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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Two Years Before the Mast, by Dana
+by Richard Henry Dana
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+Two Years Before the Mast
+
+by Richard Henry Dana
+
+February, 2000  [Etext #2055]
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Two Years Before the Mast, by Dana
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+
+TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
+A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea
+
+By Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
+
+With an introduction and notes by
+Homer Eaton Keyes, B.L.
+Assistant Professor of Art in Dartmouth College
+
+----Crowded in the rank and narrow ship,--
+Housed on the wild sea with wild usages,--
+Whate'er in the inland dales the land conceals
+Of fair and exquisite, O! nothing, nothing,
+Do we behold of that in our rude voyage.
+                 Coleridge's Wallenstein.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+Introduction
+  Biographical Note
+  California and her Missions
+  Bibliographical References
+  Diagram of Ships
+  Explanation of Diagram
+Two Years Before the Mast
+Twenty-Four Years After
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Biographical Note
+
+Two years before the mast were but an episode in the life of
+Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; yet the narrative in which he details the
+experiences of that period is, perhaps, his chief claim to a wide
+remembrance.  His services in other than literary fields occupied
+the greater part of his life, but they brought him comparatively
+small recognition and many disappointments.  His happiest
+associations were literary, his pleasantest acquaintanceships
+those which arose through his fame as the author of one book.
+The story of his life is one of honest and competent effort,
+of sincere purpose, of many thwarted hopes.  The traditions
+of his family forced him into a profession for which he was
+intellectually but not temperamentally fitted: he should have
+been a scholar, teacher, and author; instead he became a lawyer.
+
+Born in Cambridge, Mass., August 1, 1815, Richard Henry Dana, Jr.,
+came of a line of Colonial ancestors whose legal understanding and
+patriotic zeal had won them distinction.  His father, if possessed
+of less vigor than his predecessors, was yet a man of culture and
+ability.  He was widely known as poet, critic, and lecturer; and
+endowed his son with native qualities of intelligence, good breeding,
+and honesty.
+
+After somewhat varied and troublous school days, young Dana entered
+Harvard University, where he took high rank in his classes and bid
+fair to make a reputation as a scholar.  But at the beginning of his
+third year of college a severe attack of measles interrupted his
+course, and so affected his eyes as to preclude, for a time at least,
+all idea of study.  The state of the family finances was not such as to
+permit of foreign travel in search of health.  Accordingly, prompted by
+necessity and by a youthful love of adventure, he shipped as a common
+sailor in the brig, Pilgrim, bound for the California coast.  His
+term of service lasted a trifle over two years--from August, 1834,
+to September, 1836.  The undertaking was one calculated to kill or cure.
+Fortunately it had the latter effect; and, upon returning to his native
+place, physically vigorous but intellectually starved, he reentered
+Harvard and worked with such enthusiasm as to graduate in six months
+with honor.
+
+Then came the question of his life work.  Though intensely religious,
+he did not feel called to the ministry; business made no appeal;
+his ancestors had been lawyers; it seemed best that he should follow
+where they had led.  Had conditions been those of to-day, he would
+naturally have drifted into some field of scholarly research,
+--political science or history.  As it was, he entered law school,
+which, in 1840, he left to take up the practice of his profession.
+But Dana had not the tact, the personal magnetism, or the business
+sagacity to make a brilliant success before the bar.  Despite the
+fact that he had become a master of legal theory, an authority upon
+international questions, and a counsellor of unimpeachable integrity,
+his progress was painfully slow and toilsome.  Involved with his lack
+of tact and magnetism there was, too, an admirable quality of sturdy
+obstinacy that often worked him injury.  Though far from sharing the
+radical ideas of the Abolitionists, he was ardent in his anti-slavery
+ideas and did not hesitate to espouse the unpopular doctrines of the
+Free-Soil party of 1848, or to labor for the freedom of those Boston
+negroes, who, under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, were in danger
+of deportation to the South.
+
+His activity in the latter direction resulted in pecuniary loss,
+social ostracism and worse; for upon one occasion he was set upon
+and nearly killed by a pair of thugs.  But Dana was not a man to be
+swerved from his purpose by considerations of policy or of personal
+safety.  He met his problems as they came to him, took the course
+which he believed to be right and then stuck to it with indomitable
+tenacity.  Yet, curiously enough, with none of the characteristics
+of the politician, he longed for political preferment.  At the hands
+of the people this came to him in smallest measure only.  Though at
+one time a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, he was defeated
+as candidate for the lower house of Congress, and in 1876 suffered
+the bitterest disappointment of his life, when the libellous attacks
+of enemies prevented the ratification of his nomination as Minister
+to England.
+
+Previous to this he had served his country as United States
+District Attorney during the Civil War, a time when the office
+demanded the highest type of ability and uprightness.  That the
+government appreciated this was shown in 1867 by its choice of
+Dana as one of its counsel in the prosecution of Jefferson Davis
+for treason.  The position of legal representative before the
+Halifax tribunal of 1877, which met to discuss fishery questions
+at issue between the United States and Canada, was given him no
+doubt in part because of his eminent fitness, in part as balm for
+the wound of the preceding year.
+
+But whatever satisfaction he may have found in such honors as time
+and ripening years brought to him, his chief joy and relaxation lay
+in travel. When worry and overwork began to tell upon him, he would
+betake himself to shore or mountains.  Upon several occasions he
+visited Europe, and in 1859 made a tour of the world.  At length,
+in 1876, he gave up active life and took residence abroad, with
+the idea of finding leisure for the preparation of a treatise on
+international law.  He was still engaged in collecting his material
+when, on January 6, 1882, death overtook him.  He was buried in Rome
+in the Protestant Cemetery, whose cypresses cast their long shadows
+over the graves of many distinguished foreigners who have sought a
+last refuge of health and peace under the skies of Italy.
+
+Such a career as his would seem far enough from being a failure.
+Yet, in retirement, Dana looked back upon it not without regret.
+As a lawyer, he had felt a justifiable desire to see his labors
+crowned by his elevation to the bench; as an active participant in
+public affairs, he had felt that his services and talents rendered
+him deserving of a seat in Congress.  Lacking these things, he might
+have hoped that the practice of his profession would yield him a
+fortune.  Here again he was disappointed.  In seeking the fulfillment
+of his ambitions, he was always on the high road to success; he never
+quite arrived.
+
+It is remarkable that, having written one successful book, Dana did not
+seek further reward as a man of letters.  Two Years before the Mast
+appeared in 1840, while its author was still a law student.  Though
+at the time it created no great stir in the United States, it was most
+favorably received in England, where it paved the way for many pleasant
+and valuable acquaintanceships.  The following year, Dana produced
+a small volume on seamanship, entitled The Seaman's Friend.  This,
+and a short account of a trip to Cuba in 1859, constitute the sole
+additions to his early venture.  He was a copious letter-writer and
+kept full journals of his various travels; but he never elaborated
+them for publication.  Yet, long before his death, he had seen the
+narrative of his sailor days recognized as an American classic.
+Time has not diminished its reputation.  We read it to-day not
+merely for its simple, unpretentious style; but for its clear
+picture of sea life previous to the era of steam navigation, and
+for its graphic description of conditions in California before
+visions of gold sent the long lines of "prairie schooners" drifting
+across the plains to unfold the hidden destiny of the West.
+
+
+California and her Missions
+
+It is not easy to realize that, during the stirring days when the
+eastern coast-line of North America was experiencing the ferment
+of revolution, the Pacific seaboard was almost totally unexplored,
+its population largely a savage one.  But Spain, long established
+in Mexico, was slowly pushing northward along the California coast.
+Her emissaries were the Franciscan friars; her method the founding
+of Indian missions round which, in due course, should arise towns
+intended to afford harbor for Spanish ships and to serve as outposts
+against the steady encroachments of Russia, who, from Alaska, was
+reaching out toward San Francisco Bay.
+
+Thus began the white settlement of California.  San Diego Mission
+was founded in 1769; San Carlos, at Monterey, in 1770; San Francisco,
+in 1776; Santa Barbara, in 1786.  For the general guardianship of
+these missions a garrison, or presidio, was in each case provided.
+It was responsible not only for the protection of the town thus
+created, but for all the missions in the district.  The presidio of
+San Diego, for example, was in charge of the missions of San Diego,
+San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and San Luis Rey.  So, likewise,
+there were garrisons with extensive jurisdiction at Santa Barbara,
+Monterey, and San Francisco.
+
+The Indians in the immediate vicinity of a mission were attached
+thereto by a sort of gentle enslavement.  They were provided special
+quarters, were carefully looked after by the priests, their religious
+education fostered, and their innate laziness conquered by specific
+requirements of labor in agriculture, cattle raising, and simple
+handicrafts.  It was an arrangement which worked well for both parties
+concerned.  The slavery of the Indians was not unlike the obligation
+of children to their parents; they were comfortable, well behaved,
+and for the most part contented with the rule of the friars, who,
+on their side, began to accumulate considerable wealth from the
+well-directed efforts of their charges.
+
+The supposition was that in the course of years the Indians might
+become so habituated to thrift and industry as to be released from
+supervision and safely left to their own devices.  But that happy
+consummation had not occurred when, in 1826, Mexico succeeded in
+separating herself from the mother country and began her career as an
+independent republic, of which California was a part.  Nevertheless,
+the greed of politicians suddenly wrought the change which was to
+have come as the slow development of years.  By governmental decree,
+the Indians were declared free of obligation to the friars; the latter
+were stripped of their temporal powers, their funds seized under the
+guise of a loan, and their establishments often subjected to what was
+little short of pillage.  This state of affairs had scarcely begun at
+the time of the author's visit to California; still, as he points out
+in Chapter XXI, the decline of the missions had already set in.
+
+The final blow to their power and usefulness came, however, with
+the upheaval accompanying the Mexican war and the acquisition of
+California by the United States.  Although this country returned
+all mission buildings to the control of the Church, their reason
+for being had vanished; they were sold, or destroyed, or feebly
+maintained on funds insufficient to forestall dilapidation.
+Fortunately the Franciscan friars had built for beauty as well as for
+use; the architecture which they devised in skillful adaptation of
+their native Spanish type displayed originality and picturesque charm.
+Hence, of late years, Californians have come to feel a worthy pride
+in the monuments of the early history of their state, and have taken
+steps to preserve such of them as survive.  No less than twenty-one
+are today the goal of the traveller.
+
+The reader who is interested in pursuing the subject thus outlined
+will find its satisfactory treatment in George Wharton James's
+_In and out of the old Missions of California,_ a book that combines
+agreeable reading with excellent illustrations.
+
+
+References
+
+The author's life is fully and sympathetically treated in
+Charles Francis Adams's Richard Henry Dana. Boston, 1890.
+
+The most exhaustive history of California and the Pacific coast in
+general is H. H. Bancroft's History of the Pacific States of North
+America. San Francisco, 1882-1888.  A briefer work is Josiah Royce's
+California. Boston, 1886.  Though this book considers mainly the
+transition period, 1846-1856, its introduction gives an excellent
+survey of earlier years.  F. J. Turner's Rise of the New West,
+which is volume XIV of the American Nation, New York, 1907, tells the
+story of the development of the whole territory west of the Mississippi.
+
+Those who are curious to search out all the items of ship construction
+will find them adequately illustrated, under the caption, "ship," in
+both Standard and Century dictionaries.
+
+
+Explanation of Diagram
+
+The following diagram, from which many details have been omitted,
+presents sufficient data for an understanding of the more important
+nautical terms which occur in the text.  A number of other such terms
+have been explained in the notes.  In omitting reference to many more,
+the editor has felt that ovarannotation would turn a straightforward
+and interesting narrative into a mere excuse for a nautical dictionary,
+and quite defeat the purpose of the book.  The author's technical
+vocabulary, even when most bewildering, serves to give force and the
+vividness of local color to his descriptions.  To pause in the midst
+of a storm at sea for comment and definition would result merely in
+checking the movement of the story and putting a damper upon the
+imagination.
+
+Two Years before the Mast affords the teacher a somewhat unusual
+opportunity.  Few literary works are better calculated to stimulate
+inquiry into the remarkable changes which three-quarters of a century
+have wrought in the United States.  Much profitable class employment
+in the drawing of maps and the writing of brief themes dealing with
+various phases of the romantic history of California will suggest
+itself.  The numerous geographical allusions should be traced with
+the aid of an atlas.
+
+          |        --+--
+        --+--      | |j|
+         /| |      --+--
+        / |f|      | |i|
+       /  +--     ---+---
+      /  /|e|     |  |  |
+     /  / +---    |  | h| 
+    /  /  |  |   ----+----
+   /a /   |d |   |   |   |
+  /__/ b  +----  |   | g |
+ /  /_____|c  |   \__|____\
+/__/      |___|      |
+   \------+----------+-------
+    \_______________________/
+
+a. Flying jib.
+b. Jib.
+c. Foresail.
+d. Foretopsail.
+e. Foretopgallantsail.
+f. Foreroyal.
+g. Mainsail.
+h. Maintopsail.
+i. Maintopgallantsail.
+j. Mainroyal.
+
+
+
+                       |
+                       |B2        
+              |        |        |C2
+              |A2   6--+--      |
+           3--+--      |     9--+--
+              |       ||        |
+             ||       |        || 
+             |     5--+--      |
+         2---+---     |B1      |C1
+E --__       |A1     ||    8---+---
+      --__  ||       |         |
+          --|   4----+----    ||           
+       1----+----    |   7----+----          G __--
+            |        |        |            __-- /
+            |A       |B       |C     F __-- \  /
+ D          |        |        |    __--     H\/
+------______|________|________|________---------
+      \_______________________________/
+
+ A. Mizzenmast.
+A1. Mizzentopmast.
+A2. Mizzentopgallant and royalmast.
+ B. Mainmast.
+B1. Maintopmast.
+B2. Maintopgallant and royalmast.
+ C. Foremast.
+C1. Foretopmast.
+C2. Foretopgallant and royalmast.
+ D. Spanker boom.
+ E. Spanker gaff.
+ F. Bowsprit.
+ G. Jib boom and flying jib boom.
+ H. Martingale boom.
+
+1. Crossjack yard.
+2. Mizzentopsail yard.
+3. Mizzentopgallant yard.
+4. Main yard.
+5. Maintopsail yard.
+6. Maintopgallant yard.
+7. Fore yard.
+8. Foretopsail yard.
+9. Foretopgallant yard.
+
+[Editor: Many more numbered lifts, stays, and braces were left out
+of these simplified diagrams.  They are intended to be viewed using
+a fixed-width font.]
+
+Each mast section is joined to the lower one in two places:
+
+              | |
+              | |
+           ___|_|_
+           \_____/  Mast cap.
+            | | |
+            | | |
+            | | |
+           _|_|_|_
+           \_____/  Trestletree.
+            | |
+            | |
+
+
+Each mast also sports net-like rigging from the lowest
+trestletree to the deck. These are called "shrouds".
+
+
+
+
+
+TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+
+I am unwilling to present this narrative to the public without a
+few words in explanation of my reasons for publishing it.  Since
+Mr. Cooper's Pilot and Red Rover, there have been so many stories
+of sea-life written, that I should really think it unjustifiable
+in me to add one to the number without being able to give reasons
+in some measure warranting me in so doing.
+
+With the single exception, as I am quite confident, of Mr. Ames's
+entertaining, but hasty and desultory work, called "Mariner's Sketches,"
+all the books professing to give life at sea have been written by persons
+who have gained their experience as naval officers, or passengers,
+and of these, there are very few which are intended to be taken as
+narratives of facts.
+
+Now, in the first place, the whole course of life, and daily duties,
+the discipline, habits and customs of a man-of-war are very different
+from those of the merchant service; and in the next place, however
+entertaining and well written these books may be, and however accurately
+they may give sea-life as it appears to their authors, it must still be
+plain to every one that a naval officer, who goes to sea as a gentleman,
+"with his gloves on," (as the phrase is,) and who associated only with
+his fellow-officers, and hardly speaks to a sailor except through a
+boatswain's mate, must take a very different view of the whole matter
+from that which would be taken by a common sailor.
+
+Besides the interest which every one must feel in exhibitions of
+life in those forms in which he himself has never experienced it;
+there has been, of late years, a great deal of attention directed
+toward common seamen, and a strong sympathy awakened in their behalf.
+Yet I believe that, with the single exception which I have mentioned,
+there has not been a book written, professing to give their life and
+experiences, by one who has been of them, and can know what their
+life really is.  A voice from the forecastle has hardly yet been
+heard.
+
+In the following pages I design to give an accurate and authentic
+narrative of a little more than two years spent as a common sailor,
+before the mast, in the American merchant service.  It is written
+out from a journal which I kept at the time, and from notes which
+I made of most of the events as they happened; and in it I have
+adhered closely to fact in every particular, and endeavored to give
+each thing its true character.  In so doing, I have been obliged
+occasionally to use strong and coarse expressions, and in some
+instances to give scenes which may be painful to nice feelings;
+but I have very carefully avoided doing so, whenever I have not
+felt them essential to giving the true character of a scene.
+My design is, and it is this which has induced me to publish the
+book, to present the life of a common sailor at sea as it really
+is,--the light and the dark together.
+
+There may be in some parts a good deal that is unintelligible to
+the general reader; but I have found from my own experience, and
+from what I have heard from others, that plain matters of fact in
+relation to customs and habits of life new to us, and descriptions
+of life under new aspects, act upon the inexperienced through the
+imagination, so that we are hardly aware of our want of technical
+knowledge.  Thousands read the escape of the American frigate
+through the British channel, and the chase and wreck of the Bristol
+trader in the Red Rover, and follow the minute nautical manoeuvres
+with breathless interest, who do not know the name of a rope in the
+ship; and perhaps with none the less admiration and enthusiasm for
+their want of acquaintance with the professional detail.
+
+In preparing this narrative I have carefully avoided incorporating
+into it any impressions but those made upon me by the events as
+they occurred, leaving to my concluding chapter, to which I shall
+respectfully call the reader's attention, those views which have
+been suggested to me by subsequent reflection.
+
+These reasons, and the advice of a few friends, have led me to give this
+narrative to the press.  If it shall interest the general reader, and
+call more attention to the welfare of seamen, or give any information
+as to their real condition, which may serve to raise them in the rank
+of beings, and to promote in any measure their religious and moral
+improvement, and diminish the hardships of their daily life, the end
+of its publication will be answered.
+
+                                R.H.D., Jr.
+                                Boston, July, 1840.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+DEPARTURE
+
+
+The fourteenth of August was the day fixed upon for the sailing of
+the brig Pilgrim on her voyage from Boston round Cape Horn to the
+western coast of North America.  As she was to get under weigh early
+in the afternoon, I made my appearance on board at twelve o'clock,
+in full sea-rig, and with my chest, containing an outfit for a two
+or three year voyage, which I had undertaken from a determination
+to cure, if possible, by an entire change of life, and by a long
+absence from books and study, a weakness of the eyes, which had
+obliged me to give up my pursuits, and which no medical aid seemed
+likely to cure.
+
+The change from the tight dress coat, silk cap, and kid gloves of an
+undergraduate at Cambridge, to the loose duck trowsers, checked shirt
+and tarpaulin hat of a sailor, though somewhat of a transformation,
+was soon made, and I supposed that I should pass very well for a
+jack tar.  But it is impossible to deceive the practised eye in
+these matters; and while I supposed myself to be looking as salt
+as Neptune himself, I was, no doubt, known for a landsman by every
+one on board as soon as I hove in sight.  A sailor has a peculiar
+cut to his clothes, and a way of wearing them which a green hand
+can never get.  The trowsers, tight round the hips, and thence
+hanging long and loose round the feet, a superabundance of checked
+shirt, a low-crowned, well varnished black hat, worn on the back of
+the head, with half a fathom of black ribbon hanging over the left
+eye, and a peculiar tie to the black silk neckerchief, with sundry
+other minutiae, are signs, the want of which betray the beginner at
+once.  Beside the points in my dress which were out of the way,
+doubtless my complexion and hands were enough to distinguish me
+from the regular salt, who, with a sun-burnt cheek, wide step, and
+rolling gait, swings his bronzed and toughened hands athwart-ships,
+half open, as though just ready to grasp a rope.
+
+"With all my imperfections on my head," I joined the crew, and we
+hauled out into the stream, and came to anchor for the night.
+The next day we were employed in preparations for sea, reeving
+studding-sail gear, crossing royal yards, putting on chafing gear,
+and taking on board our powder.  On the following night, I stood
+my first watch.  I remained awake nearly all the first part of
+the night from fear that I might not hear when I was called; and
+when I went on deck, so great were my ideas of the importance of
+my trust, that I walked regularly fore and aft the whole length
+of the vessel, looking out over the bows and taffrail at each turn,
+and was not a little surprised at the coolness of the old salt whom
+I called to take my place, in stowing himself snugly away under the
+long boat, for a nap.  That was sufficient lookout, he thought, for
+a fine night, at anchor in a safe harbor.
+
+The next morning was Saturday, and a breeze having sprung up from
+the southward, we took a pilot on board, hove up our anchor, and
+began beating down the bay.  I took leave of those of my friends
+who came to see me off, and had barely opportunity to take a last
+look at the city, and well-known objects, as no time is allowed on
+board ship for sentiment.  As we drew down into the lower harbor,
+we found the wind ahead in the bay, and were obliged to come to
+anchor in the roads.  We remained there through the day and a part
+of the night.  My watch began at eleven o'clock at night, and I
+received orders to call the captain if the wind came out from the
+westward.  About midnight the wind became fair, and having called
+the captain, I was ordered to call all hands.  How I accomplished
+this I do not know, but I am quite sure I did not give the true
+hoarse, boatswain call of "A-a-ll ha-a-a-nds! up anchor, a-ho-oy!"
+In a short time every one was in motion, the sails loosed, the yards
+braced, and we began to heave up the anchor, which was our last hold
+upon Yankee land.  I could take but little part in all these preparations.
+My little knowledge of a vessel was all at fault.  Unintelligible orders
+were so rapidly given and so immediately executed; there was such a
+hurrying about, and such an intermingling of strange cries and stranger
+actions, that I was completely bewildered.  There is not so helpless
+and pitiable an object in the world as a landsman beginning a sailor's
+life.  At length those peculiar, long-drawn sounds, which denote that
+the crew are heaving the windlass, began, and in a few moments we were
+under weigh.  The noise of the water thrown from the bows began to be
+heard, the vessel leaned over from the damp night breeze, and rolled
+with the heavy ground swell, and we had actually begun our long, long
+journey.  This was literally bidding "good night" to my native land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+FIRST IMPRESSIONS--"SAIL HO!"
+
+
+The first day we passed at sea was the Sabbath.  As we were just from
+port, and there was a great deal to be done on board, we were kept at
+work all day, and at night the watches were set, and everything put
+into sea order.  When we were called aft to be divided into watches,
+I had a good specimen of the manner of a sea captain.  After the
+division had been made, he gave a short characteristic speech,
+walking the quarter deck with a cigar in his mouth, and dropping
+the words out between the puffs.
+
+"Now, my men, we have begun a long voyage.  If we get along well
+together, we shall have a comfortable time; if we don't, we shall
+have hell afloat.--All you've got to do is to obey your orders and
+do your duty like men,--then you'll fare well enough;--if you don't,
+you'll fare hard enough,--I can tell you.  If we pull together, you'll
+find me a clever fellow; if we don't, you'll find me a bloody rascal.
+--That's all I've got to say.--Go below, the larboard watch!"
+
+I being in the starboard or second mate's watch, had the opportunity
+of keeping the first watch at sea.  S-----, a young man, making, like
+myself, his first voyage, was in the same watch, and as he was the
+son of a professional man, and had been in a counting-room in Boston,
+we found that we had many friends and topics in common.  We talked
+these matters over,--Boston, what our friends were probably doing,
+our voyage, etc., until he went to take his turn at the look-out,
+and left me to myself.  I had now a fine time for reflection.  I felt
+for the first time the perfect silence of the sea.  The officer was
+walking the quarter deck, where I had no right to go, one or two men
+were talking on the forecastle, whom I had little inclination to join,
+so that I was left open to the full impression of everything about me.
+However much I was affected by the beauty of the sea, the bright stars,
+and the clouds driven swiftly over them, I could not but remember that
+I was separating myself from all the social and intellectual enjoyments
+of life.  Yet, strange as it may seem, I did then and afterwards take
+pleasure in these reflections, hoping by them to prevent my becoming
+insensible to the value of what I was leaving.
+
+But all my dreams were soon put to flight by an order from the
+officer to trim the yards, as the wind was getting ahead; and I
+could plainly see by the looks the sailors occasionally cast to
+windward, and by the dark clouds that were fast coming up, that we
+had bad weather to prepare for, and had heard the captain say that
+he expected to be in the Gulf Stream by twelve o'clock.  In a few
+minutes eight bells were struck, the watch called, and we went below.
+I now began to feel the first discomforts of a sailor's life.
+The steerage in which I lived was filled with coils of rigging,
+spare sails, old junk and ship stores, which had not been stowed
+away.  Moreover, there had been no berths built for us to sleep in,
+and we were not allowed to drive nails to hang our clothes upon.
+The sea, too, had risen, the vessel was rolling heavily, and
+everything was pitched about in grand confusion.  There was a
+complete "hurrah's nest," as the sailors say, "everything on top
+and nothing at hand."  A large hawser had been coiled away upon
+my chest; my hats, boots, mattress and blankets had all fetched
+away and gone over to leeward, and were jammed and broken under
+the boxes and coils of rigging.  To crown all, we were allowed
+no light to find anything with, and I was just beginning to feel
+strong symptoms of sea-sickness, and that listlessness and
+inactivity which accompany it.  Giving up all attempts to collect
+my things together, I lay down upon the sails, expecting every moment
+to hear the cry of "all hands, ahoy," which the approaching storm would
+soon make necessary.  I shortly heard the rain-drops falling on deck,
+thick and fast, and the watch evidently had their hands full of work,
+for I could hear the loud and repeated orders of the mate, the trampling
+of feet, the creaking of blocks, and all the accompaniments of a coming
+storm.  In a few minutes the slide of the hatch was thrown back, which
+let down the noise and tumult of the deck still louder, the loud cry of
+"All hands, ahoy! tumble up here and take in sail," saluted our ears,
+and the hatch was quickly shut again.  When I got upon deck, a new
+scene and a new experience were before me.  The little brig was close
+hauled upon the wind, and lying over, as it then seemed to me, nearly
+upon her beam ends.  The heavy head sea was beating against her bows
+with the noise and force almost of a sledge-hammer, and flying over the
+deck, drenching us completely through.  The topsail halyards had been
+let go, and the great sails filling out and backing against the masts
+with a noise like thunder.  The wind was whistling through the rigging,
+loose ropes flying about; loud and, to me, unintelligible orders constantly
+given and rapidly executed, and the sailors "singing out" at the ropes in
+their hoarse and peculiar strains.  In addition to all this, I had not got
+my "sea legs on," was dreadfully sick, with hardly strength enough to hold
+on to anything, and it was "pitch dark."  This was my state when I was
+ordered aloft, for the first time, to reef topsails.
+
+How I got along, I cannot now remember.  I "laid out" on the yards and
+held on with all my strength.  I could not have been of much service,
+for I remember having been sick several times before I left the topsail
+yard.  Soon all was snug aloft, and we were again allowed to go below.
+This I did not consider much of a favor, for the confusion of everything
+below, and that inexpressible sickening smell, caused by the shaking up
+of the bilge-water in the hold, made the steerage but an indifferent
+refuge from the cold, wet decks.  I had often read of the nautical
+experiences of others, but I felt as though there could be none worse
+than mine; for in addition to every other evil, I could not but remember
+that this was only the first night of a two years' voyage.  When we were
+on deck we were not much better off, for we were continually ordered
+about by the officer, who said that it was good for us to be in motion.
+Yet anything was better than the horrible state of things below.
+I remember very well going to the hatchway and putting my head down,
+when I was oppressed by nausea, and always being relieved immediately.
+It was as good as an emetic.
+
+This state of things continued for two days.
+
+Wednesday, Aug. 20th.  We had the watch on deck from four till eight,
+this morning.  When we came on deck at four o'clock, we found things
+much changed for the better.  The sea and wind had gone down, and the
+stars were out bright.  I experienced a corresponding change in my
+feelings; yet continued extremely weak from my sickness.  I stood in
+the waist on the weather side, watching the gradual breaking of the
+day, and the first streaks of the early light.  Much has been said of
+the sun-rise at sea; but it will not compare with the sun-rise on shore.
+It wants the accompaniments of the songs of birds, the awakening hum
+of men, and the glancing of the first beams upon trees, hills, spires,
+and house-tops, to give it life and spirit.  But though the actual
+rise of the sun at sea is not so beautiful, yet nothing will compare
+with the early breaking of day upon the wide ocean.
+
+There is something in the first grey streaks stretching along the
+eastern horizon and throwing an indistinct light upon the face of
+the deep, which combines with the boundlessness and unknown depth
+of the sea around you, and gives one a feeling of loneliness,
+of dread, and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in
+nature can give.  This gradually passes away as the light grows
+brighter, and when the sun comes up, the ordinary monotonous sea
+day begins.
