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Show 230 PERSONAL ADVENTURES tention to do, Antoine. I shall establish my· self as a painter. But, as n1y means are small, and expenses bea vy, the first thing for me to do is to find out some cheap and mode· rately comfortable boarding-house, near a place where I shall have conveniences for car· rying on my business. You, now, are a man of experience, and may perhaps be able to tell me whether there is such a place in San Fran· cisco as a cheap boarding-house?" " Am sixteen dollar a week cheap now-eh ?" "What, for board and lodging?" "Iss; bote on 'em: an' good at de tnoney." "Well, I think that 'vould suit." "Den you get it at Bucklan' House: an' dere a shanty in hin1 back-yard, where plenty room for paint all day.;;, I thanked Antoine for this interesting piece of infonnation; and, having ascertained from him the direction of Buckland House, repaired thither at once. It was a good-sized tavern; the conveniences and accotnmodations for lod <Yers consisting of 0 IN CALIFORNIA. 231 one very large general room up-stairs, with three smaller ones below, besides the kitchen, a kind of supplement, in the rear. The sleeping-apartment-into a corner of which I threw down my blankets-did not contain a single bed or mattrass, but there were about twenty bundles ranged all around it, containing the serapas, or the blankets of the lodgers. There were likewise several trunks, on which were seated sundry well-dressed and some very rough-looking individuals, who were engaged in various occupations; one of themevidently a new arrival in the country-writing a letter on a portfolio opened across his knees ; others, stitching leathern purses, or repairing their saddles and clothes ; and some lounging listlessly about in various positions, all more or less uncomfortable. I observed that there was a total absence of chairs, and no fireplace ; whilst the only article that did duty for a table, was a kind of hybrid between a bench and a stool, covered now with shavings and carpenters' tools. Several boards were missing from one side of the room ; so that I could |