinese laundrymen;
then there is the Hop -ya-Teng asso-
citation, whose business it is to stimu-
late and protect gambling and to
carry on the traffic of prostitution;
there is also the Chinese Young Mems
Christian Association. This last is
distinct from all others, and repre-
sents for the most part the efforts of
Christian people 10 Christianize the
heathens.
CHINATOWN,
In San Francisco is not, as might be
be supposed, low-lying, worthless
suburb situated upon ineligible land
On the contrary it occupies a most
important portion of the city. 1t ex-
tends from the south side of Broad
way on the north to the south side of
Sacramento street, on the south, and
from Kearney street on the east to
Stockton street or the west. Besides
this, they are fast encroaching on
Dupont street. On Sacramento be-
low Dupont there are several of the
largest mercantile houses. The
streets and alleys in this novel and
somewhat interesting city are al
ways thronged with Cinnamon. A
stranger would readily imagine him
self in China rather than in America.
Here can be seen the celestials of
both sexes aud all ages. their heads
shaved and their braided queus
hanging down, their peculiar dress,
loose coats with large sleeves, and
their odd-looking shoes with felt soles
that deaden the sound so that they
make little or no noise in walking.
Their language, a peculiar sort of
jargon, CRATES harshly on the ear.
Sunday being day of rest in our
country, is taken advantage of by
them to visit or walk about; and on
such a day their streets literally
swarm-the only adequate compari-
son being an ant heap. The Chinese
first obtained a foothold on Washing
ton street; since then wherever they
have got start they have crowded
everybody else out. All the business
houses within the limits described
have been absorbed or appropriated
by them. They have a foothold here
and there in spots over the city, but it
is in Chinatown proper that one gets
correct idea of their crowded condi-
tion, their squalor and filth, and their
queer mode of living No one who
has not thus seen them can form an
adequate idea of the way they exist.
1t may be truthfully asserted that
few have strolled through Chinatown
from sheer curiosity; business of one
sort or another has occasioned visit
to it, and a hasty retreat follows.
The moment you enter Chinatown
you experience a peculiar, strange
smell; it is q stink that can't be
counterfeited anywhere else on earth
away from Chinese--a sort of combi-
nation of opium mixed with tobacco,
fish, rotten vegetables and animal
matter, but unlike anything else you
have ever smelled before. 1t clings
to your olfactories in n way that will
makes you gag for months afterwards
whenever memory recalls the sur
rounding. Many of the buildings in
Chinatown are brick, and all are of
American architecture-but wherever
they go into a building they com
mence to remodel and change it's APP
pearance so that in a short time
complete transformation has taken
place in its external appearance. In
few months after they move into a
building it looks as though it were
hundred years old. The walls be-
come blackened, filthy and discolored.
This applies only however, to those
buildings occupied by the lower class
Unlike the streets of China, which
are narrow and without sidewalks,
the streets in Chinatown, San Fran
cisco, are wide, paved and have side
walks. This was the fashionable part
of San Francisco in early time.
Many of the old frame buildings of
early days are still standing. On
Sacramento street, near Kearney, are
number Of business houses. The
fronts of these shops and stores are
covered with signs gaudily painted
with Chinese characters. Some of
these signs that were translated for
4 1 4, l.