+
+From such reflections as these, I was aroused by the order from
+the officer, "Forward there! rig the head-pump!"  I found that no
+time was allowed for day-dreaming, but that we must "turn-to" at the
+first light.  Having called up the "idlers," namely carpenter, cook,
+steward, etc., and rigged the pump, we commenced washing down the decks.
+This operation, which is performed every morning at sea, takes nearly
+two hours; and I had hardly strength enough to get through it.  After
+we had finished, swabbed down, and coiled up the rigging, I sat down
+on the spars, waiting for seven bells, which was the sign for breakfast.
+The officer, seeing my lazy posture, ordered me to slush the main-mast,
+from the royal-mast-head, down.  The vessel was then rolling a little,
+and I had taken no sustenance for three days, so that I felt tempted to
+tell him that I had rather wait till after breakfast; but I knew that
+I must "take the bull by the horns," and that if I showed any sign of
+want of spirit or of backwardness, that I should be ruined at once.
+So I took my bucket of grease and climbed up to the royal-mast-head.
+Here the rocking of the vessel, which increases the higher you go
+from the foot of the mast, which is the fulcrum of the lever, and the
+smell of the grease, which offended my fastidious senses, upset my
+stomach again, and I was not a little rejoiced when I got upon the
+comparative terra firma of the deck.  In a few minutes seven bells
+were struck, the log hove, the watch called, and we went to breakfast.
+Here I cannot but remember the advice of the cook, a simple-hearted
+African.  "Now," says he, "my lad, you are well cleaned out; you
+haven't got a drop of your 'long-shore swash aboard of you.  You
+must begin on a new tack,--pitch all your sweetmeats overboard,
+and turn-to upon good hearty salt beef and sea bread, and I'll
+promise you, you'll have your ribs well sheathed, and be as hearty
+as any of 'em, afore you are up to the Horn."  This would be good
+advice to give to passengers, when they speak of the little niceties
+which they have laid in, in case of sea-sickness.
+
+I cannot describe the change which half a pound of cold salt beef
+and a biscuit or two produced in me.  I was a new being.  We had
+a watch below until noon, so that I had some time to myself;
+and getting a huge piece of strong, cold, salt beef from the cook,
+I kept gnawing upon it until twelve o'clock.  When we went on deck
+I felt somewhat like a man, and could begin to learn my sea duty
+with considerable spirit.  At about two o'clock we heard the loud
+cry of "sail ho!" from aloft, and soon saw two sails to windward,
+going directly athwart our hawse.  This was the first time that
+I had seen a sail at sea.  I thought then, and always have since,
+that it exceeds every other sight in interest and beauty.  They
+passed to leeward of us, and out of hailing distance; but the
+captain could read the names on their sterns with the glass.
+They were the ship Helen Mar, of New York, and the brig Mermaid,
+of Boston.  They were both steering westward, and were bound in for
+our "dear native land."
+
+Thursday, Aug. 21st.  This day the sun rose clear, we had a fine
+wind, and everything was bright and cheerful.  I had now got my
+sea legs on, and was beginning to enter upon the regular duties
+of a sea-life.  About six bells, that is, three o'clock, P.M., we
+saw a sail on our larboard bow.  I was very anxious, like every new
+sailor, to speak her.  She came down to us, backed her main-top-sail,
+and the two vessels stood "head on," bowing and curvetting at each
+other like a couple of war-horses reined in by their riders.  It was
+the first vessel that I had seen near, and I was surprised to find
+how much she rolled and pitched in so quiet a sea.  She lunged her
+head into the sea, and then, her stern settling gradually down, her
+huge bows rose up, showing the bright copper, and her stern, and
+bresthooks dripping, like old Neptune's locks, with the brine.
+Her decks were filled with passengers who had come up at the cry
+of "sail ho," and who by their dress and features appeared to be
+Swiss and French emigrants.  She hailed us at first in French,
+but receiving no answer, she tried us in English.  She was the
+ship La Carolina, from Havre, for New York.  We desired her to
+report the brig Pilgrim, from Boston, for the north-west coast
+of America, five days out.  She then filled away and left us to
+plough on through our waste of waters.  This day ended pleasantly;
+we had got into regular and comfortable weather, and into that
+routine of sea-life which is only broken by a storm, a sail,
+or the sight of land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+SHIP'S DUTIES--TROPICS
+
+
+As we had now a long "spell" of fine weather, without any incident
+to break the monotony of our lives, there can be no better place to
+describe the duties, regulations, and customs of an American merchantman,
+of which ours was a fair specimen.
+
+The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount.  He stands no watch,
+comes and goes when he pleases, and is accountable to no one, and must
+be obeyed in everything, without a question, even from his chief officer.
+He has the power to turn his officers off duty, and even to break them
+and make them do duty as sailors in the forecastle.  When there are no
+passengers and no supercargo, as in our vessel, he has no companion
+but his own dignity, and no pleasures, unless he differs from most
+of his kind, but the consciousness of possessing supreme power, and,
+occasionally, the exercise of it.
+
+The prime minister, the official organ, and the active and superintending
+officer, is the chief mate.  He is first lieutenant, boatswain,
+sailing-master, and quarter-master.  The captain tells him what
+he wishes to have done, and leaves to him the care of overseeing,
+of allotting the work, and also the responsibility of its being
+well done.  The mate (as he is always called, par excellence)
+also keeps the log-book, for which he is responsible to the owners
+and insurers, and has the charge of the stowage, safe keeping, and
+delivery of the cargo.  He is also, ex-officio, the wit of the crew;
+for the captain does not condescend to joke with the men, and the
+second mate no one cares for; so that when "the mate" thinks fit to
+entertain "the people" with a coarse joke or a little practical wit,
+every one feels bound to laugh.
+
+The second mate's is proverbially a dog's berth.  He is neither
+officer nor man.  The men do not respect him as an officer, and he
+is obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the topsails, and to put
+his hands into the tar and slush, with the rest.  The crew call
+him the "sailor's waiter," as he has to furnish them with spun-yarn,
+marline, and all other stuffs that they need in their work, and has
+charge of the boatswain's locker, which includes serving-boards,
+marline-spikes, etc.  He is expected by the captain to maintain
+his dignity and to enforce obedience, and still is kept at a great
+distance from the mate, and obliged to work with the crew.  He is
+one to whom little is given and of whom much is required.  His wages
+are usually double those of a common sailor, and he eats and sleeps
+in the cabin; but he is obliged to be on deck nearly all the time,
+and eats at the second table, that is, makes a meal out of what the
+captain and chief mate leave.
+
+The steward is the captain's servant, and has charge of the pantry,
+from which every one, even the mate himself, is excluded.  These
+distinctions usually find him an enemy in the mate, who does not
+like to have any one on board who is not entirely under his control;
+the crew do not consider him as one of their number, so he is left
+to the mercy of the captain.
+
+The cook is the patron of the crew, and those who are in his favor
+can get their wet mittens and stockings dried, or light their pipes
+at the galley on the night watch.  These two worthies, together
+with the carpenter and sailmaker, if there be one, stand no watch,
+but, being employed all day, are allowed to "sleep in" at night,
+unless all hands are called.
+
+The crew are divided into two divisions, as equally as may be, called
+the watches.  Of these the chief mate commands the larboard, and the
+second mate the starboard.  They divide the time between them, being
+on and off duty, or, as it is called, on deck and below, every other
+four hours.  If, for instance, the chief mate with the larboard watch
+have the first night-watch from eight to twelve; at the end of the
+four hours, the starboard watch is called, and the second mate takes
+the deck, while the larboard watch and the first mate go below until
+four in the morning, when they come on deck again and remain until
+eight; having what is called the morning watch.  As they will have
+been on deck eight hours out of the twelve, while those who had the
+middle watch--from twelve to four, will only have been up four hours,
+they have what is called a "forenoon watch below," that is, from
+eight, A.M., till twelve, M.  In a man-of-war, and in some merchantmen,
+this alteration of watches is kept up throughout the twenty-four hours;
+but our ship, like most merchantmen, had "all hands" from twelve o'clock
+till dark, except in bad weather, when we had "watch and watch."
+
+An explanation of the "dog watches" may, perhaps, be of use to one
+who has never been at sea.  They are to shift the watches each
+night, so that the same watch need not be on deck at the same hours.
+In order to effect this, the watch from four to eight, P.M.,
+is divided into two half, or dog watches, one from four to six,
+and the other from six to eight.  By this means they divide the
+twenty-four hours into seven watches instead of six, and thus
+shift the hours every night.  As the dog watches come during twilight,
+after the day's work is done, and before the night watch is set, they
+are the watches in which everybody is on deck.  The captain is up,
+walking on the weather side of the quarter-deck, the chief mate is
+on the lee side, and the second mate about the weather gangway.
+The steward has finished his work in the cabin, and has come up to
+smoke his pipe with the cook in the galley.  The crew are sitting on
+the windlass or lying on the forecastle, smoking, singing, or telling
+long yarns.  At eight o'clock, eight bells are struck, the log is hove,
+the watch set, the wheel relieved, the galley shut up, and the other
+watch goes below.
+
+The morning commences with the watch on deck's "turning-to" at
+day-break and washing down, scrubbing, and swabbing the decks.
+This, together with filling the "scuttled butt" with fresh water,
+and coiling up the rigging, usually occupies the time until seven
+bells, (half after seven,) when all hands get breakfast.  At eight,
+the day's work begins, and lasts until sun-down, with the exception
+of an hour for dinner.
+
+Before I end my explanations, it may be well to define a day's work,
+and to correct a mistake prevalent among landsmen about a sailor's
+life.  Nothing is more common than to hear people say--"Are not sailors
+very idle at sea?--what can they find to do?"  This is a very natural
+mistake, and being very frequently made, it is one which every sailor
+feels interested in having corrected.  In the first place, then, the
+discipline of the ship requires every man to be at work upon something
+when he is on deck, except at night and on Sundays.  Except at these
+times, you will never see a man, on board a well-ordered vessel,
+standing idle on deck, sitting down, or leaning over the side.
+It is the officers' duty to keep every one at work, even if there
+is nothing to be done but to scrape the rust from the chain cables.
+In no state prison are the convicts more regularly set to work, and
+more closely watched.  No conversation is allowed among the crew at
+their duty, and though they frequently do talk when aloft, or when
+near one another, yet they always stop when an officer is nigh.
+
+With regard to the work upon which the men are put, it is a matter
+which probably would not be understood by one who has not been at
+sea.  When I first left port, and found that we were kept regularly
+employed for a week or two, I supposed that we were getting the vessel
+into sea trim, and that it would soon be over, and we should have
+nothing to do but sail the ship; but I found that it continued so
+for two years, and at the end of the two years there was as much to
+be done as ever.  As has often been said, a ship is like a lady's
+watch, always out of repair.  When first leaving port, studding-sail
+gear is to be rove, all the running rigging to be examined, that
+which is unfit for use to be got down, and new rigging rove in its
+place: then the standing rigging is to be overhauled, replaced,
+and repaired, in a thousand different ways; and wherever any of
+the numberless ropes or the yards are chafing or wearing upon it,
+there "chafing gear," as it is called, must be put on.  This chafing
+gear consists of worming, parcelling, roundings, battens, and service
+of all kinds--both rope-yarns, spun-yarn, marline and seizing-stuffs.
+Taking off, putting on, and mending the chafing gear alone, upon a
+vessel, would find constant employment for two or three men, during
+working hours, for a whole voyage.
+
+The next point to be considered is, that all the "small stuffs" which
+are used on board a ship--such as spun-yarn, marline, seizing-stuff,
+etc.--are made on board.  The owners of a vessel buy up incredible
+quantities of "old junk," which the sailors unlay, after drawing out
+the yarns, knot them together, and roll them up in balls.  These
+"rope-yarns" are constantly used for various purposes, but the
+greater part is manufactured into spun-yarn.  For this purpose
+every vessel is furnished with a "spun-yarn winch;" which is very
+simple, consisting of a wheel and spindle.  This may be heard
+constantly going on deck in pleasant weather; and we had employment,
+during a great part of the time, for three hands in drawing and
+knotting yarns, and making them spun-yarn.
+
+Another method of employing the crew is, "setting up" rigging.
+Whenever any of the standing rigging becomes slack, (which is
+continually happening), the seizings and coverings must be taken
+off, tackles got up, and after the rigging is bowsed well taught,
+the seizings and coverings replaced; which is a very nice piece of work.
+There is also such a connection between different parts of a vessel,
+that one rope can seldom be touched without altering another.
+You cannot stay a mast aft by the back stays, without slacking up
+the head stays, etc.  If we add to this all the tarring, greasing,
+oiling, varnishing, painting, scraping, and scrubbing which is
+required in the course of a long voyage, and also remember this
+is all to be done in addition to watching at night, steering,
+reefing, furling, bracing, making and setting sail, and pulling,
+hauling, and climbing in every direction, one will hardly ask,
+"What can a sailor find to do at sea?"
+
+If, after all this labor--after exposing their lives and limbs in
+storms, wet and cold,
+
+   "Wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch;
+    The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
+    Keep their fur dry;--"
+
+the merchants and captain think that they have not earned their
+twelve dollars a month, (out of which they clothe themselves,) and
+their salt beef and hard bread, they keep them picking oakum--
+ad infinitum.  This is the usual resource upon a rainy day, for
+then it will not do to work upon rigging; and when it is pouring
+down in floods, instead of letting the sailors stand about in
+sheltered places, and talk, and keep themselves comfortable,
+they are separated to different parts of the ship and kept at
+work picking oakum.  I have seen oakum stuff placed about in
+different parts of the ship, so that the sailors might not be
+idle in the snatches between the frequent squalls upon crossing
+the equator.  Some officers have been so driven to find work for
+the crew in a ship ready for sea, that they have set them to
+pounding the anchors (often done) and scraping the chain cables.
+The "Philadelphia Catechism" is,
+
+"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able,
+ And on the seventh--holystone the decks and scrape the cable."
+
+This kind of work, of course, is not kept up off Cape Horn,
+Cape of Good Hope, and in extreme north and south latitudes;
+but I have seen the decks washed down and scrubbed, when the
+water would have frozen if it had been fresh; and all hands
+kept at work upon the rigging, when we had on our pea-jackets,
+and our hands so numb that we could hardly hold our marline-spikes.
+
+I have here gone out of my narrative course in order that any who
+read this may form as correct an idea of a sailor's life and duty
+as possible.  I have done it in this place because, for some time,
+our life was nothing but the unvarying repetition of these duties,
+which can be better described together.  Before leaving this
+description, however, I would state, in order to show landsmen how
+little they know of the nature of a ship, that a ship-carpenter
+is kept in constant employ during good weather on board vessels
+which are in, what is called, perfect sea order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+A ROGUE--TROUBLE ON BOARD--"LAND HO!"--POMPERO--CAPE HORN
+
+
+After speaking the Carolina, on the 21st August, nothing occurred
+to break the monotony of our life until
+
+Friday, September 5th, when we saw a sail on our weather (starboard)
+beam.  She proved to be a brig under English colors, and passing
+under our stern, reported herself as forty-nine days from Buenos Ayres,
+bound to Liverpool.  Before she had passed us, "sail ho!" was cried again,
+and we made another sail, far on our weather bow, and steering athwart our
+hawse.  She passed out of hail, but we made her out to be an hermaphrodite
+brig, with Brazilian colors in her main rigging.  By her course, she must
+have been bound from Brazil to the south of Europe, probably Portugal.
+
+Sunday, Sept. 7th.  Fell in with the north-east trade winds.
+This morning we caught our first dolphin, which I was very eager to see.
+I was disappointed in the colors of this fish when dying.  They were
+certainly very beautiful, but not equal to what has been said of them.
+They are too indistinct.  To do the fish justice, there is nothing more
+beautiful than the dolphin when swimming a few feet below the surface,
+on a bright day.  It is the most elegantly formed, and also the quickest
+fish, in salt water; and the rays of the sun striking upon it, in its
+rapid and changing motions, reflected from the water, make it look
+like a stray beam from a rainbow.
+
+This day was spent like all pleasant Sabbaths at sea.  The decks are
+washed down, the rigging coiled up, and everything put in order;
+and throughout the day, only one watch is kept on deck at a time.
+The men are all dressed in their best white duck trowsers, and red
+or checked shirts, and have nothing to do but to make the necessary
+changes in the sails.  They employ themselves in reading, talking,
+smoking, and mending their clothes.  If the weather is pleasant,
+they bring their work and their books upon deck, and sit down upon
+the forecastle and windlass.  This is the only day on which these
+privileges are allowed them.  When Monday comes, they put on their
+tarry trowsers again, and prepare for six days of labor.
+
+To enhance the value of the Sabbath to the crew, they are allowed on
+that day a pudding, or, as it is called, a "duff."  This is nothing
+more than flour boiled with water, and eaten with molasses.  It is
+very heavy, dark, and clammy, yet it is looked upon as a luxury,
+and really forms an agreeable variety with salt beef and pork.
+Many a rascally captain has made friends of his crew by allowing
+them duff twice a week on the passage home.
+
+On board some vessels this is made a day of instruction and of
+religious exercises; but we had a crew of swearers, from the
+captain to the smallest boy; and a day of rest, and of something
+like quiet, social enjoyment, was all that we could expect.
+
+We continued running large before the north-east trade winds for
+several days, until Monday--
+
+September 22d; when, upon coming on deck at seven bells in the
+morning, we found the other watch aloft throwing water upon the
+sails; and looking astern, we saw a small clipper-built brig with
+a black hull heading directly after us.  We went to work immediately,
+and put all the canvas upon the brig which we could get upon her,
+rigging out oars for studding-sail yards; and continued wetting
+down the sails by buckets of water whipped up to the mast-head,
+until about nine o'clock, when there came on a drizzling rain.
+The vessel continued in pursuit, changing her course as we changed
+ours, to keep before the wind.  The captain, who watched her with
+his glass, said that she was armed, and full of men, and showed no
+colors.  We continued running dead before the wind, knowing that
+we sailed better so, and that clippers are fastest on the wind.
+We had also another advantage.  The wind was light, and we spread
+more canvas than she did, having royals and sky-sails fore and aft,
+and ten studding-sails; while she, being an hermaphrodite brig, had
+only a gaff topsail, aft.  Early in the morning she was overhauling
+us a little, but after the rain came on and the wind grew lighter,
+we began to leave her astern.  All hands remained on deck throughout
+the day, and we got our arms in order; but we were too few to have
+done anything with her, if she had proved to be what we feared.
+Fortunately there was no moon, and the night which followed was
+exceedingly dark, so that by putting out all the lights and altering
+our course four points, we hoped to get out of her reach.  We had no
+light in the binnacle, but steered by the stars, and kept perfect
+silence through the night.  At daybreak there was no sign of anything
+in the horizon, and we kept the vessel off to her course.
+
+Wednesday, October 1st.  Crossed the equator in long. 24° 24' W.
+I now, for the first time, felt at liberty, according to the old
+usage, to call myself a son of Neptune, and was very glad to be
+able to claim the title without the disagreeable initiation which
+so many have to go through.  After once crossing the line you can
+never be subjected to the process, but are considered as a son of
+Neptune, with full powers to play tricks upon others.  This ancient
+custom is now seldom allowed, unless there are passengers on board,
+in which case there is always a good deal of sport.
+
+It had been obvious to all hands for some time that the second mate,
+whose name was F-----, was an idle, careless fellow, and not much of
+a sailor, and that the captain was exceedingly dissatisfied with him.
+The power of the captain in these cases was well known, and we all
+anticipated a difficulty.  F----- (called Mr. by virtue of his office)
+was but half a sailor, having always been short voyages and remained at
+home a long time between them.  His father was a man of some property,
+and intended to have given his son a liberal education; but he, being
+idle and worthless, was sent off to sea, and succeeded no better there;
+for, unlike many scamps, he had none of the qualities of a sailor--
+he was "not of the stuff that they make sailor of."  He was one of that
+class of officers who are disliked by their captain and despised by the
+crew.  He used to hold long yarns with the crew, and talk about the
+captain, and play with the boys, and relax discipline in every way.
+This kind of conduct always makes the captain suspicious, and is never
+pleasant, in the end, to the men; they preferring to have an officer
+active, vigilant, and distant as may be, with kindness.  Among other bad
+practices, he frequently slept on his watch, and having been discovered
+asleep by the captain, he was told that he would be turned off duty if
+he did it again.  To prevent it in every way possible, the hen-coops
+were ordered to be knocked up, for the captain never sat down on deck
+himself, and never permitted an officer to do so.
+
+The second night after crossing the equator, we had the watch from
+eight till twelve, and it was "my helm" for the last two hours.
+There had been light squalls through the night, and the captain
+told Mr. F-----, who commanded our watch, to keep a bright look-out.
+Soon after I came to the helm, I found that he was quite drowsy,
+and at last he stretched himself on the companion and went fast asleep.
+Soon afterwards, the captain came very quietly on deck, and stood
+by me for some time looking at the compass.  The officer at length
+became aware of the captain's presence, but pretending not to know it,
+began humming and whistling to himself, to show that he was not asleep,
+and went forward, without looking behind him, and ordered the main
+royal to be loosed.  On turning round to come aft, he pretended
+surprise at seeing the master on deck.  This would not do.
+The captain was too "wide awake" for him, and beginning upon him
+at once, gave him a grand blow-up, in true nautical style--"You're
+a lazy, good-for-nothing rascal; you're neither man, boy, soger,
+nor sailor! you're no more than a thing aboard a vessel! you don't
+earn your salt! you're worse than a Mahon soger!" and other still
+more choice extracts from the sailor's vocabulary.  After the poor
+fellow had taken the harangue, he was sent into his state-room,
+and the captain stood the rest of the watch himself.
+
+At seven bells in the morning, all hands were called aft and told
+that F----- was no longer an officer on board, and that we might
+choose one of our own number for second mate.  It is usual for the
+captain to make this offer, and it is very good policy, for the
+crew think themselves the choosers and are flattered by it, but have
+to obey, nevertheless.  Our crew, as is usual, refused to take the
+responsibility of choosing a man of whom we would never be able
+to complain, and left it to the captain.  He picked out an active
+and intelligent young sailor, born near the Kennebee, who had been
+several Canton voyages, and proclaimed him in the following manner:
+"I choose Jim Hall--he's your second mate.  All you've got to do is,
+to obey him as you would me; and remember that he is Mr. Hall."
+F----- went forward into the forecastle as a common sailor, and lost
+the handle to his name, while young fore-mast Jim became Mr. Hall,
+and took up his quarters in the land of knives and forks and tea-cups.
+
+Sunday, October 5th.  It was our morning watch; when, soon after the
+day began to break, a man on the forecastle called out, "Land ho!"
+I had never heard the cry before, and did not know what it meant,
+(and few would suspect what the words were, when hearing the strange
+sound for the first time,) but I soon found, by the direction of
+all eyes, that there was land stretching along our weather beam.
+We immediately took in studding-sails and hauled our wind, running in
+for the land.  This was done to determine our longitude; for by the
+captain's chronometer we were in 25º W., but by his observations we
+were much farther, and he had been for some time in doubt whether
+it was his chronometer or his sextant which was out of order.
+This land-fall settled the matter, and the former instrument was
+condemned, and becoming still worse, was never afterwards used.
+
+As we ran in towards the coast, we found that we were directly off
+the port of Pernambuco, and could see with the telescope the roofs
+of the houses, and one large church, and the town of Olinda.  We ran
+along by the mouth of the harbor, and saw a full-rigged brig going in.
+At two, P.M., we again kept off before the wind, leaving the land on
+our quarter, and at sun-down, it was out of sight.  It was here that
+I first saw one of those singular things called catamarans.  They are
+composed of logs lashed together upon the water; have one large sail,
+are quite fast, and, strange as it may seem, are trusted as good
+sea boats.  We saw several, with from one to three men in each,
+boldly putting out to sea, after it had become almost dark. 
+The Indians go out in them after fish, and as the weather is
+regular in certain seasons, they have no fear.  After taking a
+new departure from Olinda, we kept off on our way to Cape Horn.
+
+We met with nothing remarkable until we were in the latitude of the
+river La Plata.  Here there are violent gales from the south-west,
+called Pomperos, which are very destructive to the shipping in the
+river, and are felt for many leagues at sea.  They are usually
+preceded by lightning.  The captain told the mates to keep a bright
+look-out, and if they saw lightning at the south-west, to take in
+sail at once.  We got the first touch of one during my watch on deck.
+I was walking in the lee gangway, and thought that I saw lightning
+on the lee bow.  I told the second mate, who came over and looked
+out for some time.  It was very black in the south-west, and in
+about ten minutes we saw a distinct flash.  The wind, which had
+been south-east, had now left us, and it was dead calm.  We sprang
+aloft immediately and furled the royals and top-gallant-sails,
+and took in the flying jib, hauled up the mainsail and trysail,
+squared the after yards, and awaited the attack.  A huge mist
+capped with black clouds came driving towards us, extending over
+that quarter of the horizon, and covering the stars, which shone
+brightly in the other part of the heavens.  It came upon us at
+once with a blast, and a shower of hail and rain, which almost
+took our breath from us.  The hardiest was obliged to turn his back.
+We let the halyards run, and fortunately were not taken aback.
+The little vessel "paid off" from the wind, and ran on for some
+time directly before it, tearing through the water with everything
+flying.  Having called all hands, we close-reefed the topsails and
+trysail, furled the courses and job, set the fore-top-mast staysail,
+and brought her up nearly to her course, with the weather braces
+hauled in a little, to ease her.
+
+This was the first blow, that I had seen, which could really be
+called a gale.  We had reefed our topsails in the Gulf Stream, and
+I thought it something serious, but an older sailor would have thought
+nothing of it.  As I had now become used to the vessel and to my duty,
+I was of some service on a yard, and could knot my reef-point as
+well as anybody.  I obeyed the order to lay(1) aloft with the rest,
+
+------------------------------
+1. This word "lay," which is in such general use on board ship,
+   being used in giving orders instead of "go"; as "Lay forward!"
+   "Lay aft!" "Lay aloft!" etc., I do not understand to be the
+   neuter verb, lie, mispronounced, but to be the active verb lay,
+   with the objective case understood; as "Lay yourselves forwards!"
+   "Lay yourselves aft!" etc.
+------------------------------
+
+and found the reefing a very exciting scene; for one watch reefed the
+fore-topsail, and the other the main, and every one did his utmost to
+get his topsail hoisted first.  We had a great advantage over the
+larboard watch, because the chief mate never goes aloft, while our
+new second mate used to jump into the rigging as soon as we began to
+haul out the reef-tackle, and have the weather earing passed before
+there was a man upon the yard.  In this way we were almost always
+able to raise the cry of "Haul out to leeward" before them, and having
+knotted our points, would slide down the shrouds and back-stays,
+and sing out at the topsail halyards to let it be known that we were
+ahead of them.  Reefing is the most exciting part of a sailor's duty.
+All hands are engaged upon it, and after the halyards are let go,
+there is no time to be lost--no "sogering," or hanging back, then.
+If one is not quick enough, another runs over him.  The first on the
+yard goes to the weather earing, the second to the lee, and the next
+two to the "dog's ears;" while the others lay along into the bunt,
+just giving each other elbow-room.  In reefing, the yard-arms
+(the extremes of the yards) are the posts of honor; but in furling,
+the strongest and most experienced stand in the slings, (or, middle
+of the yard,) to make up the bunt.  If the second mate is a smart
+fellow, he will never let any one take either of these posts from him;
+but if he is wanting either in seamanship, strength, or activity,
+some better man will get the bunt and earings from him; which
+immediately brings him into disrepute.
+
+We remained for the rest of the night, and throughout the next day,
+under the same close sail, for it continued to blow very fresh;
+and though we had no more hail, yet there was a soaking rain,
+and it was quite cold and uncomfortable; the more so, because we
+were not prepared for cold weather, but had on our thin clothes.
+We were glad to get a watch below, and put on our thick clothing,
+boots, and south-westers.  Towards sun-down the gale moderated
+a little, and it began to clear off in the south-west.  We shook
+our reefs out, one by one, and before midnight had top-gallant
+sails upon her.
+
+We had now made up our minds for Cape Horn and cold weather,
+and entered upon every necessary preparation.
+
+Tuesday, Nov. 4th.  At day-break, saw land upon our larboard quarter.
+There were two islands, of different size but of the same shape;
+rather high, beginning low at the water's edge, and running with
+a curved ascent to the middle.  They were so far off as to be of
+a deep blue color, and in a few hours we sank them in the north-east.
+These were the Falkland Islands.  We had run between them and the
+main land of Patagonia.  At sun-set the second mate, who was at
+the masthead, said that he saw land on the starboard bow.  This must
+have been the island of Staten Land; and we were now in the region
+of Cape Horn, with a fine breeze from the northward, top-mast and
+top-gallant studding-sails set, and every prospect of a speedy and
+pleasant passage round.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+CAPE HORN--A VISIT
+
+
+Wednesday, Nov. 5th.  The weather was fine during the previous night,
+and we had a clear view of the Magellan Clouds, and of the Southern Cross.
+The Magellan Clouds consist of three small nebulae in the southern
+part of the heavens,--two bright, like the milky-way, and one dark.
+These are first seen, just above the horizon, soon after crossing
+the southern tropic.  When off Cape Horn, they are nearly overhead.
