OCR Text |
Show 124 PERSONAL ADVENTURES n.c ans, or desl·rous of conciliating them, with-out any self-compromise, had given the necessary 1. ns tructi·ons to the officials, who gave the rope a nl.ck , and thus .f ulfilled . the law, and saved the dignity of their supenor. . There was an unusual amount of gamblmg carried on in Monterey during this winter; attributable, no doubt, to the superabundance of old which had flowed in from the n1ines. Theg presiding genius of tln·s mani. a, at Ab ri.g o ' s, ,vas a Mr. C , the most inveterate gamester of all the Americans in the country. He was a highly amusing fellow, who won and lost his money in the most off-hand, spirited manner, appearing equally satisfied whether Fortune smiled or frowned upon hin1. He proved, in consequence, an immense favourite with all. He was one of the very best billiard·players I have ever met with, and was never so happy as when engaged in playing that game, or 1nonte. His chief peculiarity, however, was an extraordinary propensity for swearing; his YOcabulary of oaths comprising the very choitest selection - Yankee, English, and IN CALIFORNIA. 125 Spanish; some of them of the quaintest kind, and rising to his tongue on every possible occas•i on. One day, all the inhabitants of the town rushed together in a crowd to the port, to witness the arrival of a huge steamer which had appeared in the offing; the largest that had passed along this coast, and, as I under· stood, the first into the bargain. The Californians gazed at it in silent wonderment, not at all able to comprehend how it could have been constructed of such a size; how it could be made to go without sails; where all the smoke it cast out of its huge funnel came frorn; and how the large fire in its inside did not burn the vessel up. She \Vas the California, the first of the ne'v American line steamers ; and, having cast anchor and landed her passengers, Abrigo's coffee-house presented, in the course of a few hours, such a scene as perhaps could not be witnessed in any other country but this, and that under the peculiar circumstances of its then position. |