Before the occupation of the country by the Americans, its population was considered to amount to from thirty to forty thousand inhabitants natives of the Spanish race, Indians and foreigners included; but since that time its growth appears to be magic, and particularly since the discovery of the gold mines; every corner of the world seems to contribute its share of inhabitants; every tongue almost is spoken in the streets of San Francisco. But this new population does not spread through the country to benefit it; it crowds only to the mines or the port of San Francisco. It consists chiefly of speculators and diggers, and some mechanics; of farmers we do not hear as yet. The town has led the van in growth; there is nothing similar on records; one may say without exaggeration that it has been inaugurated in one moment by some superhuman power, or sprung like one of those ambulating towns do spring the day before a fair. In fact, it looks very much like one of those cities only built for a day. Its houses built of planks and cotton sheetings cannot last but a day; however, whatever they lack in quality they make up in quantity. Four months ago the town hardly counted fifty houses, and now it must have upwards of five hundred, and these are daily increasing; even a theatre is spoken of as being built. From eight to ten thousand inhabitants may be afloat in the streets of San Francisco, and hundreds arrive daily; many live in shanties, many in tents, and many the best way they can. The magic power of gold marks every spot here; vessels from different parts of the world press into the harbor, and make already a large floating city in front of the _terra firma_; goods of all descriptions are scattered on the shore in open streets that are too narrow for men, animals and carts that pass up and down. The freaks of fortune are equally as remarkable in this place as everything else connected with it; some men who two years ago had not a cent in their pocket, count by thousands now; property that a year ago could have been bought for five or six thousand dollars, now pays a rent of thirty thousand dollars per annum; mechanics who formerly were glad to get a job at two dollars a day, now get from six to twelve; in fact, mechanics, and particularly carpenters, are the most independent aristocracy of the place. Strange as it may appear, yet in the midst of abundance of every kind, women are very scarce; the domestic circle does not exist here as yet; domestic pleasures are wanting, and house-hold duties are unfulfilled.