+The cross is composed of four stars in that form, and is said to be
+the brightest constellation in the heavens.
+
+During the first part of this day (Wednesday) the wind was light,
+but after noon it came on fresh, and we furled the royals.  We still
+kept the studding-sails out, and the captain said he should go round
+with them, if he could.  Just before eight o'clock, (then about sun-down,
+in that latitude,) the cry of "All hands ahoy!" was sounded down
+the fore scuttle and the after hatchway, and hurrying upon deck,
+we found a large black cloud rolling on toward us from the south-west,
+and blackening the whole heavens.  "Here comes the Cape Horn!" said
+the chief mate; and we had hardly time to haul down and clew up,
+before it was upon us.  In a few moments, a heavier sea was raised
+than I had ever seen before, and as it was directly ahead, the little
+brig, which was no better than a bathing machine, plunged into it,
+and all the forward part of her was under water; the sea pouring in
+through the bow-ports and hawse-hole and over the knight-heads,
+threatening to wash everything overboard.  In the lee scuppers it
+was up to a man's waist.  We sprang aloft and double reefed the
+topsails, and furled all the other sails, and made all snug.
+But this would not do; the brig was laboring and straining against
+the head sea, and the gale was growing worse and worse.  At the same
+time the sleet and hail were driving with all fury against us.
+We clewed down, and hauled out the reef-tackles again, and close-reefed
+the fore-topsail, and furled the main, and hove her to on the starboard
+tack.  Here was an end to our fine prospects.  We made up our minds to
+head winds and cold weather; sent down the royal yards, and unrove
+the gear, but all the rest of the top hamper remained aloft, even to
+the sky-sail masts and studding-sail booms.
+
+Throughout the night it stormed violently--rain, hail, snow, and
+sleet beating down upon the vessel--the wind continuing to break ahead,
+and the sea running high.  At daybreak (about three, A.M.) the deck
+was covered with snow.  The captain sent up the steward with a glass
+of grog to each of the watch; and all the time that we were off the Cape,
+grog was given to the morning watch, and to all hands whenever we reefed
+topsails.  The clouds cleared away at sun-rise, and the wind becoming
+more fair, we again made sail and stood nearly up to our course.
+
+Thursday, Nov. 6th.  It continued more pleasant through the first
+part of the day, but at night we had the same scene over again.
+This time, we did not heave to, as on the night before, but endeavored
+to beat to windward under close-reefed top-sails, balance-reefed trysail,
+and fore top-mast stay-sail.  This night it was my turn to steer, or,
+as the sailors say, my trick at the helm, for two hours.  Inexperienced
+as I was, I made out to steer to the satisfaction of the officer,
+and neither S----- nor myself gave up our tricks, all the time that
+we were off the Cape.  This was something to boast of, for it requires
+a good deal of skill and watchfulness to steer a vessel close hauled,
+in a gale of wind, against a heavy head sea.  "Ease her when she pitches,"
+is the word; and a little carelessness in letting her ship a heavy sea,
+might sweep the decks, or knock masts out of her.
+
+Friday, Nov. 7th.  Towards morning the wind went down, and during
+the whole forenoon we lay tossing about in a dead calm, and in the
+midst of a thick fog.  The calms here are unlike those in most parts
+of the world, for there is always such a high sea running, and the
+periods of calm are so short, that it has no time to go down;
+and vessels, being under no command of sails or rudder, lie like
+logs upon the water.  We were obliged to steady the booms and yards
+by guys and braces, and to lash everything well below.  We now found
+our top hamper of some use, for though it is liable to be carried
+away or sprung by the sudden "bringing up" of a vessel when pitching
+in a chopping sea, yet it is a great help in steadying a vessel when
+rolling in a long swell; giving it more slowness, ease, and regularity
+to the motion.
+
+The calm of the morning reminds me of a scene which I forgot to
+describe at the time of its occurrence, but which I remember from
+its being the first time that I had heard the near breathing of whales.
+It was on the night that we passed between the Falkland Islands and
+Staten Land.  We had the watch from twelve to four, and coming upon deck,
+found the little brig lying perfectly still, surrounded by a thick fog,
+and the sea as smooth as though oil had been poured upon it; yet now
+and then a long, low swell rolling over its surface, slightly lifting
+the vessel, but without breaking the glassy smoothness of the water.
+We were surrounded far and near by shoals of sluggish whales and
+grampuses; which the fog prevented our seeing, rising slowly to the
+surface, or perhaps lying out at length, heaving out those peculiar
+lazy, deep, and long-drawn breathings which give such an impression
+of supineness and strength.  Some of the watch were asleep, and the
+others were perfectly still, so that there was nothing to break the
+illusion, and I stood leaning over the bulwarks, listening to the
+slow breathing of the mighty creatures--now one breaking the water
+just alongside, whose black body I almost fancied that I could see
+through the fog; and again another, which I could just hear in the
+distance--until the low and regular swell seemed like the heaving
+of the ocean's mighty bosom to the sound of its heavy and long-drawn
+respirations.
+
+Towards the evening of this day, (Friday 7th,) the fog cleared off,
+and we had every appearance of a cold blow; and soon after sun-down
+it came on.  Again it was clew up and haul down, reef and furl,
+until we had got her down to close-reefed topsails, double-reefed
+trysail, and reefed forespenser.  Snow, hail, and sleet were driving
+upon us most of the night, and the sea was breaking over the bows
+and covering the forward part of the little vessel; but as she would
+lay her course the captain refused to heave her to.
+
+Saturday, Nov. 8th.  This day commenced with calm and thick fog,
+and ended with hail, snow, a violent wind, and close-reefed topsails.
+
+Sunday, Nov. 9th.  To-day the sun rose clear and continued so until
+twelve o'clock, when the captain got an observation.  This was very
+well for Cape Horn, and we thought it a little remarkable that,
+as we had not had one unpleasant Sunday during the whole voyage,
+the only tolerable day here should be a Sunday.  We got time to
+clear up the steerage and forecastle, and set things to rights,
+and to overhaul our wet clothes a little.  But this did not last
+very long.  Between five and six--the sun was then nearly three
+hours high--the cry of "All starbowlines ahoy!" summoned our watch
+on deck; and immediately all hands were called.  A true specimen
+of Cape Horn was coming upon us.  A great cloud of a dark slate-color
+was driving on us from the south-west; and we did our best to take
+in sail, (for the light sails had been set during the first part of
+the day,) before we were in the midst of it.  We had got the light
+sails furled, the courses hauled up, and the topsail reef-tackles
+hauled out, and were just mounting the fore-rigging, when the storm
+struck us.  In an instant the sea, which had been comparatively quiet,
+was running higher and higher; and it became almost as dark as night.
+The hail and sleet were harder than I had yet felt them; seeming to
+almost pin us down to the rigging.  We were longer taking in sail
+than ever before; for the sails were stiff and wet, the ropes and
+rigging covered with snow and sleet, and we ourselves cold and nearly
+blinded with the violence of the storm.  By the time we had got down
+upon deck again, the little brig was plunging madly into a tremendous
+head sea, which at every drive rushed in through the bow-ports and
+over the bows, and buried all the forward part of the vessel.  At this
+instant the chief mate, who was standing on the top of the windlass,
+at the foot of the spenser mast, called out, "Lay out there and furl
+the jib!"  This was no agreeable or safe duty, yet it must be done.
+An old Swede, (the best sailor on board,) who belonged on the forecastle,
+sprang out upon the bowsprit.  Another one must go: I was near the mate,
+and sprang forward, threw the down-haul over the windlass, and jumped
+between the knight-heads out upon the bowsprit.  The crew stood abaft
+the windlass and hauled the jib down, while we got out upon the weather
+side of the jib-boom, our feet on the foot ropes, holding on by the spar,
+the great jib flying off to leeward and slatting so as almost to throw
+us off of the boom.  For some time we could do nothing but hold on,
+and the vessel diving into two huge seas, one after the other, plunged us
+twice into the water up to our chins.  We hardly knew whether we were
+on or off; when coming up, dripping from the water, we were raised high
+into the air.  John (that was the sailor's name) thought the boom
+would go, every moment, and called out to the mate to keep the vessel
+off, and haul down the staysail; but the fury of the wind and the
+breaking of the seas against the bows defied every attempt to make
+ourselves heard, and we were obliged to do the best we could in our
+situation.  Fortunately, no other seas so heavy struck her, and we
+succeeded in furling the jib "after a fashion"; and, coming in over
+the staysail nettings, were not a little pleased to find that all
+was snug, and the watch gone below; for we were soaked through,
+and it was very cold.  The weather continued nearly the same
+through the night.
+
+Monday, Nov. 10th.  During a part of this day we were hove to,
+but the rest of the time were driving on, under close-reefed sails,
+with a heavy sea, a strong gale, and frequent squalls of hail and snow.
+
+Tuesday, Nov. 11th.  The same.
+
+Wednesday, Nov. 12th.  The same.
+
+Thursday, Nov. 13th.  The same.
+
+We had now got hardened to Cape weather, the vessel was under
+reduced sail, and everything secured on deck and below, so that
+we had little to do but steer and to stand our watch.  Our clothes
+were all wet through, and the only change was from wet to more wet.
+It was in vain to think of reading or working below, for we were
+too tired, the hatchways were closed down, and everything was wet
+and uncomfortable, black and dirty, heaving and pitching.  We had
+only to come below when the watch was out, wring out our wet clothes,
+hang them up, and turn in and sleep as soundly as we could, until the
+watch was called again.  A sailor can sleep anywhere--no sound of
+wind, water, wood or iron can keep him awake--and we were always
+fast asleep when three blows on the hatchway, and the unwelcome
+cry of "All starbowlines ahoy! eight bells there below! do you
+hear the news?" (the usual formula of calling the watch), roused us
+up from our berths upon the cold, wet decks.  The only time when we
+could be said to take any pleasure was at night and morning, when we
+were allowed a tin pot full of hot tea, (or, as the sailors significantly
+call it, "water bewitched,") sweetened with molasses.  This, bad as
+it was, was still warm and comforting, and, together with our sea
+biscuit and cold salt beef, made quite a meal.  Yet even this meal
+was attended with some uncertainty.  We had to go ourselves to the
+galley and take our kid of beef and tin pots of tea, and run the
+risk of losing them before we could get below.  Many a kid of beef
+have I seen rolling in the scuppers, and the bearer lying at his
+length on the decks.  I remember an English lad who was always the
+life of the crew, but whom we afterwards lost overboard, standing for
+nearly ten minutes at the galley, with this pot of tea in his hand,
+waiting for a chance to get down into the forecastle; and seeing
+what he thought was a "smooth spell," started to go forward.  He had
+just got to the end of the windlass, when a great sea broke over the
+bows, and for a moment I saw nothing of him but his head and shoulders;
+and at the next instant, being taken off of his legs, he was carried
+aft with the sea, until her stern lifting up and sending the water
+forward, he was left high and dry at the side of the long-boat,
+still holding on to his tin pot, which had now nothing in it but
+salt water.  But nothing could ever daunt him, or overcome, for a
+moment, his habitual good humor.  Regaining his legs, and shaking
+his fist at the man at the wheel, he rolled below, saying, as he
+passed, "A man's no sailor, if he can't take a joke."  The ducking
+was not the worst of such an affair, for, as there was an allowance
+of tea, you could get no more from the galley; and though sailors
+would never suffer a man to go without, but would always turn in
+a little from their own pots to fill up his, yet this was at best
+but dividing the loss among all hands.
+
+Something of the same kind befell me a few days after.  The cook
+had just made for us a mess of hot "scouse"--that is, biscuit pounded
+fine, salt beef cut into small pieces, and a few potatoes, boiled up
+together and seasoned with pepper.  This was a rare treat, and I,
+being the last at the galley, had it put in my charge to carry down
+for the mess.  I got along very well as far as the hatchway, and was
+just getting down the steps, when a heavy sea, lifting the stern out
+of water, and passing forward, dropping it down again, threw the steps
+from their place, and I came down into the steerage a little faster
+than I meant to, with the kid on top of me, and the whole precious
+mess scattered over the floor.  Whatever your feelings may be,
+you must make a joke of everything at sea; and if you were to fall
+from aloft and be caught in the belly of a sail, and thus saved
+from instant death, it would not do to look at all disturbed,
+or to make a serious matter of it.
+
+Friday, Nov. 14th.  We were now well to the westward of the Cape
+and were changing our course to the northward as much as we dared,
+since the strong south-west winds, which prevailed then, carried us
+in toward Patagonia.  At two, P.M., we saw a sail on our larboard beam,
+and at four we made it out to be a large ship, steering our course,
+under single-reefed topsails.  We at that time had shaken the reefs
+out of our topsails, as the wind was lighter, and set the main
+top-gallant sail.  As soon as our captain saw what sail she was under,
+he set the fore top-gallant sail and flying jib; and the old whaler--
+for such, his boats and short sail showed him to be--felt a little
+ashamed, and shook the reefs out of his topsails, but could do no more,
+for he had sent down his top-gallant masts off the Cape.  He ran down
+for us, and answered our hail as the whale-ship, New England,
+of Poughkeepsie, one hundred and twenty days from New York.
+Our captain gave our name, and added, ninety-two days from Boston.
+They then had a little conversation about longitude, in which they
+found that they could not agree.  The ship fell astern, and continued
+in sight during the night.  Toward morning, the wind having become
+light, we crossed our royal and skysail yards, and at daylight we
+were seen under a cloud of sail, having royal and skysails fore
+and aft.  The "spouter," as the sailors call a whaleman, had sent
+up his main top-gallant mast and set the sail, and made signal for
+us to heave to.  About half-past seven their whale-boat came alongside,
+and Captain Job Terry sprang on board, a man known in every port and
+by every vessel in the Pacific ocean.  "Don't you know Job Terry?
+I thought everybody knew Job Terry," said a green-hand, who came in
+the boat, to me, when I asked him about his captain.  He was indeed
+a singular man.  He was six feet high, wore thick, cowhide boots,
+and brown coat and trowsers, and, except a sun-burnt complexion,
+had not the slightest appearance of a sailor; yet he had been forty
+years in the whale trade, and, as he said himself, had owned ships,
+built ships, and sailed ships.  His boat's crew were a pretty raw set,
+just out of the bush, and as the sailor's phrase is, "hadn't got the
+hayseed out of their hair."  Captain Terry convinced our captain that
+our reckoning was a little out, and, having spent the day on board,
+put off in his boat at sunset for his ship, which was now six or
+eight miles astern.  He began a "yarn" when he came on board,
+which lasted, with but little intermission, for four hours.
+It was all about himself, and the Peruvian government, and the
+Dublin frigate, and Lord James Townshend, and President Jackson,
+and the ship Ann M'Kim of Baltimore.  It would probably never have
+come to an end, had not a good breeze sprung up, which sent him off
+to his own vessel.  One of the lads who came in his boat, a thoroughly
+countrified-looking fellow, seemed to care very little about the vessel,
+rigging, or anything else, but went round looking at the live stock,
+and leaned over the pig-sty, and said he wished he was back again
+tending his father's pigs.
+
+At eight o'clock we altered our course to the northward, bound for
+Juan Fernandez.
+
+This day we saw the last of the albatrosses, which had been our
+companions a great part of the time off the Cape.  I had been
+interested in the bird from descriptions which I had read of it,
+and was not at all disappointed.  We caught one or two with a
+baited hook which we floated astern upon a shingle.  Their long,
+flapping wings, long legs, and large, staring eyes, give them a
+very peculiar appearance.  They look well on the wing; but one
+of the finest sights that I have ever seen, was an albatross
+asleep upon the water, during a calm, off Cape Horn, when a heavy
+sea was running.  There being no breeze, the surface of the water
+was unbroken, but a long, heavy swell was rolling, and we saw the
+fellow, all white, directly ahead of us, asleep upon the waves,
+with his head under his wing; now rising on the top of a huge billow,
+and then falling slowly until he was lost in the hollow between.
+He was undisturbed for some time, until the noise of our bows,
+gradually approaching, roused him, when, lifting his head, he stared
+upon us for a moment, and then spread his wide wings and took his flight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+LOSS OF A MAN--SUPERSTITION
+
+
+Monday, Nov. 19th.  This was a black day in our calendar.  At seven
+o'clock in the morning, it being our watch below, we were aroused
+from a sound sleep by the cry of "All hands ahoy! a man overboard!"
+This unwonted cry sent a thrill through the heart of every one,
+and hurrying on deck we found the vessel hove flat aback, with all
+her studding-sails set; for the boy who was at the helm left it to
+throw something overboard, and the carpenter, who was an old sailor,
+knowing that the wind was light, put the helm down and hove her aback.
+The watch on deck were lowering away the quarter-boat, and I got on
+deck just in time to heave myself into her as she was leaving the side;
+but it was not until out upon the wide Pacific, in our little boat,
+that I knew whom we had lost.  It was George Ballmer, a young English
+sailor, who was prized by the officers as an active lad and willing
+seaman, and by the crew as a lively, hearty fellow, and a good shipmate.
+He was going aloft to fit a strap round the main top-mast-head,
+for ringtail halyards, and had the strap and block, a coil of halyards
+and a marline-spike about his neck.  He fell from the starboard futtock
+shrouds, and not knowing how to swim, and being heavily dressed, with all
+those things round his neck, he probably sank immediately.  We pulled
+astern, in the direction in which he fell, and though we knew that there
+was no hope of saving him, yet no one wished to speak of returning, and we
+rowed about for nearly an hour, without the hope of doing anything,
+but unwilling to acknowledge to ourselves that we must give him up.
+At length we turned the boat's head and made towards the vessel.
+
+Death is at all times solemn, but never so much so as at sea.  A man
+dies on shore; his body remains with his friends, and "the mourners go
+about the streets;" but when a man falls overboard at sea and is lost,
+there is a suddenness in the event, and a difficulty in realizing it,
+which give to it an air of awful mystery.  A man dies on shore--you
+follow his body to the grave, and a stone marks the spot.  You are
+often prepared for the event.  There is always something which helps
+you to realize it when it happens, and to recall it when it has passed.
+A man is shot down by your side in battle, and the mangled body remains
+an object, and a real evidence; but at sea, the man is near you--
+at your side--you hear his voice, and in an instant he is gone, and
+nothing but a vacancy shows his loss.  Then, too, at sea--to use
+a homely but expressive phrase--you miss a man so much.  A dozen
+men are shut up together in a little bark, upon the wide, wide sea,
+and for months and months see no forms and hear no voices but their
+own, and one is taken suddenly from among them, and they miss him
+at every turn.  It is like losing a limb.  There are no new faces
+or new scenes to fill up the gap.  There is always an empty berth
+in the forecastle, and one man wanting when the small night watch
+is mustered.  There is one less to take the wheel, and one less to
+lay out with you upon the yard.  You miss his form, and the sound
+of his voice, for habit had made them almost necessary to you, and
+each of your senses feels the loss.
+
+All these things make such a death peculiarly solemn, and the effect
+of it remains upon the crew for some time.  There is more kindness
+shown by the officers to the crew, and by the crew to one another.
+There is more quietness and seriousness.  The oath and the loud
+laugh are gone.  The officers are more watchful, and the crew go
+more carefully aloft.  The lost man is seldom mentioned, or is
+dismissed with a sailor's rude eulogy--"Well, poor George is gone!
+His cruise is up soon!  He knew his work, and did his duty, and was
+a good shipmate."  Then usually follows some allusion to another world,
+for sailors are almost all believers; but their notions and opinions
+are unfixed and at loose ends.  They say,--"God won't be hard upon
+the poor fellow," and seldom get beyond the common phrase which seems
+to imply that their sufferings and hard treatment here will excuse
+them hereafter,--"To work hard, live hard, die hard, and go to hell
+after all, would be hard indeed!"  Our cook, a simple-hearted old
+African, who had been through a good deal in his day, and was rather
+seriously inclined, always going to church twice a day when on shore,
+and reading his Bible on a Sunday in the galley, talked to the crew
+about spending their Sabbaths badly, and told them that they might
+go as suddenly as George had, and be as little prepared.
+
+Yet a sailor's life is at best, but a mixture of a little good with
+much evil, and a little pleasure with much pain.  The beautiful is
+linked with the revolting, the sublime with the commonplace, and the
+solemn with the ludicrous.
+
+We had hardly returned on board with our sad report, before an
+auction was held of the poor man's clothes.  The captain had first,
+however, called all hands aft and asked them if they were satisfied
+that everything had been done to save the man, and if they thought
+there was any use in remaining there longer.  The crew all said that
+it was in vain, for the man did not know how to swim, and was very
+heavily dressed.  So we then filled away and kept her off to her course.
+
+The laws regulating navigation make the captain answerable for the
+effects of a sailor who dies during the voyage, and it is either a law
+or a universal custom, established for convenience, that the captain
+should immediately hold an auction of his things, in which they are
+bid off by the sailors, and the sums which they give are deducted from
+their wages at the end of the voyage.  In this way the trouble and
+risk of keeping his things through the voyage are avoided, and the
+clothes are usually sold for more than they would be worth on shore.
+Accordingly, we had no sooner got the ship before the wind, than
+his chest was brought up upon the forecastle, and the sale began.
+The jackets and trowsers in which we had seen him dressed but a few
+days before, were exposed and bid off while the life was hardly out
+of his body, and his chest was taken aft and used as a store-chest,
+so that there was nothing left which could be called his.  Sailors have
+an unwillingness to wear a dead man's clothes during the same voyage,
+and they seldom do so unless they are in absolute want.
+
+As is usual after a death, many stories were told about George.
+Some had heard him say that he repented never having learned to swim,
+and that he knew that he should meet his death by drowning.  Another
+said that he never knew any good to come of a voyage made against
+the will, and the deceased man shipped and spent his advance and
+was afterwards very unwilling to go, but not being able to refund,
+was obliged to sail with us.  A boy, too, who had become quite
+attached to him, said that George talked to him during most of
+the watch on the night before, about his mother and family at home,
+and this was the first time that he had mentioned the subject during
+the voyage.
+
+The night after this event, when I went to the galley to get a light,
+I found the cook inclined to be talkative, so I sat down on the spars,
+and gave him an opportunity to hold a yarn.  I was the more inclined
+to do so, as I found that he was full of the superstitions once more
+common among seamen, and which the recent death had waked up in his mind.
+He talked about George's having spoken of his friends, and said he
+believed few men died without having a warning of it, which he supported
+by a great many stories of dreams, and the unusual behavior of men before
+death.  From this he went on to other superstitions, the Flying Dutchman,
+etc., and talked rather mysteriously, having something evidently on his mind.
+
+At length he put his head out of the galley and looked carefully about to
+see if any one was within hearing, and being satisfied on that point, asked
+me in a low tone--
+
+"I say! you know what countryman 'e carpenter be?"
+
+"Yes," said I; "he's a German."
+
+"What kind of a German?" said the cook.
+
+"He belongs to Bremen," said I.
+
+"Are you sure o' dat?" said he.
+
+I satisfied him on that point by saying that he could speak no
+language but the German and English.
+
+"I'm plaguy glad o' dat," said the cook.  "I was mighty 'fraid he was a
+Fin.  I tell you what, I been plaguy civil to that man all the voyage."
+
+I asked him the reason of this, and found that he was fully possessed
+with the notion that Fins are wizards, and especially have power over
+winds and storms.  I tried to reason with him about it, but he had the
+best of all arguments, that from experience, at hand, and was not to
+be moved.  He had been in a vessel at the Sandwich Islands, in which
+the sail-maker was a Fin, and could do anything he was of a mind to.
+This sail-maker kept a junk bottle in his berth, which was always just
+half full of rum, though he got drunk upon it nearly every day.  He had
+seen him sit for hours together, talking to this bottle, which he stood
+up before him on the table.  The same man cut his throat in his berth,
+and everybody said he was possessed.
+
+He had heard of ships, too, beating up the gulf of Finland against
+a head wind, and having a ship heave in sight astern, overhaul and
+pass them, with as fair a wind as could blow, and all studding-sails
+out, and find she was from Finland.
+
+"Oh ho!" said he; "I've seen too much of them men to want to see 'em
+'board a ship.  If they can't have their own way, they'll play the
+d---l with you."
+
+As I still doubted, he said he would leave it to John, who was the
+oldest seaman aboard, and would know, if anybody did.  John, to be
+sure, was the oldest, and at the same time the most ignorant, man
+in the ship; but I consented to have him called.  The cook stated
+the matter to him, and John, as I anticipated, sided with the cook,
+and said that he himself had been in a ship where they had a head
+wind for a fortnight, and the captain found out at last that one
+of the men, whom he had had some hard words with a short time before,
+was a Fin, and immediately told him if he didn't stop the head wind
+he would shut him down in the fore peak, and would not give him
+anything to eat.  The Fin held out for a day and a half, when he
+could not stand it any longer, and did something or other which
+brought the wind round again, and they let him up.
+
+"There," said the cook, "what do you think o' dat?"
+
+I told him I had no doubt it was true, and that it would have been
+odd if the wind had not changed in fifteen days, Fin or no Fin.
+
+"Oh," says he, "go 'way!  You think, 'cause you been to college,
+you know better than anybody.  You know better than them as 'as
+seen it with their own eyes.  You wait till you've been to sea as
+long as I have, and you'll know."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+JUAN FERNANDEZ--THE PACIFIC
+
+
+We continued sailing along with a fair wind and fine weather until
+
+Tuesday, Nov. 25th, when at daylight we saw the island of
+Juan Fernandez, directly ahead, rising like a deep blue cloud out
+of the sea.  We were then probably nearly seventy miles from it;
+and so high and so blue did it appear, that I mistook it for a cloud,
+resting over the island, and looked for the island under it, until it
+gradually turned to a deader and greener color, and I could mark the
+inequalities upon its surface.  At length we could distinguish trees
+and rocks; and by the afternoon, this beautiful island lay fairly
+before us, and we directed our course to the only harbor.  Arriving at
+the entrance soon after sun-down, we found a Chilian man-of-war brig,
+the only vessel, coming out.  She hailed us, and an officer on board,
+whom we supposed to be an American, advised us to run in before night,
+and said that they were bound to Valparaiso.  We ran immediately for
+the anchorage, but, owing to the winds which drew about the mountains
+and came to us in flaws from every point of the compass, we did not
+come to an anchor until nearly midnight.  We had a boat ahead all the
+time that we were working in, and those aboard were continually bracing
+the yards about for every puff that struck us, until about 12 o'clock,
+when we came-to in 40 fathoms water, and our anchor struck bottom
+for the first time since we left Boston--one hundred and three days.
+We were then divided into three watches, and thus stood out the remainder
+of the night.
+
+I was called on deck to stand my watch at about three in the morning,
+and I shall never forget the peculiar sensation which I experienced
+on finding myself once more surrounded by land, feeling the night
+breeze coming from off shore, and hearing the frogs and crickets.
+The mountains seemed almost to hang over us, and apparently from the
+very heart there came out, at regular intervals, a loud echoing sound,
+which affected me as hardly human.  We saw no lights, and could hardly
+account for the sound, until the mate, who had been there before, told
+us that it was the "Alerta" of the Spanish soldiers, who were stationed
+over some convicts confined in caves nearly halfway up the mountain.
+At the expiration of my watch I went below, feeling not a little anxious
+for the day, that I might see more nearly, and perhaps tread upon,
+this romantic, I may almost say, classic island.
+
+When all hands were called it was nearly sunrise, and between that time
+and breakfast, although quite busy on board in getting up water-casks,
+etc., I had a good view of the objects about me.  The harbor was nearly
+land-locked, and at the head of it was a landing-place, protected by a
+small breakwater of stones, upon which two large boats were hauled up,
+with a sentry standing over them.  Near this was a variety of huts or
+cottages, nearly an hundred in number, the best of them built of mud
+and white washed, but the greater part only Robinson Crusoe like--
+of posts and branches of trees.  The governor's house, as it is called,
+was the most conspicuous, being large, with grated windows, plastered
+walls, and roof of red tiles; yet, like all the rest, only of one story.
+Near it was a small chapel, distinguished by a cross; and a long, low
+brown-looking building, surrounded by something like a palisade, from
+which an old and dingy-looking Chilian flag was flying.  This, of course,
+was dignified by the title of Presidio.  A sentinel was stationed at
+the chapel, another at the governor's house, and a few soldiers armed
+with bayonets, looking rather ragged, with shoes out at the toes, were
+strolling about among the houses, or waiting at the landing-place for
+our boat to come ashore.
+
+The mountains were high, but not so overhanging as they appeared
+to be by starlight.  They seemed to bear off towards the centre of
+the island, and were green and well wooded, with some large, and,
+I am told, exceedingly fertile valleys, with mule-tracks leading
+to different parts of the island.
+
+I cannot forget how my friend S----- and myself got the laugh of
+the crew upon us for our eagerness to get on shore.  The captain
+having ordered the quarter-boat to be lowered, we both sprang down
+into the forecastle, filled our jacket pockets with tobacco to barter
+with the people ashore, and when the officer called for "four hands
+in the boat," nearly broke our necks in our haste to be first over
+the side, and had the pleasure of pulling ahead of the brig with a
+tow-line for a half an hour, and coming on board again to be laughed
+at by the crew, who had seen our manoeuvre.
