Year: 1879

DEAR HERALD: Ever since the
anti Chinese agitation became a
leading factor in California politics
I have promised myself an elabor-
ate inspection of their haunts here
on the first favorable opportunity.
Having provided myself with a
special officer, in company with a
party of friends 1 last night started
out on an expedition abounding
In novelty and redolent with dis
comforts.


THE CHINESE QUARTER - ITS Pop


ULATIoN.


A detailed description of the Chi
nese quarter by metes and bounds is
unnecessary. Suffice it to say that
you can disappear from Kearney
street; and, in the lapse of half a
minute, be in the heart of dis
trict which is supposed to contain
twenty-five thousand Celestials.
The ground covered by the habita-
tions of this large population would
not suffice for town which claim
ed population of one thousand
Caucasians. The general aspect of
Chinatown is filthy in the extreme.
In the air which one inhales
there is little in common with the
spicy breezes which are supposed
to blow over Araby the blest.
From an experience of two hours
in this horrible quarter feel safe
in suggesting that the visitor
would do well to secure small
piece of asafoetida, on the counter.
irritant principle. Though he
might be incommoded by the pun.
gent odor of this drug, 1 assure him
that he would have chosen the
lesser of two evils. AS an instance
Of the way these wretches are hud-
died together, the old Globe Hotel,
which was at one time one of the
most fashionable resorts in the city,
affords accommodation for eigh-
teen hundred Cinnamon.


A MODEL LODGING HOUSE.


Our guide plunges into noisome
alley and opens door. A ricketty
staircase leads down and another
up. We ascend. We traverse pas
sageways so narrow and so low in
the ceiling that fully developed
Caucasian has difficulty in making
his way. We enter a room seven
by ten. On stats built into the
wall Cinnamon are reposing in
blissful contempt of the unuttera-
bly, bad smells. Tier upon tier
they rise, quite up to the cell
ing. We counted seven Chinamen
in one of these little cells. More
were certain to arrive later on in |
the night. We do not exaggerate |
when we say that the quarters |
would have been contracted for a |
single sow and her litter. We re-
traced our steps and descended to
the underground passages, being |
obliged to pick our way through |
pools of slime and all nastiness.
More small apartments. In one of
them we encountered degraded |
wretch of white man, stretched |
out at full length, inhaling the |
deadly opium. Our guide address
ed him in stern way and ordered
him out. He skunk away like a |
whipped cur, White men caught
in these resorts, who are there for
the purpose of smoking opium, are
liable to fine of $50. In these mex
pressibly filthy holes all foul odors
abound. A Caucasian in good con-
dltion, used to clean1y ways, would
be carried out in convulsions after
a few hours enforced stay in one of
such human pig styes. This phrase,
forcible as it is, by no means ex-
presses the horror and snormity of
the denominations of one of these
resorts. A bed in one of them costs
five cents. 1t Is against wretches
lodged in this manner, with the
ability to endure and to thrive
upon the most insupportable me-
rftiti0 fhaf fI,n Era nnic-
co white laborer comes in competi-
tIon. 1t is burning shame, which
cries aloud to heaven for remedy
and reparation.


CAST YOUR EYE,


As you wander through China
towns noisome beehives, at this
workshop. 1t is 10 o'clock at night.
You have traversed long under
ground passage and you come to a
Chinese cooper shop. Though tits
near midnight, this cooper, who
scarcely bears the semblance of
human being, isstill hard at his task.
There does not seem to be enough
oxygen in his little den to nourish
the feeble flame of the lamp by
whose aid he works. You have
stepped over disgusting pools on
your way to his door. The walls of
the room in which he works drips
deadly moisture. What this man
can find to live for would puzzle a
Philadelphia lawyer. Annihila-
tion would be an unspeakable boon
compared to such an existence.
Let us cross the way to what is