Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/184



To add  to  the  commotion,  we  here  met  the  main body of  returning  CaHfornians,  on  their  way  from Panamd to  take  the  steamer  which  we  had  left. Some of them  were  neatly  clad,  orderly,  and  quiet ;  others, in their  shaggy  hair  and  long  untrimmed  beard, guarding with  religious  care  their  torn  and  earth- stained garments,  as  sacred  relics  of  their  pilgrimage, were laden  with  gold-dust,  and  wore  in  their  bronzed visao-es the  smirk  of  success ;  but  by  far  the  greater number were  disappointed-looking  men,  poorly  dressed, some suffering  from  rheun:atism,  crippled  limbs,  and broken constitutions;  some  with  their  formerly  stal- wart frames shrunken  and  wasted  by  fever,  and  many disheartened, bankrupt  wretches,  who  had  been stripped of  their  all,  and  were  now  returning  to  their homes, scattering  curses  on  California  as  they  went alono". It  is  a  siixnificant  fact  that  the  steamer  steer- age  was  better  filled  on  the  return  trip  than  on  the voyage  out ;  and  there  was  more  money  in  the  pock- ets and  in  the  gold-dust  belts  of  the  steerage  passen- gers than  in  those  of  the  cabin  passengers.  The  rea- sons were  these:  Returning  Californians  comprised four  several  classes.  First,  those  who  could  get  home no  other  way,  who  could  barely  scrape  enough  together to  buy  a  steerage  ticket.  Secondly,  those  who  had money,  but  who  had  toiled  hard  for  it,  were  accus- tomed to  roughing  it,  and  preferred  economizing  here that  they  might  have  the  more  hereafter;  this  was  a large  class.  Thirdly,  inefficient  and  impecunious  sons or  relatives  of  gentlemen,  who  were  heljDed  to  Cali- fornia by  their  friends  in  the  hope  that  they  would there develop  into  something,  and  were  now,  after having made  a  miserable  failure  of  it,  being  helped back to  their  homes  in  order  to  save  them  from  total destruction. These could  by  no  means  make  up  their minds to  descend  into  the  depths  so  long  as  they  had friends to  foot  their  bills. And fourthly,  men  of means,  whose  money  was  chiefly  in  bills  of  exchange. Many miners  went  home  in  the  steerage  armed  to  the