+
+After breakfast the second mate was ordered ashore with five hands
+to fill the water-casks, and to my joy I was among the number.
+We pulled ashore with the empty casks; and here again fortune
+favored me, for the water was too thick and muddy to be put into
+the casks, and the governor had sent men up to the head of the
+stream to clear it out for us, which gave us nearly two hours of
+leisure.  This leisure we employed in wandering about among the
+houses, and eating a little fruit which was offered to us.
+Ground apples, melons, grapes, strawberries of an enormous size,
+and cherries, abounded here.  The latter are said to have been
+planted by Lord Anson.  The soldiers were miserably clad, and
+asked with some interest whether we had any shoes to sell on board.
+I doubt very much if they had the means of buying them.  They were
+very eager to get tobacco, for which they gave shells, fruits, etc.
+Knives also were in demand, but we were forbidden by the governor
+to let any one have them, as he told us that all the people there,
+except the soldiers and a few officers, were convicts sent from
+Valparaiso, and that it was necessary to keep all weapons from
+their hands.  The island, it seems, belongs to Chili, and had been
+used by the government as a sort of Botany Bay for nearly two years;
+and the governor--an Englishman who had entered the Chilian navy--
+with a priest, half a dozen task-masters, and a body of soldiers,
+were stationed there to keep them in order.  This was no easy task;
+and only a few months before our arrival, a few of them had stolen a
+boat at night, boarded a brig lying in the harbor, sent the captain
+and crew ashore in their boat, and gone off to sea.  We were informed
+of this, and loaded our arms and kept strict watch on board through
+the night, and were careful not to let the convicts get our knives
+from us when on shore.  The worst part of the convicts, I found, were
+locked up under sentry in caves dug into the side of the mountain,
+nearly halfway up, with mule-tracks leading to them, whence they
+were taken by day and set to work under task-masters upon building
+an aqueduct, a wharf, and other public works; while the rest lived
+in the houses which they put up for themselves, had their families
+with them, and seemed to me to be the laziest people on the face
+of the earth.  They did nothing but take a paseo into the woods,
+a  paseo among the houses, a paseo at the landing-place, looking at
+us and our vessel, and too lazy to speak fast; while the others were
+driving--or rather, driven--about, at a rapid trot, in single file,
+with burdens on their shoulders, and followed up by their task-masters,
+with long rods in their hands, and broadbrimmed straw hats upon their
+heads.  Upon what precise grounds this great distinction was made,
+I do not know, and I could not very well know, for the governor was the
+only man who spoke English upon the island, and he was out of my walk.
+
+Having filled our casks, we returned on board, and soon after,
+the governor, dressed in a uniform like that of an American militia
+officer, the Padre, in the dress of the grey friars, with hood
+and all complete, and the Capitan, with big whiskers and dirty
+regimentals, came on board to dine.  While at dinner, a large
+ship appeared in the offing, and soon afterwards we saw a light
+whale-boat pulling into the harbor.  The ship lay off and on,
+and a boat came alongside of us, and put on board the captain,
+a plain young Quaker, dressed all in brown.  The ship was the
+Cortes, whaleman, of New Bedford, and had put in to see if there
+were any vessels from round the Horn, and to hear the latest news
+from America.  They remained aboard a short time and had a little
+talk with the crew, when they left us and pulled off to their ship,
+which, having filled away, was soon out of sight.
+
+A small boat which came from the shore to take away the governor
+and suite--as they styled themselves--brought, as a present to the
+crew, a large pail of milk, a few shells, and a block of sandal wood.
+The milk, which was the first we had tasted since leaving Boston,
+we soon despatched; a piece of the sandal wood I obtained, and
+learned that it grew on the hills in the centre of the island.
+I have always regretted that I did not bring away other specimens
+of the products of the island, having afterwards lost all that I
+had with me--the piece of sandal wood, and a small flower which I
+plucked and brought on board in the crown of my tarpaulin,
+and carefully pressed between the leaves of a book.
+
+About an hour before sun-down, having stowed our water casks, we
+commenced getting under weigh, and were not a little while about it;
+for we were in thirty fathoms water, and in one of the gusts which
+came off shore had let go our other bow anchor; and as the southerly
+wind draws round the mountains and comes off in uncertain flaws,
+we were continually swinging round, and had thus got a very foul hawse.
+We hove in upon our chain, and after stoppering and unshackling it
+again and again, and hoisting and hauling down sail, we at length
+tipped our anchor and stood out to sea.  It was bright starlight
+when we were clear of the bay, and the lofty island lay behind us,
+in its still beauty, and I gave a parting look, and bid farewell,
+to the most romantic spot of earth that my eyes had ever seen.
+I did then, and have ever since, felt an attachment for that island,
+altogether peculiar.  It was partly, no doubt, from its having been
+the first land that I had seen since leaving home, and still more
+from the associations which every one has connected with it in their
+childhood from reading Robinson Crusoe.  To this I may add the height
+and romantic outline of its mountains, the beauty and freshness of
+its verdure, and the extreme fertility of its soil, and its solitary
+position in the midst of the wide expanse of the South Pacific,
+as all concurring to give it its peculiar charm.
+
+When thoughts of this place have occurred to me at different times,
+I have endeavored to recall more particulars with regard to it.
+It is situated in about 33º 30' S., and is distant a little more than
+three hundred miles from Valparaiso, on the coast of Chili, which is
+in the same latitude.  It is about fifteen miles in length and five
+in breadth.  The harbor in which we anchored (called by Lord Anson,
+Cumberland bay) is the only one in the island; two small bights of
+land on each side of the main bay (sometimes dignified by the name
+of bays) being little more than landing-places for boats.  The best
+anchorage is at the western side of the bay, where we lay at about
+three cables' lengths from the shore, in a little more than thirty
+fathoms water.  This harbor is open to the N.N.E., and in fact nearly
+from N. to E., but the only dangerous winds being the south-west,
+on which side are the highest mountains, it is considered very safe.
+The most remarkable thing perhaps about it is the fish with which it
+abounds.  Two of our crew, who remained on board, caught in a few
+minutes enough to last us for several days, and one of the men,
+who was a Marblehead man, said that he never saw or heard of such
+an abundance.  There were cod, breams, silver-fish, and other kinds
+whose names they did not know, or which I have forgotten.
+
+There is an abundance of the best of water upon the island, small
+streams running through every valley, and leaping down from the
+sides of the hills.  One stream of considerable size flows through
+the centre of the lawn upon which the houses are built, and furnishes
+an easy and abundant supply to the inhabitants.  This, by means
+of a short wooden aqueduct, was brought quite down to our boats.
+The convicts had also built something in the way of a breakwater,
+and were to build a landing-place for boats and goods, after which
+the Chilian government intended to lay port charges.
+
+Of the wood I can only say, that it appeared to be abundant; the
+island in the month of November, when we were there, being in all
+the freshness and beauty of spring, appeared covered with trees.
+These were chiefly aromatic, and the largest was the myrtle.
+The soil is very loose and rich, and wherever it is broken up,
+there spring up immediately radishes, turnips, ground apples,
+and other garden fruits.  Goats, we were told, were not abundant,
+and we saw none, though it was said we might, if we had gone into
+the interior.  We saw a few bullocks winding about in the narrow
+tracks upon the sides of the mountains, and the settlement was
+completely overrun with dogs of every nation, kindred, and degree.
+Hens and chickens were also abundant, and seemed to be taken good
+care of by the women.  The men appeared to be the laziest people
+upon the face of the earth; and indeed, as far as my observation goes,
+there are no people to whom the newly-invented Yankee word of "loafer"
+is more applicable than to the Spanish Americans.  These men stood
+about doing nothing, with their cloaks, little better in texture
+than an Indian's blanket, but of rich colors, thrown over their
+shoulders with an air which it is said that a Spanish beggar can
+always give to his rags; and with great politeness and courtesy
+in their address, though with holes in their shoes and without
+a sou in their pockets.  The only interruption to the monotony
+of their day seemed to be when a gust of wind drew round between
+the mountains and blew off the boughs which they had placed for
+roofs to their houses, and gave them a few minutes' occupation
+in running about after them.  One of these gusts occurred while
+we were ashore, and afforded us no little amusement at seeing the
+men look round, and if they found that their roofs had stood,
+conclude that they might stand too, while those who saw theirs
+blown off, after uttering a few Spanish oaths, gathered their
+cloaks over their shoulders, and started off after them.  However,
+they were not gone long, but soon returned to their habitual
+occupation of doing nothing.
+
+It is perhaps needless to say that we saw nothing of the interior;
+but all who have seen it, give very glowing accounts of it.
+Our captain went with the governor and a few servants upon mules
+over the mountains, and upon their return, I heard the governor
+request him to stop at the island on his passage home, and offer
+him a handsome sum to bring a few deer with him from California,
+for he said that there were none upon the island, and he was very
+desirous of having it stocked.
+
+A steady, though light south-westerly wind carried us well off from
+the island, and when I came on deck for the middle watch I could just
+distinguish it from its hiding a few low stars in the southern horizon,
+though my unpracticed eyes would hardly have known it for land.
+At the close of the watch a few trade-wind clouds which had arisen,
+though we were hardly yet in their latitude, shut it out from our view,
+and the next day,
+
+Thursday, Nov. 27th, upon coming on deck in the morning, we were
+again upon the wide Pacific, and saw no more land until we arrived
+upon the western coast of the great continent of America.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+"TARRING DOWN"--DAILY LIFE--"GOING AFT"--CALIFORNIA
+
+
+As we saw neither land nor sail from the time of leaving Juan Fernandez
+until our arrival in California, nothing of interest occurred except
+our own doing on board.  We caught the south-east trades, and run
+before them for nearly three weeks, without so much as altering a
+sail or bracing a yard.  The captain took advantage of this fine
+weather to get the vessel in order for coming upon the coast.
+The carpenter was employed in fitting up a part of the steerage
+into a trade-room; for our cargo, we now learned, was not to be
+landed, but to be sold by retail from on board; and this trade-room
+was built for the samples and the lighter goods to be kept in,
+and as a place for the general business.  In the mean time we were
+employed in working upon the rigging.  Everything was set up taught,
+the lower rigging rattled down, or rather rattled up, (according
+to the modern fashion,) an abundance of spun-yarn and seizing-stuff
+made, and finally, the whole standing-rigging, fore and aft, was
+tarred down.  This was my first essay at this latter business,
+and I had enough of it; for nearly all of it came upon my friend
+S----- and myself.  The men were needed at the other work, and
+M-----, the other young man who came out with us, was laid up with
+the rheumatism in his feet, and the boy was rather too young and
+small for the business; and as the winds were light and regular,
+he was kept during most of the daytime at the helm; so that nearly
+all the tarring came upon us.  We put on short duck frocks, and
+taking a small bucket of tar and a bunch of oakum in our hands we
+went aloft, one at the main royal-mast-head and the other at the fore,
+and began tarring down.  This is an important operation, and is usually
+done about once in six months in vessels upon a long voyage.  It was
+done in our vessel several times afterwards, but by the whole crew
+at once, and finished off in a day; but at this time, as most of it
+came upon two of us, and we were new at the business, it took us
+several days.  In this operation they always begin at the mast-head
+and work down, tarring the shrouds, back-stays, standing parts of
+the lifts, the ties, runners, etc., and go out to the yard-arms,
+and come in, tarring, as they come, the lifts and foot-ropes.
+Tarring the stays is more difficult, and is done by an operation
+which the sailors call "riding down."  A long piece of rope--
+top-gallant-studding-sail halyards, or something of the kind--
+is taken up to the mast-head from which the stay leads, and rove
+through a block for a girt-line, or, as the sailors usually call it,
+a gant-line; with the end of this a bowline is taken round the stay,
+into which the man gets with his bucket of tar and a bunch of oakum,
+and the other end being fast on deck, with some one to tend it, he
+is lowered down gradually, and tars the stay carefully as he goes.
+There he "sings aloft 'twixt heaven and earth," and if the rope slips,
+breaks, or is let go, or if the bowline slips, he falls overboard or
+breaks his neck.  This, however, is a thing which never enters into
+a sailor's calculation.  He thinks only of leaving no holydays,
+(places not tarred,) for in case he should, he would have to go
+over the whole again; or of dropping no tar upon deck, for then
+there would be a soft word in his ear from the mate.  In this manner
+I tarred down all the head-stays, but found the rigging about the
+jib-booms, martingale, and spritsail yard, upon which I was afterwards
+put, the hardest.  Here you have to hang on with your eye-lids and tar
+with your hands.
+
+This dirty work could not last forever, and on Saturday night we
+finished it, scraped all the spots from the deck and rails, and,
+what was of more importance to us, cleaned ourselves thoroughly,
+rolled up our tarry frocks and trowsers and laid them away for the
+next occasion, and put on our clean duck clothes, and had a good
+comfortable sailor's Saturday night.  The next day was pleasant,
+and indeed we had but one unpleasant Sunday during the whole voyage,
+and that was off Cape Horn, where we could expect nothing better.
+On Monday we commenced painting, and getting the vessel ready for
+port.  This work, too, is done by the crew, and every sailor who
+has been long voyages is a little of a painter, in addition to his
+other accomplishments.  We painted her, both inside and out, from
+the truck to the water's edge.  The outside is painted by lowering
+stages over the side by ropes, and on those we sat, with our brushes
+and paint-pots by us, and our feet half the time in the water.  This
+must be done, of course, on a smooth day, when the vessel does not
+roll much.  I remember very well being over the side painting in this
+way, one fine afternoon, our vessel going quietly along at the rate
+of four or five knots, and a pilot-fish, the sure precursor of the
+shark, swimming alongside of us.  The captain was leaning over the
+rail watching him, and we quietly went on with our work.  In the
+midst of our painting, on
+
+Friday, Dec. 19th, we crossed the equator for the second time.
+I had the feeling which all have when, for the first time, they find
+themselves living under an entire change of seasons; as, crossing the
+line under a burning sun in the midst of December, and, as I afterwards
+was, beating about among ice and snow on the fourth of July.
+
+Thursday, Dec. 25th.  This day was Christmas, but it brought us no
+holiday.  The only change was that we had a "plum duff" for dinner,
+and the crew quarrelled with the steward because he did not give us
+our usual allowance of molasses to eat with it.  He thought the plums
+would be a substitute for the molasses, but we were not to be cheated
+out of our rights in this way.
+
+Such are the trifles which produce quarrels on shipboard.  In fact,
+we had been too long from port.  We were getting tired of one another,
+and were in an irritable state, both forward and aft.  Our fresh
+provisions were, of course, gone, and the captain had stopped our rice,
+so that we had nothing but salt beef and salt pork throughout the week,
+with the exception of a very small duff on Sunday.  This added to the
+discontent; and a thousand little things, daily and almost hourly
+occurring, which no one who has not himself been on a long and tedious
+voyage can conceive of or properly appreciate,--little wars and rumors
+of wars,--reports of things said in the cabin,--misunderstanding of
+words and looks,--apparent abuses,--brought us into a state in which
+everything seemed to go wrong.  Every encroachment upon the time
+allowed for rest, appeared unnecessary.  Every shifting of the
+studding-sails was only to "haze"(1) the crew.
+
+------------------------------
+1. Haze is a word of frequent use on board ship, and never,
+   I believe, used elsewhere.  It is very expressive to a sailor,
+   and means to punish by hard work.  Let an officer once say,
+   "I'll haze you," and your fate is fixed.  You will be
+   "worked up," if you are not a better man than he is.
+------------------------------
+
+In this midst of this state of things, my messmate S----- and myself
+petitioned the captain for leave to shift our berths from the steerage,
+where we had previously lived, into the forecastle.  This, to our delight,
+was granted, and we turned in to bunk and mess with the crew forward.
+We now began to feel like sailors, which we never fully did when we were
+in the steerage.  While there, however useful and active you may be,
+you are but a mongrel,--and sort of afterguard and "ship's cousin."
+You are immediately under the eye of the officers, cannot dance, sing,
+play, smoke, make a noise, or growl, (i.e. complain,) or take any
+other sailor's pleasure; and you live with the steward, who is usually
+a go-between; and the crew never feel as though you were one of them.
+But if you live in the forecastle, you are "as independent as a
+wood-sawyer's clerk," (nautice',) and are a sailor.  You hear sailor's
+talk, learn their ways, their peculiarities of feeling as well as
+speaking and acting; and moreover pick up a great deal of curious
+and useful information in seamanship, ship's customs, foreign countries,
+etc., from their long yarns and equally long disputes.  No man can be
+a sailor, or know what sailors are, unless he has lived in the forecastle
+with them--turned in and out with them, eaten of their dish and drank
+of their cup.  After I had been a week there, nothing would have tempted
+me to go back to my old berth, and never afterwards, even in the worst
+of weather, when in a close and leaking forecastle off Cape Horn,
+did I for a moment wish myself in the steerage.  Another thing which
+you learn better in the forecastle than you can anywhere else, is,
+to make and mend clothes, and this is indispensable to sailors.
+A large part of their watches below they spend at this work, and here
+I learned that art which stood me in so good stead afterwards.
+
+But to return to the state of the crew.  Upon our coming into the
+forecastle, there was some difficulty about the uniting of the
+allowances of bread, by which we thought we were to lose a few pounds.
+This set us into a ferment.  The captain would not condescend to explain,
+and we went aft in a body, with a Swede, the oldest and best sailor of
+the crew, for spokesman.  The recollection of the scene that followed
+always brings up a smile, especially the quarter-deck dignity and
+eloquence of the captain.  He was walking the weather side of the
+quarter-deck, and seeing us coming aft, stopped short in his walk,
+and, with a voice and look intended to annihilate us, called out,
+"Well, what do you want now?"  Whereupon we stated our grievances
+as respectfully as we could, but he broke in upon us, saying that
+we were getting fat and lazy, didn't have enough to do, and that made
+us find fault.  This provoked us, and we began to give word for word.
+This would never answer.  He clenched his fist, stamped and swore,
+and sent us all forward, saying, with oaths enough interspersed to
+send the words home,--"Away with you! go forward every one of you!
+I'll haze you!  I'll work you up!  You don't have enough to do!
+You've mistaken your man.  I'm F----- T-----, all the way from
+'down east.'  I've been through the mill, ground, and bolted, and come
+out a regular-built down-east johnny-cake, good when it's hot, but when
+it's cold, sour and indigestible;--and you'll find me so!"  The latter
+part of the harangue I remember well, for it made a strong impression,
+and the "down-east johnny-cake" became a by-word for the rest of the
+voyage.  So much for our petition for the redress of grievances.
+The matter was however set right, for the mate, after allowing the
+captain due time to cool off, explained it to him, and at night we
+were all called aft to hear another harangue, in which, of course,
+the whole blame of the misunderstanding was thrown upon us.  We ventured
+to hint that he would not give us time to explain; but it wouldn't do.
+We were driven back discomforted.  Thus the affair blew over, but the
+irritation caused by it remained; and we never had peace or a good
+understanding again so long as the captain and crew remained together.
+
+We continued sailing along in the beautiful temperate climate of
+the Pacific.  The Pacific well deserves its name, for except in the
+southern part, at Cape Horn, and in the western parts, near the
+China and Indian oceans, it has few storms, and is never either
+extremely hot or cold.  Between the tropics there is a slight haziness,
+like a thin gauze, drawn over the sun, which, without obstructing or
+obscuring the light, tempers the heat which comes down with perpendicular
+fierceness in the Atlantic and Indian tropics.  We sailed well to the
+westward to have the full advantage of the north-east trades, and when
+we had reached the latitude of Point Conception, where it is usual to
+make the land, we were several hundred miles to the westward of it.
+We immediately changed our course due east, and sailed in that direction
+for a number of days.  At length we began to heave-to after dark, for fear
+of making the land at night on a coast where there are no light-houses and
+but indifferent charts, and at daybreak on the morning of
+
+Tuesday, Jan 13th, 1835, we made the land at Point Conception,
+lat 34º 32' N., long 120º 06' W.  The port of Santa Barbara, to which
+we were bound, lying about sixty miles to the southward of this point,
+we continued sailing down the coast during the day and following night,
+and on the next morning,
+
+Jan. 14th, 1835, we came to anchor in the spacious bay of Santa Barbara,
+after a voyage of one hundred and fifty days from Boston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+CALIFORNIA--A SOUTH-EASTER
+
+
+California extends along nearly the whole of the western coast of
+Mexico, between the gulf of California in the south and the bay of
+Sir Francis Drake on the north, or between the 22d and 38th degrees
+of north latitude.  It is subdivided into two provinces--Lower or
+Old California, lying between the gulf and the 32d degree of latitude,
+or near it; (the division line running, I believe, between the bay of
+Todos Santos and the port of San Diego;) and New or Upper California,
+the southernmost port of which is San Diego, in lat. 32º 39', and the
+northernmost, San Francisco, situated in the large bay discovered by
+Sir Francis Drake, in lat. 37º 58', and called after him by the English,
+though the Mexicans call it Yerba Buena.  Upper California has the seat
+of its government at Monterey, where is also the custom-house, the only
+one on the coast, and at which every vessel intending to trade on the
+coast must enter its cargo before it can commence its traffic.  We were
+to trade upon this coast exclusively, and therefore expected to go to
+Monterey at first; but the captain's orders from home were to put in
+at Santa Barbara, which is the central port of the coast, and wait
+there for the agent who lives there, and transacts all the business
+for the firm to which our vessel belonged.
+
+The bay, or, as it was commonly called, the canal of Santa Barbara,
+is very large, being formed by the main land on one side, (between
+Point Conception on the north and Point St. Buena Ventura on the south,)
+which here bends in like a crescent, and three large islands opposite
+to it and at the distance of twenty miles.  This is just sufficient to
+give it the name of a bay, while at the same time it is so large and
+so much exposed to the south-east and north-west winds, that it is
+little better than an open roadstead; and the whole swell of the
+Pacific ocean rolls in here before a southeaster, and breaks with
+so heavy a surf in the shallow waters, that it is highly dangerous
+to lie near to the shore during the south-easter season; that is,
+between the months of November and April.
+
+This wind (the south-easter) is the bane of the coast of California.
+Between the months of November and April, (including a part of each,)
+which is the rainy season in this latitude, you are never safe from it,
+and accordingly, in the ports which are open to it, vessels are obliged,
+during these months, to lie at anchor at a distance of three miles from
+the shore, with slip-ropes on their cables, ready to slip and go to sea
+at a moment's warning.  The only ports which are safe from this wind
+are San Francisco and Monterey in the north, and San Diego in the south.
+
+As it was January when we arrived, and the middle of the south-easter
+season, we accordingly came to anchor at the distance of three miles
+from the shore, in eleven fathoms water, and bent a slip-rope and
+buoys to our cables, cast off the yard-arm gaskets from the sails,
+and stopped them all with rope-yarns.  After we had done this,
+the boat went ashore with the captain, and returned with orders to
+the mate to send a boat ashore for him at sundown.  I did not go in
+the first boat, and was glad to find that there was another going
+before night; for after so long a voyage as ours had been, a few hours
+is long to pass in sight and out of reach of land.  We spent the day
+on board in the usual avocations; but as this was the first time we
+had been without the captain, we felt a little more freedom, and looked
+about us to see what sort of a country we had got into, and were to
+spend a year or two of our lives in.
+
+In the first place, it was a beautiful day, and so warm that we had
+on straw hats, duck trowsers, and all the summer gear; and as this
+was mid-winter, it spoke well for the climate; and we afterwards
+found that the thermometer never fell to the freezing-point throughout
+the winter, and that there was very little difference between the
+seasons, except that during a long period of rainy and south-easterly
+weather, thick clothes were not uncomfortable.
+
+The large bay lay about us, nearly smooth, as there was hardly a
+breath of wind stirring, though the boat's crew who went ashore told
+us that the long ground swell broke into a heavy surf upon the beach.
+There was only one vessel in the port--a long, sharp brig of about
+300 tons, with raking masts and very square yards, and English colors
+at her peak.  We afterwards learned that she was built at Guayaquil,
+and named the Ayacucho, after the place where the battle was fought
+that gave Peru her independence, and was now owned by a Scotchman
+named Wilson, who commanded her, and was engaged in the trade between
+Callao, the Sandwich Islands, and California.  She was a fast sailer,
+as we frequently afterwards perceived, and had a crew of Sandwich
+Islanders on board.  Beside this vessel there was no object to break
+the surface of the bay.  Two points ran out as the horns of the crescent,
+one of which--the one to the westward--was low and sandy, and is that
+to which vessels are obliged to give a wide berth when running out
+for a south-easter; the other is high, bold, and well wooded, and,
+we were told, has a mission upon it, called St. Buenaventura, from which
+the point is named.  In the middle of this crescent, directly opposite
+the anchoring ground, lie the mission and town of Santa Barbara, on a
+low, flat plain, but little above the level of the sea, covered with
+grass, though entirely without trees, and surrounded on three sides
+by an amphitheatre of mountains, which slant off to the distance of
+fifteen or twenty miles.  The mission stands a little back of the town,
+and is a large building, or rather a collection of buildings, in the
+centre of which is a high tower, with a belfry of five bells; and the
+whole, being plastered, makes quite a show at a distance, and is the
+mark by which vessels come to anchor.  The town lies a little nearer
+to the beach--about half a mile from it--and is composed of one-story
+houses built of brown clay--some of them plastered--with red tiles on
+the roofs.  I should judge that there were about an hundred of them;
+and in the midst of them stands the Presidio, or fort, built of the
+same materials, and apparently but little stronger.  The town is
+certainly finely situated, with a bay in front, and an amphitheatre
+of hills behind.  The only thing which diminishes its beauty is,
+that the hills have no large trees upon them, they having been all
+burnt by a great fire which swept them off about a dozen years before,
+and they had not yet grown up again.  The fire was described to me by
+an inhabitant, as having been a very terrible and magnificent sight.
+The air of the whole valley was so heated that the people were obliged
+to leave the town and take up their quarters for several days upon the beach.
+
+Just before sun-down the mate ordered a boat's crew ashore, and I
+went as one of the number.  We passed under the stern of the English
+brig, and had a long pull ashore.  I shall never forget the impression
+which our first landing on the beach of California made upon me.
+The sun had just gone down; it was getting dusky; the damp night wind
+was beginning to blow, and the heavy swell of the Pacific was setting in,
+and breaking in loud and high "combers" upon the beach.  We lay on our
+oars in the swell, just outside of the surf, waiting for a good chance
+to run in, when a boat, which had put off from the Ayacucho just after
+us, came alongside of us, with a crew of dusky Sandwich Islanders,
+talking and halooing in their outlandish tongue.  They knew that we
+were novices in this kind of boating, and waited to see us go in.
+The second mate, however, who steered our boat, determined to have
+the advantage of their experience, and would not go in first.
+Finding, at length, how matters stood, they gave a shout, and taking
+advantage of a great comber which came swelling in, rearing its head,
+and lifting up the stern of our boat nearly perpendicular, and again
+dropping it in the trough, they gave three or four long and strong pulls,
+and went in on top of the great wave, throwing their oars overboard,
+and as far from the boat as they could throw them, and jumping out the
+instant that the boat touched the beach, and then seizing hold of her
+and running her up high and dry upon the sand.  We saw, at once,
+how it was to be done, and also the necessity of keeping the boat
+"stern on" to the sea; for the instant the sea should strike upon
+her broad-side or quarter, she would be driven up broad-side-on,
+and capsized.  We pulled strongly in, and as soon as we felt that
+the sea had got hold of us and was carrying us in with the speed
+of a race-horse, we threw the oars as far from the boat as we could,
+and took hold of the gunwale, ready to spring out and seize her when
+she struck, the officer using his utmost strength to keep her stern on.
+We were shot up upon the beach like an arrow from a bow, and seizing
+the boat, ran her up high and dry, and soon picked up our oars,
+and stood by her, ready for the captain to come down.
+
+Finding that the captain did not come immediately, we put our oars
+in the boat, and leaving one to watch it, walked about the beach to
+see what we could, of the place.  The beach is nearly a mile in
+length between the two points, and of smooth sand.  We had taken
+the only good landing-place, which is in the middle; it being
+more stony toward the ends.  It is about twenty yards in width
+from high-water mark to a slight bank at which the soil begins,
+and so hard that it is a favorite place for running horses.
+It was growing dark, so that we could just distinguish the dim
+outlines of the two vessels in the offing; and the great seas
+were rolling in, in regular lines, growing larger and larger as
+they approached the shore, and hanging over the beach upon which
+they were to break, when their tops would curl over and turn white
+with foam, and, beginning at one extreme of the line, break rapidly
+to the other, as a long card-house falls when the children knock
+down the cards at one end.  The Sandwich Islanders, in the mean time,
+had turned their boat round, and ran her down into the water, and were
+loading her with hides and tallow.  As this was the work in which we
+were soon to be engaged, we looked on with some curiosity.  They ran
+the boat into the water so far that every large sea might float her,
+and two of them, with their trowsers rolled up, stood by the bows,
+one on each side, keeping her in her right position.  This was hard
+work; for beside the force they had to use upon the boat, the large
+seas nearly took them off their legs.  The others were running from
+the boat to the bank, upon which, out of the reach of the water,
+was a pile of dry bullocks' hides, doubled lengthwise in the middle,
+and nearly as stiff as boards.  These they took upon their heads,
+one or two at a time, and carried down to the boat, where one of
+their number stowed them away.  They were obliged to carry them
+on their heads, to keep them out of the water, and we observed
+that they had on thick woolen caps.  "Look here, Bill, and see
+what you're coming to!" said one of our men to another who stood
+by the boat.  "Well, D-----," said the second mate to me, "this does
+not look much like Cambridge college, does it?  This is what I call
+'head work.'"  To tell the truth, it did not look very encouraging.
+
+After they had got through with the hides, they laid hold of the
+bags of tallow, (the bags are made of hide, and are about the size
+of a common meal bag,) and lifting each upon the shoulders of two
+men, one at each end, walked off with them to the boat, and prepared
+to go aboard.  Here, too, was something for us to learn.  The man
+who steered, shipped his oar and stood up in the stern, and those
+that pulled the after oars sat upon their benches, with their oars
+shipped, ready to strike out as soon as she was afloat.  The two
+men at the bows kept their places; and when, at length, a large
+sea came in and floated her, seized hold of the gunwale, and ran
+out with her till they were up to their armpits, and then tumbled
+over the gunwale into the bows, dripping with water.  The men at
+the oars struck out, but it wouldn't do; the sea swept back and
+left them nearly high and dry.  The two fellows jumped out again;
+and the next time they succeeded better, and, with the help of
+a deal of outlandish hallooing and bawling, got her well off.
+We watched them till they were out of the breakers, and saw them
+steering for their vessel, which was now hidden in the darkness.
+
+The sand of the beach began to be cold to our bare feet; the frogs
+set up their croaking in the marshes, and one solitary owl, from the
+end of the distant point, gave out his melancholy note, mellowed by
+the distance, and we began to think that it was high time for
+"the old man," as the captain is generally called, to come down.
+In a few minutes we heard something coming towards us.  It was a
+man on horseback.  He came up on the full gallop, reined up near us,
+addressed a few words to us, and receiving no answer, wheeled around
+and galloped off again.  He was nearly as dark as an Indian, with a
+large Spanish hat, blanket cloak or surreppa, and leather leggins,
+with a long knife stuck in them.  "This is the seventh city that
+ever I was in, and no Christian one neither," said Bill Brown.
+"Stand by!" said Tom, "you haven't seen the worst of it yet."
+In the midst of this conversation the captain appeared; and we
+winded the boat round, shoved her down, and prepared to go off.
+The captain, who had been on the coast before and "knew the ropes,"
+took the steering oar, and we went off in the same way as the other
+boat. I, being the youngest, had the pleasure of standing at the bow,
+and getting wet through.  We went off well, though the seas were high.
+Some of them lifted us up, and sliding from under us, seemed to let
+us drop through the air like a flat plank upon the body of the water.
+In a few minutes we were in the low, regular swell, and pulled for a
+light, which, as we came up, we found had been run up to our trysail gaff.
+
+Coming aboard, we hoisted up all the boats, and diving down into
+the forecastle, changed our wet clothes, and got our supper.
+After supper the sailors lighted their pipes, (cigars, those
+of us who had them,) and we had to tell all we had seen ashore.
+Then followed conjectures about the people ashore, the length of
+the voyage, carrying hides, etc., until eight bells, when all hands
+were called aft, and the "anchor watch" set.  We were to stand two
+in a watch, and as the nights were pretty long, two hours were to
+make a watch.  The second mate was to keep the deck until eight
+o'clock, and all hands were to be called at daybreak, and the word
+was passed to keep a bright look-out, and to call the mate if it
+should come on to blow from the south-east.  We had also orders
+to strike the bells every half-hour through the night, as at sea.
+My watchmate was John, the Swedish sailor, and we stood from
+twelve to two, he walking the larboard side, and I the starboard.
+At daylight all hands were called, and we went through the usual
+process of washing down, swabbing, etc., and got breakfast at
+eight o'clock.  In the course of the forenoon, a boat went aboard
+of the Ayacucho and brought off a quarter of beef, which made us
+a fresh bite for dinner.  This we were glad enough to have, and the
+mate told us that we should live upon fresh beef while we were on
+the coast, as it was cheaper here than the salt.  While at dinner,
+the cook called, "Sail ho!" and coming on deck, we saw two sails
+coming round the point.  One was a large ship under top-gallant
+sails, and the other a small hermaphrodite brig.  They both backed
+their topsails and sent boats aboard of us.  The ship's colors had
+puzzled us, and we found that she was from Genoa, with an assorted
+cargo, and was trading on the coast.  She filled away again, and stood
+out; being bound up the coast to San Francisco.  The crew of the
+brig's boat were Sandwich Islanders, but one of them, who spoke a
+little English, told us that she was the Loriotte, Captain Nye,
+from Oahu, and was engaged in this trade.  She was a lump of a thing
+--what the sailors call a butter-box.  This vessel, as well as the
+Ayacucho, and others which we afterwards saw engaged in the same trade,
+have English or Americans for officers, and two or three before the
+mast to do the work upon the rigging, and to rely upon for seamanship,
+while the rest of the crew are Sandwich Islanders, who are active,
+and very useful in boating.
+
+The three captains went ashore after dinner, and came off again at
+night.  When in port, everything is attended to by the chief mate;
+the captain, unless he is also supercargo, has little to do, and is
+usually ashore much of his time.  This we thought would be pleasanter
+for us, as the mate was a good-natured man and not very strict.
+So it was for a time, but we were worse off in the end; for wherever
+the captain is a severe, energetic man, and the mate is wanting in
+both these qualities, there will always be trouble.  And trouble we
+had already begun to anticipate.  The captain had several times found
+fault with the mate, in presence of the crew; and hints had been
+dropped that all was not right between them.  When this is the case,
+and the captain suspects that his officer is too easy and familiar
+with the crew, then he begins to interfere in all the duties, and to
+draw the reins taughter, and the crew have to suffer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+A SOUTH-EASTER--PASSAGE UP THE COAST
+
+
+This night, after sundown, it looked black at the southward and
+eastward, and we were told to keep a bright look-out.  Expecting
+to be called up, we turned in early.  Waking up about midnight,
+I found a man who had just come down from his watch, striking a light.
+He said that it was beginning to puff up from the south-east, and that
+the sea was rolling in, and he had called the captain; and as he threw
+himself down on his chest with all his clothes on, I knew that he
+expected to be called.  I felt the vessel pitching at her anchor,
+and the chain surging and snapping, and lay awake, expecting an
+instant summons.  In a few minutes it came--three knocks on the
+scuttle, and "All hands ahoy! bear-a-hand up and make sail."
+We sprang up for our clothes, and were about halfway dressed,
+when the mate called out, down the scuttle, "Tumble up here, men!
+tumble up! before she drags her anchor."  We were on deck in an instant.
+"Lay aloft and loose the topsails!" shouted the captain, as soon as
+the first man showed himself.  Springing into the rigging, I saw that
+the Ayacucho's topsails were loosed, and heard her crew singing-out
+at the sheets as they were hauling them home.  This had probably
+started our captain; as "old Wilson" (the captain of the Ayacucho)
+had been many years on the coast, and knew the signs of the weather.
+We soon had the topsails loosed; and one hand remaining, as usual,
+in each top, to overhaul the rigging and light the sail out, the rest
+of us laid down to man the sheets.  While sheeting home, we saw the
+Ayacucho standing athwart our bows, sharp upon the wind, cutting through
+the head sea like a knife, with her raking masts and sharp bows running
+up like the head of a greyhound.  It was a beautiful sight.  She was
+like a bird which had been frightened and had spread her wings in flight.
+After the topsails had been sheeted home, the head yards braced aback,
+the fore-top-mast staysail hoisted, and the buoys streamed, and all
+ready forward, for slipping, we went aft and manned the slip-rope
+which came through the stern port with a turn round the timber-heads.
+"All ready forward?" asked the captain.  "Aye, aye, sir; all ready,"
+answered the mate.  "Let go!"  "All gone, sir;" and the iron cable
+grated over the windlass and through the hawse-hole, and the little
+vessel's head swinging off from the wind under the force of her backed
+head sails, brought the strain upon the slip-rope.  "Let go aft!" 
+Instantly all was gone, and we were under weigh.  As soon as she was
+well off from the wind, we filled away the head yards, braced all
+up sharp, set the foresail and trysail, and left our anchorage well
+astern, giving the point a good berth.  "Nye's off too," said the
+captain to the mate; and looking astern, we could just see the
+little hermaphrodite brig under sail standing after us.
+
+It now began to blow fresh; the rain fell fast, and it grew very
+black; but the captain would not take in sail until we were well
+clear of the point.  As soon as we left this on our quarter, and were
+standing out to sea, the order was given, and we sprang aloft,
+double reefed each topsail, furled the foresail, and double reefed
+the trysail, and were soon under easy sail.  In those cases of
+slipping for south-easters, there is nothing to be done, after you
+have got clear of the coast, but to lie-to under easy sail, and wait
+for the gale to be over, which seldom lasts more than two days,
+and is often over in twelve hours; but the wind never comes back
+to the southward until there has been a good deal of rain fallen.
+"Go below the watch," said the mate; but here was a dispute which
+watch it should be, which the mate soon however settled by sending
+his watch below, saying that we should have our turn the next time
+we got under weigh.  We remained on deck till the expiration of
+the watch, the wind blowing very fresh and the rain coming down in
+torrents.  When the watch came up, we wore ship, and stood on the
+other tack, in towards land.  When we came up again, which was at
+four in the morning, it was very dark, and there was not much wind,
+but it was raining as I thought I had never seen it rain before.
+We had on oil-cloth suits and south-wester caps, and had nothing to
+do but to stand bolt upright and let it pour down upon us.  There are
+no umbrellas, and no sheds to go under, at sea.
+
+While we were standing about on deck, we saw the little brig
+drifting by us, hove to under her fore topsail double reefed;
+and she glided by like a phantom.  Not a word was spoken, and we
+saw no one on deck but the man at the wheel.  Toward morning the
+captain put his head out of the companion-way and told the second
+mate, who commanded our watch, to look out for a change of wind,
+which usually followed a calm and heavy rain; and it was well
+that he did; for in a few minutes it fell dead calm, the vessel
+lost her steerage-way, and the rain ceased.  We hauled up the
+trysail and courses, squared the after yards, and waited for the
+change, which came in a few minutes, with a vengeance, from the
+north-west, the opposite point of the compass.  Owing to our
+precautions, we were not taken aback, but ran before the wind
+with square yards.  The captain coming on deck, we braced up a
+little and stood back for our anchorage.  With the change of wind
+came a change of weather, and in two hours the wind moderated into
+the light steady breeze, which blows down the coast the greater
+part of the year, and, from its regularity, might be called a
+trade-wind.  The sun came up bright, and we set royals, skysails,
+and studding-sails, and were under fair way for Santa Barbara.
+The little Loriotte was astern of us, nearly out of sight; but we
+saw nothing of the Ayacucho.  In a short time she appeared,
+standing out from Santa Rosa Island, under the lee of which she
+had been hove to, all night.  Our captain was anxious to get in
+before her, for it would be a great credit to us, on the coast,
+to beat the Ayacucho, which had been called the best sailer in
+the North Pacific, in which she had been known as a trader for
+six years or more.  We had an advantage over her in light winds,
+from our royals and skysails which we carried both at the fore
+and main, and also in our studding-sails; for Captain Wilson
+carried nothing above top-gallant-sails, and always unbent his
+studding-sails when on the coast.  As the wind was light and fair,
+we held our own, for some time, when we were both obliged to brace
+up and come upon a taught bowline, after rounding the point; and here
+he had us on fair ground, and walked away from us, as you would haul
+in a line.  He afterwards said that we sailed well enough with the
+wind free, but that give him a taught bowline, and he would beat us,
+if we had all the canvas of the Royal George.
+
+The Ayacucho got to the anchoring ground about half an hour before us,
+and was furling her sails when we came up to it.  This picking up your
+cables is a very nice piece of work.  It requires some seamanship to
+do it, and come to at your former moorings, without letting go another
+anchor.  Captain Wilson was remarkable, among the sailors on the coast,
+for his skill in doing this; and our captain never let go a second
+anchor during all the time that I was with him.  Coming a little to
+windward of our buoy, we clewed up the light sails, backed our main
+topsail, and lowered a boat, which pulled off, and made fast a spare
+hawser to the buoy on the end of the slip-rope.  We brought the other
+end to the captain, and hove in upon it until we came to the slip-rope,
+which we took to the windlass, and walked her up to her chain, the captain
+helping her by backing and filling the sails.  The chain is then passed
+through the hawse-hole and round the windlass, and bitted, the slip-rope
+taken round outside and brought into the stern port, and she is safe
+in her old berth.  After we had got through, the mate told us that
+this was a small touch of California, the like of which we must
+expect to have through the winter.
+
+After we had furled the sails and got dinner, we saw the Loriotte
+nearing, and she had her anchor before night.  At sun-down we went
+ashore again, and found the Loriotte's boat waiting on the beach.
+The Sandwich Islander who could speak English, told us that he had
+been up to the town; that our agent, Mr. R-----, and some other
+passengers, were going to Monterey with us, and that we were to
+sail the same night.  In a few minutes Captain T-----, with two
+gentlemen and one female, came down, and we got ready to go off.
+They had a good deal of baggage, which we put into the bows of
+the boat, and then two of us took the señora in our arms, and waded
+with her through the water, and put her down safely in the stern.
+She appeared much amused with the transaction, and her husband was
+perfectly satisfied, thinking any arrangement good which saved his
+wetting his feet.  I pulled the after oar, so that I heard the
+conversation, and learned that one of the men, who, as well as I
+could see in the darkness, was a young-looking man, in the European
+dress, and covered up in a large cloak, was the agent of the firm
+to which our vessel belonged; and the other, who was dressed in the
+Spanish dress of the country, was a brother of our captain, who had
+been many years a trader on the coast, and had married the lady who
+was in the boat.  She was a delicate, dark-complexioned young woman,
+and of one of the best families in California.  I also found that
+we were to sail the same night.  As soon as we got on board,
+the boats were hoisted up, the sails loosed, the windlass manned,
+the slip-ropes and gear cast off; and after about twenty minutes
+of heaving at the windlass, making sail, and bracing yards, we were
+well under weigh, and going with a fair wind up the coast to Monterey.
+The Loriotte got under weigh at the same time, and was also bound up
+to Monterey, but as she took a different course from us, keeping the
+land aboard, while we kept well out to sea, we soon lost sight of her.
+We had a fair wind, which is something unusual when going up, as the
+prevailing wind is the north, which blows directly down the coast;
+whence the northern are called the windward, and the southern the
+leeward ports.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+PASSAGE UP THE COAST--MONTEREY
+
+
+We got clear of the islands before sunrise the next morning, and by
+twelve o'clock were out of the canal, and off Point Conception, the
+place where we first made the land upon our arrival.  This is the
+largest point on the coast, and is uninhabited headland, stretching
+out into the Pacific, and has the reputation of being very windy.
+Any vessel does well which gets by it without a gale, especially
+in the winter season.  We were going along with studding-sails set
+on both sides, when, as we came round the point, we had to haul our
+wind, and take in the lee studding-sails.  As the brig came more upon
+the wind, she felt it more, and we doused the sky-sails, but kept
+the weather studding-sails on her, bracing the yards forward so that
+the swinging-boom nearly touched the sprit-sail yard.  She now lay
+over to it, the wind was freshening, and the captain was evidently
+"dragging on to her."  His brother and Mr. R-----, looking a little
+squally, said something to him, but he only answered that he knew
+the vessel and what she would carry.  He was evidently showing off
+his vessel, and letting them know how he could carry sail.  He stood
+up to windward, holding on by the backstays, and looking up at the
+sticks, to see how much they would bear; when a puff came which
+settled the matter.  Then it was "haul down," and "clew up," royals,
+flying-jib, and studding-sails, all at once.  There was what the
+sailors call a "mess"--everything let go, nothing hauled in, and
+everything flying.  The poor Spanish woman came to the companion-way,
+looking as pale as a ghost, and nearly frightened to death.  The mate
+and some men forward were trying to haul in the lower studding-sail,
+which had blown over the sprit-sail yard-arm and round the guys;
+while the topmast-studding-sail boom, after buckling up and springing
+out again like a piece of whalebone, broke off at the boom-iron.
+I sprang aloft to take in the main top-gallant studding-sail, but
+before I got into the top, the tack parted, and away went the sail,
+swinging forward of the top-gallant-sail, and tearing and slatting
+itself to pieces.  The halyards were at this moment let go by the run;
+and such a piece of work I never had before, in taking in a sail.
+After great exertions I got it, or the remains of it, into the top,
+and was making it fast, when the captain, looking up, called out
+to me, "Lay aloft there, D-----, and furl that main royal." Leaving
+the studding-sail, I went up to the cross trees; and here it looked
+rather squally.  The foot of the top-gallant-mast was working between
+the cross and trussel trees, and the royal-mast lay over at a fearful
+angle with the mast below, while everything was working, and cracking,
+strained to the utmost.
+
+There's nothing for Jack to do but to obey orders, and I went up
+upon the yard; and there was a worse "mess," if possible, than I
+had left below.  The braces had been let go, and the yard was swinging
+about like a turnpike-gate, and the whole sail having blown over to
+leeward, the lee leach was over the yard-arm, and the sky-sail was
+all adrift and flying over my head.  I looked down, but it was in
+vain to attempt to make myself heard, for every one was busy below,
+and the wind roared, and sails were flapping in every direction.
+Fortunately, it was noon and broad daylight, and the man at the wheel,
+who had his eyes aloft, soon saw my difficulty, and after numberless
+signs and gestures, got some one to haul the necessary ropes taught.
+During this interval I took a look below.  Everything was in confusion
+on deck; the little vessel was tearing through the water as if she were
+mad, the seas flying over her, and the masts leaning over at an angle
+of forty-five degrees from the vertical.  At the other royal-mast-head
+was S-----, working away at the sail, which was blowing from him as
+fast as he could gather it in.  The top-gallant-sail below me was
+soon clewed up, which relieved the mast, and in a short time I got my
+sail furled, and went below; but I lost overboard a new tarpaulin hat,
+which troubled me more than anything else.  We worked for about half
+an hour with might and main; and in an hour from the time the squall
+struck us, from having all our flying kites abroad, we came down to
+double-reefed top-sails and the storm-sails.
+
+The wind had hauled ahead during the squall, and we were standing
+directly in for the point.  So, as soon as we had got all snug,
+we wore round and stood off again, and had the pleasant prospect
+of beating up to Monterey, a distance of an hundred miles, against
+a violent head wind.  Before night it began to rain; and we had
+five days of rainy, stormy weather, under close sail all the time,
+and were blown several hundred miles off the coast.  In the midst
+of this, we discovered that our fore topmast was sprung, (which no
+doubt happened in the squall,) and were obliged to send down the
+fore top-gallant-mast and carry as little sail as possible forward.
+Our four passengers were dreadfully sick, so that we saw little or
+nothing of them during the five days.  On the sixth day it cleared off,
+and the sun came out bright, but the wind and sea were still very high.
+It was quite like being at sea again: no land for hundreds of miles,
+and the captain taking the sun every day at noon.  Our passengers now
+made their appearance, and I had for the first time the opportunity
+of seeing what a miserable and forlorn creature a sea-sick passenger
+is.  Since I had got over my own sickness, the third day from Boston,
+I had seen nothing but hale, hearty men, with their sea legs on,
+and able to go anywhere, (for we had no passengers;) and I will own
+there was a pleasant feeling of superiority in being able to walk the
+deck, and eat, and go about, and comparing one's self with two poor,
+miserable, pale creatures, staggering and shuffling about decks,
+or holding on and looking up with giddy heads, to see us climbing
+to the mast-heads, or sitting quietly at work on the ends of the
+lofty yards.  A well man at sea has little sympathy with one who is
+seasick; he is too apt to be conscious of a comparison favorable
+to his own manhood.  After a few days we made the land at Point Pinos,
+(pines,) which is the headland at the entrance of the bay of Monterey.
+As we drew in, and ran down the shore, we could distinguish well the
+face of the country, and found it better wooded than that to the
+southward of Point Conception.  In fact, as I afterwards discovered,
+Point Conception may be made the dividing line between two different
+faces of the country.  As you go to the northward of the point,
+the country becomes more wooded, has a richer appearance, and is
+better supplied with water.  This is the case with Monterey,
+and still more so with San Francisco; while to the southward of
+the point, as at Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and particularly San Diego,
+there is very little wood, and the country has a naked, level
+appearance, though it is still very fertile.
+
+The bay of Monterey is very wide at the entrance, being about
+twenty-four miles between the two points, Año Nuevo at the north,
+and Pinos at the south, but narrows gradually as you approach the
+town, which is situated in a bend, or large cove, at the south-eastern
+extremity, and about eighteen miles from the points, which makes the
+whole depth of the bay.  The shores are extremely well wooded,
+(the pine abounding upon them,) and as it was now the rainy season,
+everything was as green as nature could make it,--the grass,
+the leaves, and all; the birds were singing in the woods, and great
+numbers of wild-fowl were flying over our heads.  Here we could
+lie safe from the south-easters.  We came to anchor within two
+cable lengths of the shore, and the town lay directly before us,
+making a very pretty appearance; its houses being plastered, which
+gives a much better effect than those of Santa Barbara, which are
+of a mud-color.  The red tiles, too, on the roofs, contrasted well
+with the white plastered sides and with the extreme greenness of
+the lawn upon which the houses--about an hundred in number--were
+dotted about, here and there, irregularly.  There are in this place,
+and in every other town which I saw in California, no streets, or
+fences, (except here and there a small patch was fenced in for a
+garden,) so that the houses are placed at random upon the green,
+which, as they are of one story and of the cottage form, gives them
+a pretty effect when seen from a little distance.
+
+It was a fine Saturday afternoon when we came to anchor, the sun
+about an hour high, and everything looking pleasantly.  The Mexican
+flag was flying from the little square Presidio, and the drums and
+trumpets of the soldiers, who were out on parade, sounded over the
+water, and gave great life to the scene.  Every one was delighted
+with the appearance of things.  We felt as though we had got into a
+Christian (which in the sailor's vocabulary means civilized) country.
+The first impression which California had made upon us was very
+disagreeable:--the open roadstead of Santa Barbara; anchoring three
+miles from the shore; running out to sea before every south-easter;
+landing in a high surf; with a little dark-looking town, a mile from
+the beach; and not a sound to be heard, or anything to be seen,
+but Sandwich Islanders, hides, and tallow-bags.  Add to this
+the gale off Point Conception, and no one can be at a loss to
+account for our agreeable disappointment in Monterey.  Beside all
+this, we soon learned, which was of no small importance to us,
+that there was little or no surf here, and this afternoon the
+beach was as smooth as a duck-pond.
+
+We landed the agent and passengers, and found several persons
+waiting for them on the beach, among whom were some, who, though
+dressed in the costume of the country, spoke English; and who,
+we afterwards learned, were English and Americans who had
+married and settled in the country.
+
+I also connected with our arrival here another circumstance which
+more nearly concerns myself; viz, my first act of what the sailors
+will allow to be seamanship--sending down a royal-yard.  I had seen
+it done once or twice at sea, and an old sailor, whose favor I
+had taken some pains to gain, had taught me carefully everything
+which was necessary to be done, and in its proper order, and advised
+me to take the first opportunity when we were in port, and try it.
+I told the second mate, with whom I had been pretty thick when he
+was before the mast, that I would do it, and got him to ask the mate
+to send me up the first time they were struck.  Accordingly I was
+called upon, and went up, repeating the operations over in my mind,
+taking care to get everything in its order, for the slightest mistake
+spoils the whole.  Fortunately, I got through without any word from
+the officer, and heard the "well done" of the mate, when the yard
+reached the deck, with as much satisfaction as I ever felt at Cambridge
+on seeing a "bene" at the foot of a Latin exercise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+LIFE AT MONTEREY
+
+
+The next day being Sunday, which is the liberty-day among merchantmen,
+when it is usual to let a part of the crew go ashore, the sailors had
+depended upon a day on land, and were already disputing who should
+ask to go, when, upon being called in the morning, we were turned-to
+upon the rigging, and found that the topmast, which had been sprung,
+was to come down, and a new one to go up, and top-gallant and royal-masts,
+and the rigging to be set up.  This was too bad.  If there is anything that
+irritates sailors and makes them feel hardly used, it is being deprived
+of their Sabbath.  Not that they would always, or indeed generally,
+spend it religiously, but it is their only day of rest.  Then, too,
+they are often necessarily deprived of it by storms, and unavoidable
+duties of all kinds, that to take it from them when lying quietly
+and safely in port, without any urgent reason, bears the more hardly.
+The only reason in this case was, that the captain had determined to
+have the custom-house officers on board on Monday, and wished to have
+his brig in order.  Jack is a slave aboard ship; but still he has
+many opportunities of thwarting and balking his master.  When there
+is danger, or necessity, or when he is well used, no one can work
+faster than he; but the instant he feels that he is kept at work
+for nothing, no sloth could make less headway.  He must not refuse
+his duty, or be in any way disobedient, but all the work that an
+officer gets out of him, he may be welcome to.  Every man who has
+been three months at sea knows how to "work Tom Cox's traverse"--
+"three turns round the long-boat, and a pull at the scuttled-butt."
+This morning everything went in this way.  "Sogering" was the order
+of the day.  Send a man below to get a block, and he would capsize
+everything before finding it, then not bring it up till an officer
+had called him twice, and take as much time to put things in order
+again.  Marline-spikes were not to be found; knives wanted a prodigious
+deal of sharpening, and, generally, three or four were waiting round
+the grindstone at a time.  When a man got to the mast-head, he would
+come slowly down again to get something which he had forgotten;
+and after the tackles were got up, six men would pull less than
+three who pulled "with a will."  When the mate was out of sight,
+nothing was done.  It was all uphill work; and at eight o'clock,
+when we went to breakfast, things were nearly where they were
+when we began.
+
+During our short meal, the matter was discussed.  One proposed
+refusing to work; but that was mutiny, and of course was rejected
+at once.  I remember, too, that one of the men quoted "Father
+Taylor," (as they call the seamen's preacher at Boston,) who told
+them that if they were ordered to work on Sunday, they must not
+refuse their duty, and the blame would not come upon them.  After
+breakfast, it leaked out, through the officers, that if we would get
+through our work soon, we might have a boat in the afternoon and
+go fishing.  This bait was well thrown, and took with several who
+were fond of fishing; and all began to find that as we had one thing
+to do, and were not to be kept at work for the day, the sooner we
+did it, the better.
+
+Accordingly, things took a new aspect; and before two o'clock this
+work, which was in a fair way to last two days, was done; and five of
+us went a fishing in the jolly-boat, in the direction of Point Pinos;
+but leave to go ashore was refused.  Here we saw the Loriotte, which
+sailed with us from Santa Barbara, coming slowly in with a light
+sea-breeze, which sets in towards afternoon, having been becalmed
+off the point all the first part of the day.  We took several fish
+of various kinds, among which cod and perch abounded, and F-----,
+(the ci-devant second mate,) who was of our number, brought up with
+his hook a large and beautiful pearl-oyster shell.  We afterwards
+learned that this place was celebrated for shells, and that a small
+schooner had made a good voyage, by carrying a cargo of them to
+the United States.
+
+We returned by sun-down, and found the Loriotte at anchor,
+within a cable's length of the Pilgrim.  The next day we were
+"turned-to" early, and began taking off the hatches, overhauling
+the cargo, and getting everything ready for inspection.  At eight,
+the officers of the customs, five in number, came on board,
+and began overhauling the cargo, manifest, etc.
+
+The Mexican revenue laws are very strict, and require the whole
+cargo to be landed, examined, and taken on board again; but our
+agent, Mr. R-----, had succeeded in compounding with them for the
+two last vessels, and saving the trouble of taking the cargo ashore.
+The officers were dressed in the costume which we found prevailed
+through the country.  A broad-brimmed hat, usually of a black or
+dark-brown color, with a gilt or figured band round the crown, and
+lined inside with silk; a short jacket of silk or figured calico,
+(the European skirted body-coat is never worn;) the shirt open in the
+neck; rich waistcoat, if any; pantaloons wide, straight, and long,
+usually of velvet, velveteen, or broadcloth; or else short breeches
+and white stockings.  They wear the deer-skin shoe, which is of a
+dark-brown color, and, (being made by Indians,) usually a good deal
+ornamented.  They have no suspenders, but always wear a sash round
+the waist, which is generally red, and varying in quality with the
+means of the wearer.  Add to this the never-failing cloak, and you
+have the dress of the Californian.  This last garment, the cloak, is
+always a mark of the rank and wealth of the owner.  The "gente de razón,"
+or aristocracy, wear cloaks of black or dark blue broadcloth, with as
+much velvet and trimmings as may be; and from this they go down to the
+blanket of the Indian; the middle classes wearing something like a
+large table-cloth, with a hole in the middle for the head to go through.
+This is often as coarse as a blanket, but being beautifully woven with
+various colors, is quite showy at a distance.  Among the Mexicans there is
+no working class; (the Indians being slaves and doing all the hard work;)
+and every rich man looks like a grandee, and every poor scamp like a
+broken-down gentleman.  I have often seen a man with a fine figure,
+and courteous manners, dressed in broadcloth and velvet, with a noble
+horse completely covered with trappings; without a real in his pocket,
+and absolutely suffering for something to eat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+TRADING--A BRITISH SAILOR
+
+
+The next day, the cargo having been entered in due form, we began
+trading.  The trade-room was fitted up in the steerage, and furnished
+out with the lighter goods, and with specimens of the rest of the
+cargo; and M-----, a young man who came out from Boston with us,
+before the mast, was taken out of the forecastle, and made supercargo's
+clerk.  He was well qualified for the business, having been clerk in a
+counting-house in Boston.  He had been troubled for some time with
+the rheumatism, which unfitted him for the wet and exposed duty of
+a sailor on the coast.  For a week or ten days all was life on board.
+The people came off to look and to buy--men, women, and children;
+and we were continually going in the boats, carrying goods and
+passengers,--for they have no boats of their own.  Everything must
+dress itself and come aboard and see the new vessel, if it were only
+to buy a paper of pins.  The agent and his clerk managed the sales,
+while we were busy in the hold or in the boats.  Our cargo was an
+assorted one; that is, it consisted of everything under the sun.
+We had spirits of all kinds, (sold by the cask,) teas, coffee, sugars,
+spices, raisins, molasses, hardware, crockery-ware, tinware, cutlery,
+clothing of all kinds, boots and shoes from Lynn, calicoes and cottons
+from Lowell, crepes, silks; also shawls, scarfs, necklaces, jewelry,
+and combs for the ladies; furniture; and in fact, everything that can
+be imagined, from Chinese fire-works to English cart-wheels--of which
+we had a dozen pairs with their iron rims on.
+
+The Californians are an idle, thriftless people, and can make 
+nothing for themselves.  The country abounds in grapes, yet they
+buy bad wines made in Boston and brought round by us, at an immense
+price, and retail it among themselves at a real (12½ cents) by
+the small wine-glass.  Their hides, too, which they value at two
+dollars in money, they give for something which costs seventy-five
+cents in Boston; and buy shoes (like as not, made of their own hides,
+and which have been carried twice around Cape Horn) at three or
+four dollars, and "chicken-skin" boots at fifteen dollars apiece.
+Things sell, on an average, at an advance of nearly three hundred
+per cent upon the Boston prices.  This is partly owing to the heavy
+duties which the government, in their wisdom, with the intent, no
+doubt, of keeping the silver in the country, has laid upon imports.
+These duties, and the enormous expenses of so long a voyage, keep
+all merchants, but those of heavy capital, from engaging in the
+trade.  Nearly two-thirds of all the articles imported into the
+country from round Cape Horn, for the last six years, have been by
+the single house of Bryant, Sturgis & Co., to whom our vessel belonged,
+and who have a permanent agent on the coast.
+
+This kind of business was new to us, and we liked it very well for
+a few days, though we were hard at work every minute from daylight
+to dark; and sometimes even later.
+
+By being thus continually engaged in transporting passengers with
+their goods, to and fro, we gained considerable knowledge of the
+character, dress, and language of the people.  The dress of the
+men was as I have before described it.  The women wore gowns of
+various texture--silks, crape, calicoes, etc.,--made after the
+European style, except that the sleeves were short, leaving the arm
+bare, and that they were loose about the waist, having no corsets.
+They wore shoes of kid, or satin; sashes or belts of bright colors;
+and almost always a necklace and ear-rings.  Bonnets they had none.
+I only saw one on the coast, and that belonged to the wife of an
+American sea-captain who had settled in San Diego, and had imported
+the chaotic mass of straw and ribbon, as a choice present to his
+new wife.  They wear their hair (which is almost invariably black,
+or a very dark brown) long in their necks, sometimes loose,
+and sometimes in long braids; though the married women often
+do it up on a high comb.  Their only protection against the sun
+and weather is a large mantle which they put over their heads,
+drawing it close round their faces, when they go out of doors,
+which is generally only in pleasant weather.  When in the house,
+or sitting out in front of it, which they often do in fine weather,
+they usually wear a small scarf or neckerchief of a rich pattern.
+A band, also, about the top of the head, with a cross, star, or
+other ornament in front, is common.  Their complexions are various,
+depending--as well as their dress and manner--upon their rank; or,
+in other words, upon the amount of Spanish blood they can lay claim to.
+Those who are of pure Spanish blood, having never intermarried with
+the aborigines, have clear brunette complexions, and sometimes, even
+as fair as those of English women.  There are but few of these families
+in California; being mostly those in official stations, or who, on the
+expiration of their offices, have settled here upon property which they
+have acquired; and others who have been banished for state offences.
+These form the aristocracy; inter-marrying, and keeping up an exclusive
+system in every respect.  They can be told by their complexions, dress,
+manner, and also by their speech; for, calling themselves Castilians,
+they are very ambitious of speaking the pure Castilian language,
+which is spoken in a somewhat corrupted dialect by the lower
+classes.  From this upper class, they go down by regular shades,
+growing more and more dark and muddy, until you come to the pure
+Indian, who runs about with nothing upon him but a small piece
+of cloth, kept up by a wide leather strap drawn round his waist.
+Generally speaking, each person's caste is decided by the quality
+of the blood, which shows itself, too plainly to be concealed,
+at first sight.  Yet the least drop of Spanish blood, if it be
+only of quadroon or octoroon, is sufficient to raise them from
+the rank of slaves, and entitle them to a suit of clothes--boots,
+hat, cloak, spurs, long knife, and all complete, though coarse
+and dirty as may be,--and to call themselves Españolos, and to
+hold property, if they can get any.
+
+The fondness for dress among the women is excessive, and is often
+the ruin of many of them.  A present of a fine mantle, or of a
+necklace or pair of ear-rings, gains the favor of the greater part
+of them.  Nothing is more common than to see a woman living in
+a house of only two rooms, and the ground for a floor, dressed in
+spangled satin shoes, silk gown, high comb, and gilt, if not gold,
+ear-rings and necklace.  If their husbands do not dress them well
+enough, they will soon receive presents from others.  They used to
+spend whole days on board our vessels, examining the fine clothes
+and ornaments, and frequently made purchases at a rate which
+would have made a seamstress or waiting-maid in Boston open
+her eyes.
+
+Next to the love of dress, I was most struck with the fineness of
+the voices and beauty of the intonations of both sexes.  Every
+common ruffian-looking fellow, with a slouched hat, blanket cloak,
+dirty under-dress, and soiled leather leggins, appeared to me to be
+speaking elegant Spanish.  It was a pleasure, simply to listen to
+the sound of the language, before I could attach any meaning to it.
+They have a good deal of the Creole drawl, but it is varied with an
+occasional extreme rapidity of utterance, in which they seem to skip
+from consonant to consonant, until, lighting upon a broad, open
+vowel, they rest upon that to restore the balance of sound.  The
+women carry this peculiarity of speaking to a much greater extreme
+than the men, who have more evenness and stateliness of utterance.
+A common bullock-driver, on horseback, delivering a message, seemed
+to speak like an ambassador at an audience.  In fact, they sometimes
+appeared to me to be a people on whom a curse had fallen, and stripped
+them of everything but their pride, their manners, and their voices.
+
+Another thing that surprised me was the quantity of silver that
+was in circulation.  I certainly never saw so much silver at one
+time in my life, as during the week that we were at Monterey.
+The truth is, they have no credit system, no banks, and no way
+of investing money but in cattle.  They have no circulating medium
+but silver and hides--which the sailors call "California bank notes."
+Everything that they buy they must pay for in one or the other of
+these things.  The hides they bring down dried and doubled, in
+clumsy ox-carts, or upon mules' backs, and the money they carry
+tied up in a handkerchief;--fifty, eighty, or an hundred dollars
+and half dollars.
+
+I had never studied Spanish while at college, and could not speak
+a word, when at Juan Fernandez; but during the latter part of the
+passage out, I borrowed a grammar and dictionary from the cabin,
+and by a continual use of these, and a careful attention to every word
+that I heard spoken, I soon got a vocabulary together, and began
+talking for myself.  As I soon knew more Spanish than any of the
+crew, (who indeed knew none at all,) and had been at college and
+knew Latin, I got the name of a great linguist, and was always sent
+for by the captain and officers to get provisions, or to carry letters
+and messages to different parts of the town.  I was often sent to get
+something which I could not tell the name of to save my life; but
+I liked the business, and accordingly never pleaded ignorance.
+Sometimes I managed to jump below and take a look at my dictionary
+before going ashore; or else I overhauled some English resident
+on my way, and got the word from him; and then, by signs, and the
+help of my Latin and French, contrived to get along.  This was a
+good exercise for me, and no doubt taught me more than I should
+have learned by months of study and reading; it also gave me
+opportunities of seeing the customs, characters, and domestic
+arrangements of the people; beside being a great relief from
+the monotony of a day spent on board ship.
+
+Monterey, as far as my observation goes, is decidedly the pleasantest
+and most civilized-looking place in California.  In the centre
+of it is an open square, surrounded by four lines of one-story
+plastered buildings, with half a dozen cannon in the centre; some
+mounted, and others not.  This is the "Presidio," or fort.  Every
+town has a presidio in its centre; or rather, every presidio has a
+town built around it; for the forts were first built by the Mexican
+government, and then the people built near them for protection.  The
+presidio here was entirely open and unfortified.  There were several
+officers with long titles, and about eighty soldiers, but they were
+poorly paid, fed, clothed, and disciplined.  The governor-general,
+or, as he is commonly called, the "general," lives here; which makes
+it the seat of government.  He is appointed by the central government
+at Mexico, and is the chief civil and military officer.  In addition to
+him, each town has a commandant, who is the chief military officer,
+and has charge of the fort, and of all transactions with foreigners
+and foreign vessels; and two or three alcaldes and corregidores,
+elected by the inhabitants, who are the civil officers.  Courts and
+jurisprudence they have no knowledge of.  Small municipal matters are
+regulated by the alcaldes and corregidores; and everything relating
+to the general government, to the military, and to foreigners,
+by the commandants, acting under the governor-general.  Capital
+cases are decided by him, upon personal inspection, if he is near;
+or upon minutes sent by the proper officers, if the offender is at a
+distant place.  No Protestant has any civil rights, nor can he hold
+any property, or, indeed, remain more than a few weeks on shore,
+unless he belong to some vessel.  Consequently, the Americans and
+English who intend to remain here become Catholics, to a man;
+the current phrase among them being,--"A man must leave his
+conscience at Cape Horn."
+
+But to return to Monterey.  The houses here, as everywhere else
+in California, are of one story, built of clay made into large bricks,
+about a foot and a half square and three or four inches thick, and
+hardened in the sun.  These are cemented together by mortar of the
+same material, and the whole are of a common dirt-color.  The floors
+are generally of earth, the windows grated and without glass; and
+the doors, which are seldom shut, open directly into the common
+room; there being no entries.  Some of the more wealthy inhabitants
+have glass to their windows and board floors; and in Monterey
+nearly all the houses are plastered on the outside.  The better houses,
+too, have red tiles upon the roofs.  The common ones have two or
+three rooms which open into each other, and are furnished with a
+bed or two, a few chairs and tables, a looking-glass, a crucifix of
+some material or other, and small daubs of paintings enclosed in
+glass, and representing some miracle or martyrdom.  They have no
+chimneys or fire-places in the houses, the climate being such as to
+make a fire unnecessary; and all their cooking is done in a small
+cook-house, separated from the house.  The Indians, as I have said
+before, do all the hard work, two or three being attached to each
+house; and the poorest persons are able to keep one, at least, for
+they have only to feed them and give them a small piece of coarse
+cloth and a belt, for the males; and a coarse gown, without shoes
+or stockings, for the females.
+
+In Monterey there are a number of English and Americans (English
+or "Ingles" all are called who speak the English language) who
+have married Californians, become united to the Catholic church,
+and acquired considerable property.  Having more industry, frugality,
+and enterprise than the natives, they soon get nearly all the
+trade into their hands.  They usually keep shops, in which they
+retail the goods purchased in larger quantities from our vessels,
+and also send a good deal into the interior, taking hides in pay,
+which they again barter with our vessels.  In every town on the coast
+there are foreigners engaged in this kind of trade, while I recollect
+but two shops kept by natives.  The people are generally suspicious
+of foreigners, and they would not be allowed to remain, were it not
+that they become good Catholics, and by marrying natives, and
+bringing up their children as Catholics and Mexicans, and not
+teaching them the English language, they quiet suspicion, and even
+become popular and leading men.  The chief alcaldes in Monterey and
+Santa Barbara were both Yankees by birth.
+
+The men in Monterey appeared to me to be always on horseback.
+Horses are as abundant here as dogs and chickens were in Juan
+Fernandez. There are no stables to keep them in, but they are
+allowed to run wild and graze wherever they please, being branded,
+and having long leather ropes, called "lassos," attached to their
+necks and dragging along behind them, by which they can be easily
+taken.  The men usually catch one in the morning, throw a saddle and
+bridle upon him, and use him for the day, and let him go at night,
+catching another the next day.  When they go on long journeys,
+they ride one horse down, and catch another, throw the saddle and
+bridle upon him, and after riding him down, take a third, and so
+on to the end of the journey.  There are probably no better riders
+in the world.  They get upon a horse when only four or five years
+old, their little legs not long enough to come half way over his
+sides; and may almost be said to keep on him until they have grown
+to him.  The stirrups are covered or boxed up in front, to prevent
+their catching when riding through the woods; and the saddles are
+large and heavy, strapped very tight upon the horse, and have
+large pommels, or loggerheads, in front, round which the "lasso"
+is coiled when not in use.  They can hardly go from one house to
+another without getting on a horse, there being generally several
+standing tied to the door-posts of the little cottages.  When they
+wish to show their activity, they make no use of their stirrups
+in mounting, but striking the horse, spring into the saddle as
+he starts, and sticking their long spurs into him, go off on
+the full run.  Their spurs are cruel things, having four or five
+rowels, each an inch in length, dull and rusty.  The flanks of
+the horses are often sore from them, and I have seen men come in
+from chasing bullocks with their horses' hind legs and quarters
+covered with blood.  They frequently give exhibitions of their
+horsemanship, in races, bull-baitings, etc.; but as we were not
+ashore during any holyday, we saw nothing of it.  Monterey is also
+a great place for cock-fighting, gambling of all sorts, fandangos,
+and every kind of amusement and knavery.  Trappers and hunters, who
+occasionally arrive here from over the Rocky mountains, with their
+valuable skins and furs, are often entertained with every sort of
+amusement and dissipation, until they have wasted their time and
+their money, and go back, stripped of everything.
+
+Nothing but the character of the people prevents Monterey from
+becoming a great town.  The soil is as rich as man could wish;
+climate as good as any in the world; water abundant, and situation
+extremely beautiful.  The harbor, too, is a good one, being subject
+only to one bad wind, the north; and though the holding-ground is
+not the best, yet I heard of but one vessel's being driven ashore
+here.  That was a Mexican brig, which went ashore a few months
+before our arrival, and was a total wreck, all the crew but one being
+drowned.  Yet this was from the carelessness or ignorance of the
+captain, who paid out all his small cable before he let go his other
+anchor.  The ship Lagoda, of Boston, was there at the time, and rode
+out the gale in safety, without dragging at all, or finding it necessary
+to strike her top-gallant masts.
+
+The only vessel in port with us was the little Loriotte.  I frequently
+went on board her, and became very well acquainted with her
+Sandwich Island crew.  One of them could speak a little English,
+and from him I learned a good deal about them.  They were well
+formed and active, with black eyes, intelligent countenances,
+dark-olive, or, I should rather say, copper complexions and coarse
+black hair, but not woolly like the negroes.  They appeared to be
+talking continually.  In the forecastle there was a complete Babel.
+Their language is extremely guttural, and not pleasant at first,
+but improves as you hear it more, and is said to have great capacity.
+They use a good deal of gesticulation, and are exceedingly animated,
+saying with their might what their tongues find to say.  They are
+complete water-dogs, therefore very good in boating.  It is for this
+reason that there are so many of them on the coast of California;
+they being very good hands in the surf.  They are also quick and
+active in the rigging, and good hands in warm weather; but those
+who have been with them round Cape Horn, and in high latitudes,
+say that they are useless in cold weather.  In their dress they are
+precisely like our sailors.  In addition to these Islanders, the vessel
+had two English sailors, who acted as boatswains over the Islanders,
+and took care of the rigging.  One of them I shall always remember as
+the best specimen of the thoroughbred English sailor that I ever saw.
+He had been to sea from a boy, having served a regular apprenticeship
+of seven years, as all English sailors are obliged to do, and was
+then about four or five and twenty.  He was tall; but you only
+perceived it when he was standing by the side of others, for the
+great breadth of his shoulders and chest made him appear but little
+above the middle height.  His chest was as deep as it was wide;
+his arm like that of Hercules; and his hand "the fist of a tar
+--every hair a rope-yarn." With all this he had one of the pleasantest
+smiles I ever saw.  His cheeks were of a handsome brown; his teeth
+brilliantly white; and his hair, of a raven black, waved in loose
+curls all over his head, and fine, open forehead; and his eyes
+he might have sold to a duchess at the price of diamonds, for their
+brilliancy.  As for their color, they were like the Irishman's pig,
+which would not stay to be counted, every change of position and
+light seemed to give them a new hue; but their prevailing color was
+black, or nearly so.  Take him with his well-varnished black tarpaulin
+stuck upon the back of his head; his long locks coming down almost
+into his eyes; his white duck trowsers and shirt; blue jacket;
+and black kerchief, tied loosely round his neck; and he was a fine
+specimen of manly beauty.  On his broad chest he had stamped with
+India ink "Parting moments;"--a ship ready to sail; a boat on the
+beach; and a girl and her sailor lover taking their farewell.
+Underneath were printed the initials of his own name, and two other
+letters, standing for some name which he knew better than I did.
+This was very well done, having been executed by a man who made
+it his business to print with India ink, for sailors, at Havre.
+On one of his broad arms, he had the crucifixion, and on the other
+the sign of the "foul anchor."
+
+He was very fond of reading, and we lent him most of the books
+which we had in the forecastle, which he read and returned
+to us the next time we fell in with him.  He had a good deal
+of information, and his captain said he was a perfect seaman,
+and worth his weight in gold on board a vessel, in fair weather
+and in foul.  His strength must have been great, and he had the
+sight of a vulture.  It is strange that one should be so minute in
+the description of an unknown, outcast sailor, whom one may never
+see again, and whom no one may care to hear about; but so it is.
+Some people we see under no remarkable circumstances, but whom,
+for some reason or other, we never forget.  He called himself Bill
+Jackson; and I know no one of all my accidental acquaintances to
+whom I would more gladly give a shake of the hand than to him.
+Whoever falls in with him will find a handsome, hearty fellow,
+and a good shipmate.
+
+Sunday came again while we were at Monterey, but as before, it brought
+us no holyday.  The people on shore dressed themselves and came off in
+greater numbers than ever, and we were employed all day in boating and
+breaking out cargo, so that we had hardly time to eat.  Our cidevant
+second mate, who was determined to get liberty if it was to be had,
+dressed himself in a long coat and black hat, and polished his shoes,
+and went aft and asked to go ashore.  He could not have done a more
+imprudent thing; for he knew that no liberty would be given; and besides,
+sailors, however sure they may be of having liberty granted them always
+go aft in their working clothes, to appear as though they had no reason
+to expect anything, and then wash, dress, and shave, after they get
+their liberty.  But this poor fellow was always getting into hot water,
+and if there was a wrong way of doing a thing, was sure to hit upon it.
+We looked to see him go aft, knowing pretty well what his reception
+would be.  The captain was walking the quarter-deck, smoking his
+morning cigar, and F----- went as far as the break of the deck, and there
+waited for him to notice him.  The captain took two or three turns,
+and then walking directly up to him, surveyed him from head to foot,
+and lifting up his forefinger, said a word or two, in a tone too low
+for us to hear, but which had a magical effect upon poor F-----.
+He walked forward, sprang into the forecastle, and in a moment more
+made his appearance in his common clothes, and went quietly to work again.
+What the captain said to him, we never could get him to tell, but it
+certainly changed him outwardly and inwardly in a most surprising manner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+SANTA BARBARA--HIDE-DROGHING--HARBOR DUTIES--DISCONTENT--SAN PEDRO
+
+
+After a few days, finding the trade beginning to slacken, we
+hove our anchor up, set our topsails, ran the stars and stripes
+up to the peak, fired a gun, which was returned from the Presidio,
+and left the little town astern, running out of the bay, and
+bearing down the coast again, for Santa Barbara.  As we were now
+going to leeward, we had a fair wind and a plenty of it.  After
+doubling Point Pinos, we bore up, set studding-sails alow and aloft,
+and were walking off at the rate of eight or nine knots, promising
+to traverse in twenty-four hours the distance which we were nearly
+three weeks in traversing on the passage up.  We passed Point
+Conception at a flying rate, the wind blowing so that it would have
+seemed half a gale to us, if we had been going the other way and
+close hauled.  As we drew near the islands off Santa Barbara, it
+died away a little but we came-to at our old anchoring-ground in
+less than thirty hours from the time of leaving Monterey.
+
+Here everything was pretty much as we left it--the large bay without
+a vessel in it; the surf roaring and rolling in upon the beach;
+the white mission; the dark town and the high, treeless mountains.
+Here, too, we had our south-easter tacks aboard again,--slip-ropes,
+buoy-ropes, sails furled with reefs in them, and rope-yarns for gaskets.
+We lay here about a fortnight, employed in landing goods and taking
+off hides, occasionally, when the surf was not high; but there did
+not appear to be one-half the business doing here that there was
+in Monterey.  In fact, so far as we were concerned, the town might
+almost as well have been in the middle of the Cordilleras.  We lay
+at a distance of three miles from the beach, and the town was nearly
+a mile farther; so that we saw little or nothing of it.  Occasionally
+we landed a few goods, which were taken away by Indians in large,
+clumsy ox-carts, with the yoke on the ox's neck instead of under it,
+and with small solid wheels.  A few hides were brought down, which we
+carried off in the California style.  This we had now got pretty well
+accustomed to; and hardened to also; for it does require a little
+hardening even to the toughest.
+
+The hides are always brought down dry, or they would not be received.
+When they are taken from the animal, they have holes cut in the ends,
+and are staked out, and thus dried in the sun without shrinking.
+They are then doubled once, lengthwise, with the hair side usually in,
+and sent down, upon mules or in carts, and piled above highwater mark;
+and then we rake them upon our heads, one at a time, or two, if they
+are small, and wade out with them and throw them into the boat,
+which as there are no wharves, we are usually kept anchored by a
+small kedge, or keelek, just outside of the surf.  We all provided
+ourselves with thick Scotch caps, which would be soft to the head,
+and at the same time protect it; for we soon found that however it
+might look or feel at first the "head-work" was the only system for
+California.  For besides that the seas, breaking high, often obliged
+us to carry the hides so, in order to keep them dry, we found that,
+as they were very large and heavy, and nearly as stiff as boards,
+it was the only way that we could carry them with any convenience
+to ourselves.  Some of the crew tried other expedients, saying that
+they looked too much like West India negroes; but they all came to
+it at last.  The great art is in getting them on the head.  We had
+to take them from the ground, and as they were often very heavy,
+and as wide as the arms could stretch and easily taken by the wind,
+we used to have some trouble with them.  I have often been laughed
+at myself, and joined in laughing at others, pitching themselves
+down in the sand, trying to swing a large hide upon their heads,
+or nearly blown over with one in a little gust of wind.  The captain
+made it harder for us, by telling us that it was "California fashion"
+to carry two on the head at a time; and as he insisted upon it,
+and we did not wish to be outdone by other vessels, we carried two
+for the first few months; but after falling in with a few other
+"hide-droghers," and finding that they carried only one at a time we
+"knocked off" the extra one, and thus made our duty somewhat easier.
+
+After we had got our heads used to the weight, and had learned the
+true California style of tossing a hide, we could carry off two or
+three hundred in a short time, without much trouble; but it was
+always wet work, and, if the beach was stony, bad for our feet;
+for we, of course, always went barefooted on this duty, as no shoes
+could stand such constant wetting with salt water.  Then, too, we
+had a long pull of three miles, with a loaded boat, which often
+took a couple of hours.
+
+We had now got well settled down into our harbor duties, which,
+as they are a good deal different from those at sea, it may be
+well enough to describe.  In the first place, all hands are called
+at daylight, or rather--especially if the days are short--before
+daylight, as soon as the first grey of the morning.  The cook makes
+his fire in the galley; the steward goes about his work in the cabin;
+and the crew rig the head pump, and wash down the decks.  The chief
+mate is always on deck, but takes no active part, all the duty coming
+upon the second mate, who has to roll up his trowsers and paddle about
+decks barefooted, like the rest of the crew.  The washing, swabbing,
+squilgeeing, etc., lasts, or is made to last, until eight o'clock,
+when breakfast is ordered, fore and aft.  After breakfast, for which
+half an hour is allowed, the boats are lowered down, and made fast
+astern, or out to the swinging booms, by ges-warps, and the crew
+are turned-to upon their day's work.  This is various, and its
+character depends upon circumstances.  There is always more or
+less of boating, in small boats; and if heavy goods are to be
+taken ashore, or hides are brought down to the beach for us,
+then all hands are sent ashore with an officer in the long boat.
+Then there is always a good deal to be done in the hold: goods to
+be broken out; and cargo to be shifted, to make room for hides,
+or to keep the trim of the vessel.  In addition to this, the usual
+work upon the rigging must be done.  There is a good deal of the
+latter kind of work which can only be done when the vessel is in
+port;--and then everything must be kept taught and in good order;
+spun-yarn made; chafing gear repaired; and all the other ordinary
+work.  The great difference between sea and harbor duty is in the
+division of time.  Instead of having a watch on deck and a watch
+below, as at sea, all hands are at work together, except at meal
+times, from daylight till dark; and at night an "anchor-watch" is
+kept, which consists of only two at a time; the whole crew taking
+turns.  An hour is allowed for dinner, and at dark, the decks are
+cleared up; the boats hoisted; supper ordered; and at eight, the
+lights put out, except in the binnacle, where the glass stands;
+and the anchor-watch is set.  Thus, when at anchor, the crew have
+more time at night, (standing watch only about two hours,) but have
+no time to themselves in the day; so that reading, mending clothes,
+etc., has to be put off until Sunday, which is usually given.
+Some religious captains give their crews Saturday afternoons
+to do their washing and mending in, so that they may have their
+Sundays free.  This is a good arrangement, and does much toward
+creating the preference sailors usually show for religious vessels.
+We were well satisfied if we got Sunday to ourselves, for, if any
+hides came down on that day, as was often the case when they were
+brought from a distance, we were obliged to bring them off, which
+usually took half a day; and as we now lived on fresh beef, and ate
+one bullock a week, the animal was almost always brought down on
+Sunday, and we had to go ashore, kill it, dress it, and bring it
+aboard, which was another interruption.   Then, too, our common
+day's work was protracted and made more fatiguing by hides coming
+down late in the afternoon, which sometimes kept us at work in
+the surf by star-light, with the prospect of pulling on board,
+and stowing them all away, before supper.
+
+But all these little vexations and labors would have been nothing,
+--they would have been passed by as the common evils of a sea-life,
+which every sailor, who is a man, will go through without complaint,
+--were it not for the uncertainty, or worse than uncertainty,
+which hung over the nature and length of our voyage.  Here we were,
+in a little vessel, with a small crew, on a half-civilized coast,
+at the ends of the earth, and with a prospect of remaining an
+indefinite period, two or three years at the least.  When we left
+Boston we supposed that it was to be a voyage of eighteen months,
+or two years, at most; but upon arriving on the coast, we learned
+something more of the trade, and found that in the scarcity of
+hides, which was yearly greater and greater, it would take us a
+year, at least, to collect our own cargo, beside the passage out
+and home; and that we were also to collect a cargo for a large ship
+belonging to the same firm, which was soon to come on the coast,
+and to which we were to act as tender.  We had heard rumors of
+such a ship to follow us, which had leaked out from the captain
+and mate, but we passed them by as mere "yarns," till our arrival,
+when they were confirmed by the letters which we brought from
+the owners to their agent.  The ship California, belonging to the
+same firm, had been nearly two years on the coast; had collected 
+a full cargo, and was now at San Diego, from which port she was
+expected to sail in a few weeks for Boston; and we were to collect
+all the hides we could, and deposit them at San Diego, when the new
+ship, which would carry forty thousand, was to be filled and sent
+home; and then we were to begin anew, and collect our own cargo.
+Here was a gloomy prospect before us, indeed.  The California had
+been twenty months on the coast, and the Lagoda, a smaller ship,
+carrying only thirty-one or thirty-two thousand, had been two years
+getting her cargo; and we were to collect a cargo of forty thousand
+beside our own, which would be twelve or fifteen thousand; and hides
+were said to be growing scarcer.  Then, too, this ship, which had
+been to us a worse phantom than any flying Dutchman, was no phantom,
+or ideal thing, but had been reduced to a certainty; so much so that
+a name was given her, and it was said that she was to be the Alert,
+a well-known India-man, which was expected in Boston in a few months,
+when we sailed.  There could be no doubt, and all looked black enough.
+Hints were thrown out about three years and four years;--the older
+sailors said they never should see Boston again, but should lay their
+bones in California; and a cloud seemed to hang over the whole voyage.
+Besides, we were not provided for so long a voyage, and clothes, and
+all sailors' necessaries, were excessively dear--three or four hundred
+per cent. advance upon the Boston prices.  This was bad enough
+for them; but still worse was it for me, who did not mean to be a
+sailor for life; having intended only to be gone eighteen months or
+two years.  Three or four years would make me a sailor in every
+respect, mind and habits, as well as body--nolens volens; and would
+put all my companions so far ahead of me that college and a profession
+would be in vain to think of; and I made up my mind that, feel as I
+might, a sailor I must be, and to be master of a vessel, must be the
+height of my ambition.
+
+Beside the length of the voyage, and the hard and exposed life,
+we were at the ends of the earth; on a coast almost solitary; in a
+country where there is neither law nor gospel, and where sailors are
+at their captain's mercy, there being no American consul, or any
+one to whom a complaint could be made.  We lost all interest in
+the voyage; cared nothing about the cargo, which we were only
+collecting for others; began to patch our clothes; and felt as
+though we were fixed beyond all hope of change.
+
+In addition to, and perhaps partly as a consequence of, this state
+of things, there was trouble brewing on board the vessel.  Our mate
+(as the first mate is always called, par excellence) was a worthy
+man;--a more honest, upright, and kind-hearted man I never saw;
+but he was too good for the mate of a merchantman.  He was not the
+man to call a sailor a "son of a b---h," and knock him down with a
+handspike.  He wanted the energy and spirit for such a voyage as ours,
+and for such a captain.  Captain T----- was a vigorous, energetic
+fellow.  As sailors say, "he hadn't a lazy bone in him."  He was
+made of steel and whalebone.  He was a man to "toe the mark,"
+and to make every one else step up to it.  During all the time that
+I was with him, I never saw him sit down on deck.  He was always
+active and driving; severe in his discipline, and expected the same
+of his officers.  The mate not being enough of a driver for him, and
+being perhaps too easy with the crew, he was dissatisfied with him,
+became suspicious that discipline was getting relaxed, and began
+to interfere in everything.  He drew the reins taughter; and as,
+in all quarrels between officers, the sailors side with the one who
+treats them best, he became suspicious of the crew.  He saw that
+everything went wrong--that nothing was done "with a will;" and in
+his attempt to remedy the difficulty by severity, he made everything
+worse.  We were in every respect unfortunately situated.  Captain,
+officers, and crew, entirely unfitted for one another; and every
+circumstance and event was like a two-edged sword, and cut both
+ways.  The length of the voyage, which made us dissatisfied, made
+the captain, at the same time, feel the necessity of order and strict
+discipline; and the nature of the country, which caused us to feel that
+we had nowhere to go for redress, but were entirely at the mercy of
+a hard master, made the captain feel, on the other hand, that he
+must depend entirely upon his own resources.  Severity created
+discontent, and signs of discontent provoked severity.  Then, too,
+ill-treatment and dissatisfaction are no "linimenta laborum;" and many
+a time have I heard the sailors say that they should not mind the
+length of the voyage, and the hardships, if they were only kindly
+treated, and if they could feel that something was done to make
+things lighter and easier.  We felt as though our situation was
+a call upon our superiors to give us occasional relaxations,
+and to make our yoke easier.  But the contrary policy was pursued.
+We were kept at work all day when in port; which, together with a
+watch at night, made us glad to turn-in as soon as we got below.
+Thus we got no time for reading, or--which was of more importance
+to us--for washing and mending our clothes.  And then, when we
+were at sea, sailing from port to port, instead of giving us
+"watch and watch," as was the custom on board every other vessel
+on the coast, we were all kept on deck and at work, rain or
+shine, making spun-yarn and rope, and at other work in good
+weather, and picking oakum, when it was too wet for anything
+else.  All hands were called to "come up and see it rain," and kept
+on deck hour after hour in a drenching rain, standing round the
+deck so far apart as to prevent our talking with one another, with
+our tarpaulins and oil-cloth jackets on, picking old rope to pieces,
+or laying up gaskets and robands.  This was often done, too, when
+we were lying in port with two anchors down, and no necessity for
+more than one man on deck as a look-out.  This is what is called
+"hazing" a crew, and "working their old iron up."
+
+While lying at Santa Barbara, we encountered another south-easter;
+and, like the first, it came on in the night; the great black
+clouds coming round from the southward, covering the mountain,
+and hanging down over the town, appearing almost to rest upon
+the roofs of the houses.  We made sail, slipped our cable, cleared
+the point, and beat about, for four days, in the offing, under close
+sail, with continual rain and high seas and winds.  No wonder,
+thought we, they have no rain in the other seasons, for enough
+seemed to have fallen in those four days to last through a common
+summer.  On the fifth day it cleared up, after a few hours, as is
+usual, of rain coming down like a four hours' shower-bath, and
+we found ourselves drifted nearly ten leagues from the anchorage;
+and having light head winds, we did not return until the sixth
+day.  Having recovered our anchor, we made preparations for getting
+under weigh to go down to leeward.  We had hoped to go directly
+to San Diego, and thus fall in with the California before she sailed
+for Boston; but our orders were to stop at an intermediate port
+called San Pedro, and as we were to lie there a week or two, and
+the California was to sail in a few days, we lost the opportunity.
+Just before sailing, the captain took on board a short, red-haired,
+round-shouldered, vulgar-looking fellow, who had lost one eye,
+and squinted with the other, and introducing him as Mr. Russell,
+told us that he was an officer on board.  This was too bad.  We had
+lost overboard, on the passage, one of the best of our number,
+another had been taken from us and appointed clerk, and thus
+weakened and reduced, instead of shipping some hands to make
+our work easier, he had put another officer over us, to watch
+and drive us.  We had now four officers, and only six in the
+forecastle.  This was bringing her too much down by the stern
+for our comfort.
+
+Leaving Santa Barbara, we coasted along down, the country
+appearing level or moderately uneven, and, for the most part, sandy
+and treeless; until, doubling a high, sandy point, we let go our
+anchor at a distance of three or three and a half miles from shore.
+It was like a vessel, bound to Halifax, coming to anchor on the
+Grand Banks; for the shore being low, appeared to be at a greater
+distance than it actually was, and we thought we might as well
+have staid at Santa Barbara, and sent our boat down for the hides.
+The land was of a clayey consistency, and, as far as the eye could
+reach, entirely bare of trees and even shrubs; and there was no
+sign of a town,--not even a house to be seen.  What brought us
+into such a place, we could not conceive.  No sooner had we come
+to anchor, than the slip-rope, and the other preparations for
+south-easters, were got ready; and there was reason enough for it,
+for we lay exposed to every wind that could blow, except the north-west,
+and that came over a flat country with a range of more than a
+league of water.  As soon as everything was snug on board, the
+boat was lowered, and we pulled ashore, our new officer, who had
+been several times in the port before, taking the place of steersman.
+As we drew in, we found the tide low, and the rocks and stones,
+covered with kelp and sea-weed, lying bare for the distance of
+nearly an eighth of a mile.  Picking our way barefooted over these,
+we came to what is called the landing-place, at high-water mark.
+The soil was as it appeared at first, loose and clayey, and except
+the stalks of the mustard plant, there was no vegetation.  Just in
+front of the landing, and immediately over it, was a small hill,
+which, from its being not more than thirty or forty feet high, we had
+not perceived from our anchorage.  Over this hill we saw three men
+coming down, dressed partly like sailors and partly like Californians;
+one of them having on a pair of untanned leather trowsers and a red
+baize shirt.  When they came down to us, we found that they were
+Englishmen, and they told us that they had belonged to a small
+Mexican brig which had been driven ashore here in a south-easter,
+and now lived in a small house just over the hill.  Going up
+this hill with them, we saw, just behind it, a small, low building,
+with one room, containing a fire-place, cooking apparatus, etc., and
+the rest of it unfinished, and used as a place to store hides and
+goods.  This, they told us, was built by some traders in the Pueblo,
+(a town about thirty miles in the interior, to which this was the
+port,) and used by them as a storehouse, and also as a lodging place
+when they came down to trade with the vessels.  These three men
+were employed by them to keep the house in order, and to look out
+for the things stored in it.  They said that they had been there
+nearly a year; had nothing to do most of the time, living upon beef,
+hard bread, and frijoles (a peculiar kind of bean very abundant in
+California).  The nearest house, they told us, was a Rancho,
+or cattle-farm, about three miles off; and one of them went up,
+at the request of our officer, to order a horse to be sent down,
+with which the agent, who was on board, might go up to the Pueblo.
+From one of them, who was an intelligent English sailor, I learned
+a good deal, in a few minutes' conversation, about the place, its
+trade, and the news from the southern ports.  San Diego, he said,
+was about eighty miles to the leeward of San Pedro; that they had
+heard from there, by a Mexican who came up on horseback, that
+the California had sailed for Boston, and that the Lagoda, which
+had been in San Pedro only a few weeks before, was taking in her
+cargo for Boston.  The Ayacucho was also there, loading for Callao,
+and the little Loriotte, which had run directly down from Monterey,
+where we left her.  San Diego, he told me, was a small, snug place,
+having very little trade, but decidedly the best harbor on the coast,
+being completely land-locked, and the water as smooth as a duck-pond.
+This was the depot for all the vessels engaged in the trade; each one
+having a large house there, built of rough boards, in which they
+stowed their hides, as fast as they collected them in their trips
+up and down the coast, and when they had procured a full cargo,
+spent a few weeks there, taking it in, smoking ship, supplying
+wood and water, and making other preparations for the voyage home.
+The Lagoda was now about this business.  When we should be about it,
+was more than I could tell; two years, at least, I thought to myself.
+
+I also learned, to my surprise, that the desolate-looking place we
+were in was the best place on the whole coast for hides.  It was the
+only port for a distance of eighty miles, and about thirty miles in
+the interior was a fine plane country, filled with herds of cattle,
+in the centre of which was the Pueblo de los Angelos--the largest
+town in California--and several of the wealthiest missions; to all
+of which San Pedro was the sea-port.
+
+Having made our arrangements for a horse to take the agent to
+the Pueblo the next day, we picked our way again over the green,
+slippery rocks, and pulled aboard.  By the time we reached the
+vessel, which was so far off that we could hardly see her, in the
+increasing darkness, the boats were hoisted up, and the crew at
+supper.  Going down into the forecastle, eating our supper, and
+lighting our cigars and pipes, we had, as usual, to tell all we had
+seen or heard ashore.  We all agreed that it was the worst place
+we had seen yet, especially for getting off hides, and our lying off
+at so great a distance looked as though it was bad for south-easters.
+After a few disputes as to whether we should have to carry our
+goods up the hill, or not, we talked of San Diego, the probability
+of seeing the Lagoda before she sailed, etc., etc.
+
+The next day we pulled the agent ashore, and he went up to
+visit the Pueblo and the neighboring missions; and in a few days,
+as the result of his labors, large ox-carts, and droves of mules,
+loaded with hides, were seen coming over the flat country.
+We loaded our long-boat with goods of all kinds, light and heavy,
+and pulled ashore.  After landing and rolling them over the stones
+upon the beach, we stopped, waiting for the carts to come down the
+hill and take them; but the captain soon settled the matter by ordering
+us to carry them all up to the top, saying that, that was "California
+fashion." So what the oxen would not do, we were obliged to do.
+The hill was low, but steep, and the earth, being clayey and wet
+with the recent rains, was but bad holding-ground for our feet.
+The heavy barrels and casks we rolled up with some difficulty,
+getting behind and putting our shoulders to them; now and then
+our feet slipping, added to the danger of the casks rolling back
+upon us.  But the greatest trouble was with the large boxes of
+sugar.  These, we had to place upon oars, and lifting them up rest
+the oars upon our shoulders, and creep slowly up the hill with the
+gait of a funeral procession.  After an hour or two of hard work,
+we got them all up, and found the carts standing full of hides,
+which we had to unload, and also to load again with our own goods;
+the lazy Indians, who came down with them, squatting down on their
+hams, looking on, doing nothing, and when we asked them to help us,
+only shaking their heads, or drawling out "no quiero."
+
+Having loaded the carts, we started up the Indians, who went
+off, one on each side of the oxen, with long sticks, sharpened at
+the end, to punch them with.  This is one of the means of saving
+labor in California;--two Indians to two oxen.  Now, the hides
+were to be got down; and for this purpose, we brought the boat
+round to a place where the hill was steeper, and threw them down,
+letting them slide over the slope.  Many of them lodged, and we
+had to let ourselves down and set them agoing again; and in this
+way got covered with dust, and our clothes torn.  After we had
+got them all down, we were obliged to take them on our heads,
+and walk over the stones, and through the water, to the boat.
+The water and the stones together would wear out a pair of shoes
+a day, and as shoes were very scarce and very dear, we were compelled
+to go barefooted.  At night, we went on board, having had the hardest
+and most disagreeable day's work that we had yet experienced.
+For several days, we were employed in this manner, until we had
+landed forty or fifty tons of goods, and brought on board about
+two thousand hides; when the trade began to slacken, and we were
+kept at work, on board, during the latter part of the week,
+either in the hold or upon the rigging.  On Thursday night,
+there was a violent blow from the northward, but as this was
+off-shore, we had only to let go our other anchor and hold on.
+We were called up at night to send down the royal-yards.  It was
+as dark as a pocket, and the vessel pitching at her anchors,
+I went up to the fore, and my friend S-----, to the main,
+and we soon had them down "ship-shape and Bristol fashion,"
+for, as we had now got used to our duty aloft, everything above
+the cross-trees was left to us, who were the youngest of the crew,
+except one boy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+A FLOGGING--A NIGHT ON SHORE--THE STATE OF THINGS ON BOARD--SAN DIEGO
+
+
+For several days the captain seemed very much out of humor.
+Nothing went right, or fast enough for him.  He quarrelled with
+the cook, and threatened to flog him for throwing wood on deck;
+and had a dispute with the mate about reeving a Spanish burton;
+the mate saying that he was right, and had been taught how to do
+it by a man who was a sailor!  This, the captain took in dudgeon,
+and they were at sword's points at once.  But his displeasure was
+chiefly turned against a large, heavy-moulded fellow from the
+Middle States, who was called Sam.  This man hesitated in his speech,
+and was rather slow in his motions, but was a pretty good sailor,
+and always seemed to do his best; but the captain took a dislike
+to him, thought he was surly, and lazy; and "if you once give a
+dog a bad name"--as the sailor-phrase is--"he may as well jump
+overboard." The captain found fault with everything this man did,
+and hazed him for dropping a marline-spike from the main-yard,
+where he was at work.  This, of course, was an accident, but it
+was set down against him.  The captain was on board all day Friday,
+and everything went on hard and disagreeably.  "The more you drive
+a man, the less he will do," was as true with us as with any
+other people.  We worked late Friday night, and were turned-to
+early Saturday morning.  About ten o'clock the captain ordered
+our new officer, Russell, who by this time had become thoroughly
+disliked by all the crew, to get the gig ready to take him ashore.
+John, the Swede, was sitting in the boat alongside, and Russell
+and myself were standing by the main hatchway, waiting for the
+captain, who was down in the hold, where the crew were at work,
+when we heard his voice raised in violent dispute with somebody,
+whether it was with the mate, or one of the crew, I could not
+tell; and then came blows and scuffling.  I ran to the side and
+beckoned to John, who came up, and we leaned down the hatchway;
+and though we could see no one, yet we knew that the captain had
+the advantage, for his voice was loud and clear--
+
+"You see your condition! You see your condition! Will you ever
+give me any more of your jaw?"  No answer; and then came
+wrestling and heaving, as though the man was trying to turn him.
+"You may as well keep still, for I have got you," said the captain.
+Then came the question, "Will you ever give me any more of your jaw?"
+
+"I never gave you any, sir," said Sam; for it was his voice that
+we heard, though low and half choked.
+
+"That's not what I ask you.  Will you ever be impudent to me again?"
+
+"I never have been, sir," said Sam.
+
+"Answer my question, or I'll make a spread eagle of you! I'll
+flog you, by G--d."
+
+"I'm no negro slave," said Sam.
+
+"Then I'll make you one," said the captain; and he came to the 
+hatchway, and sprang on deck, threw off his coat, and rolling
+up his sleeves, called out to the mate--"Seize that man up, Mr.
+A-----!  Seize him up!  Make a spread eagle of him!  I'll teach
+you all who is master aboard!"
+
+The crew and officers followed the captain up the hatchway,
+and after repeated orders the mate laid hold of Sam, who made
+no resistance, and carried him to the gangway.
+
+"What are you going to flog that man for, sir?" said John, the
+Swede, to the captain.
+
+Upon hearing this, the captain turned upon him, but knowing
+him to be quick and resolute, he ordered the steward to bring the
+irons, and calling upon Russell to help him, went up to John.
+
+"Let me alone," said John.  "I'm willing to be put in irons.  You
+need not use any force;" and putting out his hands, the captain
+slipped the irons on, and sent him aft to the quarter-deck.  Sam by
+this time was seized up, as it is called, that is, placed against the
+shrouds, with his wrists made fast to the shrouds, his jacket off,
+and his back exposed.  The captain stood on the break of the deck,
+a few feet from him, and a little raised, so as to have a good swing
+at him, and held in his hand the bight of a thick, strong rope.
+The officers stood round, and the crew grouped together in the waist.
+All these preparations made me feel sick and almost faint, angry
+and excited as I was.  A man--a human being, made in God's likeness--
+fastened up and flogged like a beast!  A man, too, whom I had lived
+with and eaten with for months, and knew almost as well as a brother.
+The first and almost uncontrollable impulse was resistance.  But what
+was to be done?  The time for it had gone by.  The two best men were
+fast, and there were only two beside myself, and a small boy of
+ten or twelve years of age.  And then there were (beside the
+captain) three officers, steward, agent and clerk.  But beside
+the numbers, what is there for sailors to do? If they resist, it is
+mutiny; and if they succeed, and take the vessel, it is piracy.
+If they ever yield again, their punishment must come; and if they
+do not yield, they are pirates for life.  If a sailor resist his
+commander, he resists the law, and piracy or submission are his
+only alternatives.  Bad as it was, it must be borne.  It is what
+a sailor ships for.  Swinging the rope over his head, and bending
+his body so as to give it full force, the captain brought it down
+upon the poor fellow's back.  Once, twice--six times.  "Will you
+ever give me any more of your jaw?"  The man writhed with pain,
+but said not a word.  Three times more.  This was too much, and he
+muttered something which I could not hear; this brought as many
+more as the man could stand; when the captain ordered him to be
+cut down, and to go forward.
+
+"Now for you," said the captain, making up to John and taking
+his irons off.  As soon as he was loose, he ran forward to the
+forecastle.  "Bring that man aft," shouted the captain.  The second
+mate, who had been a shipmate of John's, stood still in the waist,
+and the mate walked slowly forward; but our third officer, anxious
+to show his zeal, sprang forward over the windlass, and laid hold
+of John; but he soon threw him from him.  At this moment I would
+have given worlds for the power to help the poor fellow; but it
+was all in vain.  The captain stood on the quarter-deck, bare-headed,
+his eyes flashing with rage, and his face as red as blood, swinging
+the rope, and calling out to his officers, "Drag him aft!--Lay hold
+of him!  I'll sweeten him!" etc., etc.  The mate now went forward
+and told John quietly to go aft; and he, seeing resistance in vain,
+threw the blackguard third mate from him; said he would go aft
+of himself; that they should not drag him; and went up to the
+gangway and held out his hands; but as soon as the captain began
+to make him fast, the indignity was too much, and he began to
+resist; but the mate and Russell holding him, he was soon seized
+up.  When he was made fast, he turned to the captain, who stood
+turning up his sleeves and getting ready for the blow, and asked
+him what he was to be flogged for.  "Have I ever refused my duty,
+sir?  Have you ever known me to hang back, or to be insolent, or
+not to know my work?"
+
+"No," said the captain, "it is not that that I flog you for; I flog
+you for your interference--for asking questions."
+
+"Can't a man ask a question here without being flogged?"
+
+"No," shouted the captain; "nobody shall open his mouth aboard
+this vessel, but myself;" and began laying the blows upon his back,
+swinging half round between each blow, to give it full effect.
+As he went on, his passion increased, and he danced about the deck,
+calling out as he swung the rope,--"If you want to know what I
+flog you for, I'll tell you.  It's because I like to do it!--because
+I like to do it!--It suits me!  That's what I do it for!"
+
+The man writhed under the pain, until he could endure it no
+longer, when he called out, with an exclamation more common
+among foreigners than with us--"Oh, Jesus Christ!  Oh, Jesus
+Christ!"
+
+"Don't call on Jesus Christ," shouted the captain; "he can't help
+you.  Call on Captain T-----, he's the man!  He can help you!
+Jesus Christ can't help you now!"
+
+At these words, which I never shall forget, my blood ran cold.
+I could look on no longer.  Disgusted, sick, and horror-struck,
+I turned away and leaned over the rail, and looked down into the
+water.  A few rapid thoughts of my own situation, and of the
+prospect of future revenge, crossed my mind; but the falling of the
+blows and the cries of the man called me back at once.  At length
+they ceased, and turning round, I found that the mate, at a signal
+from the captain had cut him down.  Almost doubled up with pain,
+the man walked slowly forward, and went down into the forecastle.
+Every one else stood still at his post, while the captain, swelling
+with rage and with the importance of his achievement, walked the
+quarter-deck, and at each turn, as he came forward, calling out to
+us,--"You see your condition!  You see where I've got you all, and
+you know what to expect!"--"You've been mistaken in me--you didn't 
+know what I was!  Now you know what I am!"--"I'll make you toe the
+mark, every soul of you, or I'll flog you all, fore and aft, from the
+boy, up!"--"You've got a driver over you!  Yes, a slave-driver--
+a negro-driver! I'll see who'll tell me he isn't a negro slave!"
+With this and the like matter, equally calculated to quiet us, and to
+allay any apprehensions of future trouble, he entertained us for
+about ten minutes, when he went below.  Soon after, John came aft,
+with his bare back covered with stripes and wales in every direction,
+and dreadfully swollen, and asked the steward to ask the captain to
+let him have some salve, or balsam, to put upon it.  "No," said
+the captain, who heard him from below; "tell him to put his shirt
+on; that's the best thing for him; and pull me ashore in the boat.
+Nobody is going to lay-up on board this vessel."  He then called to
+Mr. Russell to take those men and two others in the boat, and pull
+him ashore.  I went for one.  The two men could hardly bend their
+backs, and the captain called to them to "give way," "give way!" but
+finding they did their best, he let them alone.  The agent was in
+the stern sheets, but during the whole pull--a league or more--not
+a word was spoken.  We landed; the captain, agent, and officer went
+up to the house, and left us with the boat.  I, and the man with me,
+staid near the boat, while John and Sam walked slowly away, and sat
+down on the rocks.  They talked some time together, but at length
+separated, each sitting alone.  I had some fears of John.  He was
+a foreigner, and violently tempered, and under suffering; and he
+had his knife with him, and the captain was to come down alone
+to the boat.  But nothing happened; and we went quietly on board.
+The captain was probably armed, and if either of them had lifted a
+hand against him, they would have had nothing before them but flight,
+and starvation in the woods of California, or capture by the soldiers
+and Indian blood-hounds, whom the offer of twenty dollars would
+have set upon them.
+
+After the day's work was done, we went down into the forecastle,
+and ate our plain supper; but not a word was spoken.  It was
+Saturday night; but there was no song--no "sweethearts and wives."
+A gloom was over everything.  The two men lay in their berths,
+groaning with pain, and we all turned in, but for myself, not to
+sleep.  A sound coming now and then from the berths of the two
+men showed that they were awake, as awake they must have been,
+for they could hardly lie in one posture a moment; the dim,
+swinging lamp of the forecastle shed its light over the dark hole
+in which we lived; and many and various reflections and purposes
+coursed through my mind.  I thought of our situation, living under a
+tyranny; of the character of the country we were in; of the length
+of the voyage, and of the uncertainty attending our return to
+America; and then, if we should return, of the prospect of obtaining
+justice and satisfaction for these poor men; and vowed that if God
+should ever give me the means, I would do something to redress the
+grievances and relieve the sufferings of that poor class of beings,
+of whom I then was one.
+
+The next day was Sunday.  We worked as usual, washing decks, etc.,
+until breakfast-time.  After breakfast, we pulled the captain
+ashore, and finding some hides there which had been brought down
+the night before, he ordered me to stay ashore and watch them,
+saying that the boat would come again before night.  They left me,
+and I spent a quiet day on the hill, eating dinner with the three
+men at the little house.  Unfortunately, they had no books, and
+after talking with them and walking about, I began to grow tired
+of doing nothing.  The little brig, the home of so much hardship
+and suffering, lay in the offing, almost as far as one could see;
+and the only other thing which broke the surface of the great bay
+was a small, desolate-looking island, steep and conical, of a clayey
+soil, and without the sign of vegetable life upon it; yet which had
+a peculiar and melancholy interest to me, for on the top of it were
+buried the remains of an Englishman, the commander of a small merchant
+brig, who died while lying in this port.  It was always a solemn and
+interesting spot to me.  There it stood, desolate, and in the midst
+of desolation; and there were the remains of one who died and was
+buried alone and friendless.  Had it been a common burying-place,
+it would have been nothing.  The single body corresponded well with
+the solitary character of everything around.  It was the only thing
+in California from which I could ever extract anything like poetry.
+Then, too, the man died far from home; without a friend near him;
+by poison, it was suspected, and no one to inquire into it; and
+without proper funeral rites; the mate, (as I was told,) glad to
+have him out of the way, hurrying him up the hill and into the ground,
+without a word or a prayer.
+
+I looked anxiously for a boat, during the latter part of the
+afternoon, but none came; until toward sundown, when I saw a
+speck on the water, and as it drew near, I found it was the
+gig, with the captain. The hides, then, were not to go off.
+The captain came up the hill, with a man, bringing my monkey
+jacket and a blanket.  He looked pretty black, but inquired
+whether I had enough to eat; told me to make a house out of
+the hides, and keep myself warm, as I should have to sleep
+there among them, and to keep good watch over them.  I got
+a moment to speak to the man who brought my jacket.
+
+"How do things go aboard?" said I.
+
+"Bad enough," said he; "hard work and not a kind word spoken."
+
+"What," said I, "have you been at work all day?"
+
+"Yes! no more Sunday for us.  Everything has been moved in the
+hold, from stem to stern, and from the waterways to the keelson."
+
+I went up to the house to supper.  We had frijoles, (the perpetual
+food of the Californians, but which, when well cooked, are the best
+bean in the world,) coffee made of burnt wheat, and hard bread.
+After our meal, the three men sat down by the light of a tallow
+candle, with a pack of greasy Spanish cards, to the favorite game
+of "treinta uno," a sort of Spanish "everlasting." I left them and
+went out to take up my bivouack among the hides.  It was now dark;
+the vessel was hidden from sight, and except the three men in the
+house, there was not a living soul within a league.  The coati
+(a wild animal of a nature and appearance between that of the fox
+and the wolf) set up their sharp, quick bark, and two owls, at the
+end of two distant points running out into the bay, on different
+sides of the hills where I lay, kept up their alternate, dismal notes.
+I had heard the sound before at night, but did not know what it was,
+until one of the men, who came down to look at my quarters, told
+me it was the owl.  Mellowed by the distance, and heard alone, at
+night, I thought it was the most melancholy, boding sound I had
+ever heard.  Through nearly all the night they kept it up, answering
+one another slowly, at regular intervals.  This was relieved by the
+noisy coati, some of which came quite near to my quarters, and
+were not very pleasant neighbors.  The next morning, before sunrise,
+the long-boat came ashore, and the hides were taken off.
+
+We lay at San Pedro about a week, engaged in taking off hides
+and in other labors, which had now become our regular duties.
+I spent one more day on the hill, watching a quantity of hides
+and goods, and this time succeeded in finding a part of a volume
+of Scott's Pirate, in a corner of the house; but it failed me at a
+most interesting moment, and I betook myself to my acquaintances on
+shore, and from them learned a good deal about the customs of the
+country, the harbors, etc.  This, they told me, was a worse harbor
+than Santa Barbara, for south-easters; the bearing of the headland
+being a point and a half more to windward, and it being so shallow
+that the sea broke often as far out as where we lay at anchor.
+The gale from which we slipped at Santa Barbara, had been so bad a
+one here, that the whole bay, for a league out, was filled with the
+foam of the breakers, and seas actually broke over the Dead Man's
+island.  The Lagoda was lying there, and slipped at the first alarm,
+and in such haste that she was obliged to leave her launch behind her
+at anchor.  The little boat rode it out for several hours, pitching at
+her anchor, and standing with her stern up almost perpendicularly.
+The men told me that they watched her till towards night, when
+she snapped her cable and drove up over the breakers, high and
+dry upon the beach.
+
+On board the Pilgrim, everything went on regularly, each one 
+trying to get along as smoothly as possible; but the comfort of
+the voyage was evidently at an end.  "That is a long lane which
+has no turning"---"Every dog must have his day, and mine will
+come by-and-by"--and the like proverbs, were occasionally quoted;
+but no one spoke of any probable end to the voyage, or of Boston,
+or anything of the kind; or if he did, it was only to draw out the
+perpetual, surly reply from his shipmate--"Boston, is it? You may
+thank your stars if you ever see that place.  You had better have
+your back sheathed, and your head coppered, and your feet shod,
+and make out your log for California for life!" or else something of
+this kind--"Before you get to Boston the hides will wear the hair
+off your head, and you'll take up all your wages in clothes, and
+won't have enough left to buy a wig with!"
+
+The flogging was seldom if ever alluded to by us, in the forecastle.
+If any one was inclined to talk about it, the others, with a delicacy
+which I hardly expected to find among them, always stopped him,
+or turned the subject.  But the behavior of the two men who were
+flogged toward one another showed a delicacy and a sense of honor,
+which would have been worthy of admiration in the highest walks of
+life.  Sam knew that the other had suffered solely on his account,
+and in all his complaints, he said that if he alone had been flogged,
+it would have been nothing; but that he never could see that man
+without thinking what had been the means of bringing that disgrace
+upon him; and John never, by word or deed, let anything escape him
+to remind the other that it was by interfering to save his shipmate,
+that he had suffered.
+
+Having got all our spare room filled with hides, we hove up our anchor
+and made sail for San Diego.  In no operation can the disposition of
+a crew be discovered better than in getting under weigh.
+
+Where things are "done with a will," every one is like a cat aloft:
+sails are loosed in an instant; each one lays out his strength on
+his handspike, and the windlass goes briskly round with the loud
+cry of "Yo heave ho! Heave and pawl! Heave hearty ho!"  But with us,
+at this time, it was all dragging work.  No one went aloft beyond
+his ordinary gait, and the chain came slowly in over the windlass.
+The mate, between the knight-heads, exhausted all his official
+rhetoric, in calls of "Heave with a will!"--"Heave hearty, men!--
+heave hearty!"--"Heave and raise the dead!"--"Heave, and away!"
+etc., etc.; but it would not do.  Nobody broke his back or his
+hand-spike by his efforts.  And when the cat-tackle-fall was strung
+along, and all hands--cook, steward, and all--laid hold, to cat the
+anchor, instead of the lively song of "Cheerily, men!" in which all
+hands join in the chorus, we pulled a long, heavy, silent pull,
+and--as sailors say a song is as good as ten men--the anchor came
+to the cat-head pretty slowly.  "Give us 'Cheerily!'" said the
+mate; but there was no "cheerily" for us, and we did without it.
+The captain walked the quarterdeck, and said not a word.  He must
+have seen the change, but there was nothing which he could notice
+officially.
+
+We sailed leisurely down the coast before a light fair wind, keeping
+the land well aboard, and saw two other missions, looking like blocks
+of white plaster, shining in the distance; one of which, situated on
+the top of a high hill, was San Juan Campestrano, under which vessels
+sometimes come to anchor, in the summer season, and take off hides.
+The most distant one was St. Louis Rey, which the third mate said
+was only fifteen miles from San Diego.  At sunset on the second day,
+we had a large and well wooded headland directly before us, behind
+which lay the little harbor of San Diego.  We were becalmed off this
+point all night, but the next morning, which was Saturday, the 14th
+of March, having a good breeze, we stood round the point, and hauling
+our wind, brought the little harbor, which is rather the outlet of a
+small river, right before us.  Every one was anxious to get a view
+of the new place.  A chain of high hills, beginning at the point,
+(which was on our larboard hand, coming in,) protected the harbor
+on the north and west, and ran off into the interior as far as the
+eye could reach.  On the other sides, the land was low, and green,
+but without trees.  The entrance is so narrow as to admit but one
+vessel at a time, the current swift, and the channel runs so near to
+a low stony point that the ship's sides appeared almost to touch it.
+There was no town in sight, but on the smooth sand beach, abreast,
+and within a cable's length of which three vessels lay moored,
+were four large houses, built of rough boards, and looking like the
+great barns in which ice is stored on the borders of the large ponds
+near Boston; with piles of hides standing round them, and men in
+red shirts and large straw hats, walking in and out of the doors.
+These were the hide-houses.  Of the vessels: one, a short, clumsy,
+little hermaphrodite brig, we recognized as our old acquaintance,
+the Loriotte; another, with sharp bows and raking masts, newly painted
+and tarred, and glittering in the morning sun, with the blood-red
+banner and cross of St. George at her peak, was the handsome Ayacucho.
+The third was a large ship, with top-gallant-masts housed, and sails
+unbent, and looking as rusty and worn as two years' "hide-droghing" could
+make her.  This was the Lagoda.  As we drew near, carried rapidly
+along by the current, we overhauled our chain, and clewed up the
+topsails.  "Let go the anchor!" said the captain but either there was
+not chain enough forward of the windlass, or the anchor went down
+foul, or we had too much headway on, for it did not bring us up.
+"Pay out chain!" shouted the captain; and we gave it to her; but it
+would not do.  Before the other anchor could be let go, we drifted
+down, broadside on, and went smash into the Lagoda.  Her crew were
+at breakfast in the forecastle, and the cook, seeing us coming,
+rushed out of his galley, and called up the officers and men.
+
+Fortunately no great harm was done.  Her jib-boom ran between our
+fore and main masts, carrying away some of our rigging, and breaking
+down the rail.  She lost her martingale.  This brought us up, and as
+they paid out chain, we swung clear of them, and let go the other
+anchor; but this had as bad luck as the first, for, before any one
+perceived it, we were drifting on to the Loriotte.  The captain now
+gave out his orders rapidly and fiercely, sheeting home the topsails,
+and backing and filling the sails, in hope of starting or clearing
+the anchors; but it was all in vain, and he sat down on the rail,
+taking it very leisurely, and calling out to Captain Nye, that he was
+coming to pay him a visit.  We drifted fairly into the Loriotte, her
+larboard bow into our starboard quarter, carrying away a part of our
+starboard quarter railing, and breaking off her larboard bumpkin,
+and one or two stanchions above the deck.  We saw our handsome
+sailor, Jackson, on the forecastle, with the Sandwich Islanders,
+working away to get us clear.  After paying out chain, we swung
+clear, but our anchors were no doubt afoul of hers.  We manned
+the windlass, and hove, and hove away, but to no purpose.
+Sometimes we got a little upon the cable, but a good surge would take
+it all back again.  We now began to drift down toward the Ayacucho,
+when her boat put off and brought her commander, Captain Wilson,
+on board.  He was a short, active, well-built man, between fifty
+and sixty years of age; and being nearly twenty years older than
+our captain, and a thorough seaman, he did not hesitate to give his
+advice, and from giving advice, he gradually came to taking the
+command; ordering us when to heave and when to pawl, and backing
+and filling the topsails, setting and taking in jib and trysail,
+whenever he thought best.  Our captain gave a few orders, but as
+Wilson generally countermanded them, saying, in an easy, fatherly
+kind of way, "Oh no! Captain T-----, you don't want the jib on
+her," or "it isn't time yet to heave!" he soon gave it up.  We had no
+objections to this state of things, for Wilson was a kind old man,
+and had an encouraging and pleasant way of speaking to us, which
+made everything go easily.  After two or three hours of constant
+labor at the windlass, heaving and "Yo ho!"-ing with all our might,
+we brought up an anchor, with the Loriotte's small bower fast to it,
+Having cleared this and let it go, and cleared our hawse, we soon
+got our other anchor, which had dragged half over the harbor.
+"Now," said Wilson, "I'll find you a good berth;" and setting both
+the topsails, he carried us down, and brought us to anchor, in
+handsome style, directly abreast of the hide-house which we were to 
+use.  Having done this, he took his leave, while we furled the sails,
+and got our breakfast, which was welcome to us, for we had worked
+hard, and it was nearly twelve o'clock.  After breakfast, and until
+night, we were employed in getting out the boats and mooring ship.
+
+After supper, two of us took the captain on board the Lagoda.
+As he came alongside, he gave his name, and the mate, in the
+gangway, called out to the captain down the companion-way--
+"Captain T----- has come aboard, sir!"  "Has he brought his brig
+with him?" said the rough old fellow, in a tone which made itself
+heard fore and aft.  This mortified our captain a little, and it
+became a standing joke among us for the rest of the voyage.
+The captain went down into the cabin, and we walked forward and
+put our heads down the forecastle, where we found the men at supper,
+"Come down, shipmates! Come down!" said they, as soon as they
+saw us; and we went down, and found a large, high forecastle, well
+lighted; and a crew of twelve or fourteen men, eating out of their
+kids and pans, and drinking their tea, and talking and laughing,
+all as independent and easy as so many "wood-sawyer's clerks."
+This looked like comfort and enjoyment, compared with the dark
+little forecastle, and scanty, discontented crew of the brig.
+It was Saturday night; they had got through with their work for the
+week; and being snugly moored, had nothing to do until Monday, again.
+After two years' hard service, they had seen the worst, and all,
+of California;--had got their cargo nearly stowed, and expected to
+sail in a week or two, for Boston.  We spent an hour or more with
+them, talking over California matters, until the word was passed--
+"Pilgrims, away!" and we went back with our captain.  They were
+a hardy, but intelligent crew; a little roughened, and their clothes
+patched and old, from California wear; all able seamen, and between
+the ages of twenty and thirty-five.  They inquired about our vessel,
+the usage, etc., and were not a little surprised at the story of
+the flogging.  They said there were often difficulties in vessels
+on the coast, and sometimes knock-downs and fightings, but they
+had never heard before of a regular seizing-up and flogging.
+"Spread-eagles" were a new kind of bird in California.
+
+Sunday, they said, was always given in San Diego, both at the
+hide-houses and on board the vessels, a large number usually
+going up to the town, on liberty.  We learned a good deal from
+them about curing and stowing of hides, etc. and they were
+anxious to have the latest news (seven months old) from Boston.
+One of their first inquiries was for Father Taylor, the seamen's
+preacher in Boston.  Then followed the usual strain of conversation,
+inquiries, stories, and jokes, which, one must always hear in a ship's
+forecastle, but which are perhaps, after all, no worse, nor, indeed,
+more gross, than that of many well-dressed gentlemen at their clubs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+LIBERTY-DAY ON SHORE
+
+
+The next day being Sunday, after washing and clearing
+decks, and getting breakfast, the mate came forward with
+leave for one watch to go ashore, on liberty.  We drew lots,
+and it fell to the larboard, which I was in.  Instantly all was
+preparation.  Buckets of fresh water, (which we were allowed in
+port,) and soap, were put in use; go-ashore jackets and trowsers
+got out and brushed; pumps, neckerchiefs, and hats overhauled;
+one lending to another; so that among the whole each one got a
+good fit-out.  A boat was called to pull the "liberty men" ashore,
+and we sat down in the stern sheets, "as big as pay passengers,"
+and jumping ashore, set out on our walk for the town, which was
+nearly three miles off.
+
+It is a pity that some other arrangement is not made in merchant
+vessels, with regard to the liberty-day.  When in port, the crews
+are kept at work all the week, and the only day they are allowed
+for rest or pleasure is the Sabbath; and unless they go ashore on
+that day, they cannot go at all.  I have heard of a religious captain
+who gave his crew liberty on Saturdays, after twelve o'clock.
+This would be a good plan, if shipmasters would bring themselves to
+give their crews so much time.  For young sailors especially, many
+of whom have been brought up with a regard for the sacredness of
+the day, this strong temptation to break it, is exceedingly injurious.
+As it is, it can hardly be expected that a crew, on a long and
+hard voyage, will refuse a few hours of freedom from toil and the
+restraints of a vessel, and an opportunity to tread the ground and
+see the sights of society and humanity, because it is on a Sunday.
+It is too much like escaping from prison, or being drawn out of a
+pit, on the Sabbath day.
+
+I shall never forget the delightful sensation of being in the
+open air, with the birds singing around me, and escaped from
+the confinement, labor, and strict rule of a vessel--of being
+once more in my life, though only for a day, my own master.
+A sailor's liberty is but for a day; yet while it lasts it
+is perfect.  He is under no one's eye, and can do whatever,
+and go wherever, he pleases.  This day, for the first time,
+I may truly say, in my whole life, I felt the meaning of a term
+which I had often heard--the sweets of liberty.  My friend S-----
+was with me, and turning our backs upon the vessels, we walked
+slowly along, talking of the pleasure of being our own masters,
+of the times past, and when we were free in the midst of friends,
+in America, and of the prospect of our return; and planning where
+we would go, and what we would do, when we reached home.  It was
+wonderful how the prospect brightened, and how short and tolerable
+the voyage appeared, when viewed in this new light.  Things looked
+differently from what they did when we talked them over in the little
+dark forecastle, the night after the flogging at San Pedro.  It is
+not the least of the advantages of allowing sailors occasionally
+a day of liberty, that it gives them a spring, and makes them feel
+cheerful and independent, and leads them insensibly to look on the
+bright side of everything for some time after.
+
+S----- and myself determined to keep as much together as possible,
+though we knew that it would not do to cut our shipmates; for,
+knowing our birth and education, they were a little suspicious
+that we would try to put on the gentleman when we got ashore,
+and would be ashamed of their company; and this won't do with
+Jack.  When the voyage is at an end, you may do as you please,
+but so long as you belong to the same vessel, you must be a
+shipmate to him on shore, or he will not be a shipmate to you on
+board.  Being forewarned of this before I went to sea, I took no
+"long togs" with me, and being dressed like the rest, in white duck
+trowsers, blue jacket and straw hat, which would prevent my going
+in better company, and showing no disposition to avoid them, I set
+all suspicion at rest.  Our crew fell in with some who belonged
+to the other vessels, and, sailor-like, steered for the first
+grog-shop.  This was a small mud building, of only one room, in
+which were liquors, dry and West India goods, shoes, bread, fruits,
+and everything which is vendible in California.  It was kept by
+a yankee, a one-eyed man, who belonged formerly to Fall River,
+came out to the Pacific in a whale-ship, left her at the Sandwich
+Islands, and came to California and set up a "Pulperia."  S----- and
+I followed in our shipmates' wake, knowing that to refuse to drink
+with them would be the highest affront, but determining to slip
+away at the first opportunity.  It is the universal custom with sailors
+for each one, in his turn, to treat the whole, calling for a glass all
+round, and obliging every one who is present, even the keeper of
+the shop, to take a glass with him.  When we first came in, there
+was some dispute between our crew and the others, whether the
+new comers or the old California rangers should treat first; but it
+being settled in favor of the latter, each of the crews of the other
+vessels treated all round in their turn, and as there were a good
+many present, (including some "loafers" who had dropped in, knowing
+what was going on, to take advantage of Jack's hospitality,)
+and the liquor was a real (12½ cents) a glass, it made somewhat
+of a hole in their lockers.  It was now our ship's turn, and S-----
+and I, anxious to get away, stepped up to call for glasses; but we
+soon found that we must go in order--the oldest first, for the old
+sailors did not choose to be preceded by a couple of youngsters;
+and bon gré mal gré, we had to wait our turn, with the twofold
+apprehension of being too late for our horses, and of getting
+corned; for drink you must, every time; and if you drink with
+one and not with another, it is always taken as an insult.
+
+Having at length gone through our turns and acquitted ourselves
+of all obligations, we slipped out, and went about among the
+houses, endeavoring to get horses for the day, so that we might
+ride round and see the country.  At first we had but little success,
+all that we could get out of the lazy fellows, in reply to our
+questions, being the eternal drawling "Quien sabe?" ("who knows?")
+which is an answer to all questions.  After several efforts,
+we at length fell in with a little Sandwich Island boy, who belonged
+to Captain Wilson of the Ayacucho, and was well acquainted in
+the place; and he, knowing where to go, soon procured us two
+horses, ready saddled and bridled, each with a lasso coiled over
+the pommel.  These we were to have all day, with the privilege of
+riding them down to the beach at night, for a dollar, which we had
+to pay in advance.  Horses are the cheapest thing in California;
+the very best not being worth more than ten dollars apiece, and very
+good ones being often sold for three, and four.  In taking a day's
+ride, you pay for the use of the saddle, and for the labor and
+trouble of catching the horses.  If you bring the saddle back safe,
+they care but little what becomes of the horse.  Mounted on our
+horses, which were spirited beasts, and which, by the way, in this
+country, are always steered by pressing the contrary rein against
+the neck, and not by pulling on the bit,--we started off on a fine
+run over the country.  The first place we went to was the old
+ruinous presidio, which stands on a rising ground near the village,
+which it overlooks.  It is built in the form of an open square,
+like all the other presidios, and was in a most ruinous state,
+with the exception of one side, in which the commandant lived,
+with his family.  There were only two guns, one of which was spiked,
+and the other had no carriage.  Twelve, half clothed, and half starved
+looking fellows, composed the garrison; and they, it was said, had
+not a musket apiece.  The small settlement lay directly below the
+fort, composed of about forty dark brown looking huts, or houses,
+and two larger ones, plastered, which belonged to two of the "gente
+de razón."  This town is not more than half as large as Monterey,
+or Santa Barbara, and has little or no business.  From the presidio,
+we rode off in the direction of the mission, which we were told was
+three miles distant.  The country was rather sandy, and there was
+nothing for miles which could be called a tree, but the grass grew
+green and rank, and there were many bushes and thickets, and the
+soil is said to be good.  After a pleasant ride of a couple of miles,
+we saw the white walls of the mission, and fording a small river,
+we came directly before it.  The mission is built of mud, or rather
+of the unburnt bricks of the country, and plastered.  There was
+something decidedly striking in its appearance: a number of irregular
+buildings, connected with one another, and disposed in the form of
+a hollow square, with a church at one end, rising above the rest,
+with a tower containing five belfries, in each of which hung a large
+bell, and with immense rusty iron crosses at the tops.  Just outside
+of the buildings, and under the walls, stood twenty or thirty small
+huts, built of straw and of the branches of trees, grouped together,
+in which a few Indians lived, under the protection and in the service
+of the mission.
+
+Entering a gate-way, we drove into the open square, in which the
+stillness of death reigned.  On one side was the church; on another,
+a range of high buildings with grated windows; a third was a range
+of smaller buildings, or offices; and the fourth seemed to be little
+more than a high connecting wall.  Not a living creature could we
+see.  We rode twice round the square, in the hope of waking up
+some one; and in one circuit, saw a tall monk, with shaven head,
+sandals, and the dress of the Grey Friars, pass rapidly through a
+gallery, but he disappeared without noticing us.  After two circuits,
+we stopped our horses, and saw, at last, a man show himself in
+front of one of the small buildings.  We rode up to him, and found
+him dressed in the common dress of the country, with a silver
+chain round his neck, supporting a large bunch of keys.  From this,
+we took him to be the steward of the mission, and addressing him
+as "Mayordomo," received a low bow and an invitation to walk
+into his room.  Making our horses fast, we went in.  It was a plain
+room, containing a table, three or four chairs, a small picture or
+two of some saint, or miracle, or martyrdom, and a few dishes and
+glasses.  "Hay algunas cosa de comer?" said I.  "Si Señor!" said he.
+"Que gusta usted?"  Mentioning frijoles, which I knew they must
+have if they had nothing else, and beef and bread, and a hint for
+wine, if they had any, he went off to another building, across the
+court, and returned in a few moments, with a couple of Indian boys,
+bearing dishes and a decanter of wine.  The dishes contained baked
+meats, frijoles stewed with peppers and onions, boiled eggs, and
+California flour baked into a kind of macaroni.  These, together
+with the wine, made the most sumptuous meal we had eaten since we
+left Boston; and, compared with the fare we had lived upon for
+seven months, it was a regal banquet.  After despatching our meal,
+we took out some money and asked him how much we were to pay.
+He shook his head, and crossed himself, saying that it was charity:
+--that the Lord gave it to us.  Knowing the amount of this to be
+that he did not sell it, but was willing to receive a present,
+we gave him ten or twelve reals, which he pocketed with admirable
+nonchalance, saying, "Dios se lo pague."  Taking leave of him,
+we rode out to the Indians' huts.  The little children were
+running about among the huts, stark naked, and the men were not
+much better; but the women had generally coarse gowns, of a sort of
+tow cloth.  The men are employed, most of the time, in tending the
+cattle of the mission, and in working in the garden, which is a very
+large one, including several acres, and filled, it is said, with the
+best fruits of the climate.  The language of these people, which is
+spoken by all the Indians of California, is the most brutish and
+inhuman language, without any exception, that I ever heard, or that
+could well be conceived of.  It is a complete slabber.  The words
+fall off of the ends of their tongues, and a continual slabbering sound
+is made in the cheeks, outside of the teeth.  It cannot have been
+the language of Montezuma and the independent Mexicans.
+
+Here, among the huts, we saw the oldest man that I had ever seen;
+and, indeed, I never supposed that a person could retain life and
+exhibit such marks of age.  He was sitting out in the sun, leaning
+against the side of a hut; and his legs and arms, which were bare,
+were of a dark red color, the skin withered and shrunk up like
+burnt leather, and the limbs not larger round than those of a boy
+of five years.  He had a few grey hairs, which were tied together
+at the back of his head; and he was so feeble that, when we came
+up to him, he raised his hands slowly to his face, and taking hold
+of his lids with his fingers, lifted them up to look at us;
+and being satisfied, let them drop again.  All command over the
+lid seemed to have gone.  I asked his age, but could get no answer
+but "Quien sabe?" and they probably did not know the age.
+
+Leaving the mission, we returned to village, going nearly all the
+way on a full run.  The California horses have no medium gait,
+which is pleasant, between walking and running; for as there are
+no streets and parades, they have no need of the genteel trot,
+and their riders usually keep them at the top of their speed until
+they are fired, and then let them rest themselves by walking.
+The fine air of the afternoon; the rapid rate of the animals,
+who seemed almost to fly over the ground; and the excitement and
+novelty of the motion to us, who had been so long confined on
+shipboard, were exhilarating beyond expression, and we felt willing
+to ride all day long.  Coming into the village, we found things
+looking very lively.  The Indians, who always have a holyday on
+Sunday, were engaged at playing a kind of running game of ball,
+on a level piece of ground, near the houses.  The old ones sat
+down in a ring, looking on, while the young ones--men, boys and
+girls--were chasing the ball, and throwing it with all their
+might.  Some of the girls ran like greyhounds.  At every accident,
+or remarkable feat, the old people set up a deafening screaming
+and clapping of hands.  Several blue jackets were reeling about
+among the houses, which showed that the pulperias had been well
+patronized.  One or two of the sailors had got on horseback,
+but being rather indifferent horsemen, and the Spaniards having
+given them vicious horses, they were soon thrown, much to the
+amusement of the people.  A half dozen Sandwich Islanders,
+from the hide-houses and the two brigs, who are bold riders,
+were dashing about on the full gallop, hallooing and laughing
+like so many wild men.
+
+It was now nearly sundown, and S----- and myself went into a
+house and sat quietly down to rest ourselves before going down to
+the beach.  Several people were soon collected to see "los Ingles
+marineros," and one of them--a young woman--took a great fancy to
+my pocket handkerchief, which was a large silk one that I had
+before going to sea, and a handsomer one than they had been in
+the habit of seeing.  Of course, I gave it to her; which brought
+us into high favor; and we had a present of some pears and other
+fruits, which we took down to the beach with us.  When we came
+to leave the house, we found that our horses, which we left tied
+at the door, were both gone.  We had paid for them to ride down
+to the beach, but they were not to be found.  We went to the man
+of whom we hired them, but he only shrugged his shoulders, and
+to our question, "Where are the horses?" only answered--"Quien
+sabe?" but as he was very easy, and made no inquiries for the
+saddles, we saw that he knew very well where they were.  After a
+little trouble, determined not to walk down,--a distance of three
+miles--we procured two, at four reals apiece, with an Indian boy
+to run on behind and bring them back.  Determined to have "the go"
+out of the horses, for our trouble, we went down at full speed,
+and were on the beach in fifteen minutes.  Wishing to make our
+liberty last as long as possible, we rode up and down among the
+hide-houses, amusing ourselves with seeing the men, as they came
+down, (it was now dusk,) some on horseback and others on foot.
+The Sandwich Islanders rode down, and were in "high snuff."
+We inquired for our shipmates, and were told that two of them
+had started on horseback and had been thrown or had fallen off,
+and were seen heading for the beach, but steering pretty wild,
+and by the looks of things, would not be down much before midnight.
+
+The Indian boys having arrived, we gave them our horses, and
+having seen them safely off, hailed for a boat and went aboard.
+Thus ended our first liberty-day on shore.  We were well tired,
+but had had a good time, and were more willing to go back to our
+old duties.  About midnight, we were waked up by our two watchmates,
+who had come aboard in high dispute.  It seems they had started to
+come down on the same horse, double-backed; and each was accusing
+the other of being the cause of his fall.  They soon, however,
+turned-in and fell asleep, and probably forgot all about it,
+for the next morning the dispute was not renewed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+SAN DIEGO--A DESERTION--SAN PEDRO AGAIN--BEATING THE COAST
+
+
+The next sound we heard was "All hands ahoy!" and looking up the
+scuttle, saw that it was just daylight.  Our liberty had now truly
+taken flight, and with it we laid away our pumps, stockings,
+blue jackets, neckerchiefs, and other go-ashore paraphernalia,
+and putting on old duck trowsers, red shirts, and Scotch caps,
+began taking out and landing our hides.  For three days we were
+hard at work, from the grey of the morning until starlight,
+with the exception of a short time allowed for meals, in this duty.
+For landing and taking on board hides, San Diego is decidedly the
+best place in California.  The harbor is small and land-locked;
+there is no surf; the vessels lie within a cable's length of
+the beach; and the beach itself is smooth, hard sand, without rocks
+or stones.  For these reasons, it is used by all the vessels in the trade,
+as a depot; and, indeed, it would be impossible, when loading with
+the cured hides for the passage home, to take them on board at any
+of the open ports, without getting them wet in the surf, which
+would spoil them.  We took possession of one of the hide-houses,
+which belonged to our firm, and had been used by the California.
+It was built to hold forty thousand hides, and we had the pleasing
+prospect of filling it before we could leave the coast; and toward
+this, our thirty-five hundred, which we brought down with us,
+would do but little.  There was not a man on board who did not
+go a dozen times into the house, and look round, and make some
+calculation of the time it would require.
+
+The hides, as they come rough and uncured from the vessels, are
+piled up outside of the houses, whence they are taken and carried
+through a regular process of pickling, drying, cleaning, etc., and
+stowed away in the house, ready to be put on board.  This process
+is necessary in order that they may keep, during a long voyage, and
+in warm latitudes.  For the purpose of curing and taking care of
+these hides, an officer and a part of the crew of each vessel are
+usually left ashore and it was for this business, we found, that our
+new officer had joined us.  As soon as the hides were landed, he
+took charge of the house, and the captain intended to leave two or
+three of us with him, hiring Sandwich Islanders to take our places
+on board; but he could not get any Sandwich Islanders to go,
+though he offered them fifteen dollars a month; for the report of
+the flogging had got among them, and he was called "aole maikai,"
+(no good,) and that was an end of the business.  They were, however,
+willing to work on shore, and four of them were hired and put with
+Mr. Russell to cure the hides.
+
+After landing our hides, we next sent ashore all our spare spars
+and rigging; all the stores which we did not want to use in the
+course of one trip to windward; and, in fact, everything which we
+could spare, so as to make room for hides: among other things,
+the pig-sty, and with it "old Bess."  This was an old sow that we
+had brought from Boston, and which lived to get around Cape Horn,
+where all the other pigs died from cold and wet.  Report said
+that she had been a Canton voyage before.  She had been the
+pet of the cook during the whole passage, and he had fed her with
+the best of everything, and taught her to know his voice, and to
+do a number of strange tricks for his amusement.  Tom Cringle
+says that no one can fathom a negro's affection for a pig; and I
+believe he is right, for it almost broke our poor darky's heart when
+he heard that Bess was to be taken ashore, and that he was to have
+the care of her no more during the whole voyage.  He had depended
+upon her as a solace, during the long trips up and down the coast.
+"Obey orders, if you break owners!" said he.  "Break hearts," he
+meant to have said; and lent a hand to get her over the side,
+trying to make it as easy for her as possible.  We got a whip up on
+the main-yard, and hooking it to a strap around her body, swayed
+away; and giving a wink to one another, ran her chock up to the
+yard.  "'Vast there! 'vast!" said the mate; "none of your skylarking!
+Lower away!" But he evidently enjoyed the joke.  The pig squealed
+like the "crack of doom," and tears stood in the poor darky's eyes;
+and he muttered something about having no pity on a dumb beast.
+"Dumb beast!" said Jack; "if she's what you call a dumb beast,
+then my eyes a'n't mates."  This produced a laugh from all but
+the cook.  He was too intent upon seeing her safe in the boat.
+He watched her all the way ashore, where, upon her landing, she was
+received by a whole troop of her kind, who had been sent ashore from
+the other vessels, and had multiplied and formed a large commonwealth.
+From the door of his galley, the cook used to watch them in their
+manoeuvres, setting up a shout and clapping his hands whenever Bess
+came off victorious in the struggles for pieces of raw hide and
+half-picked bones which were lying about the beach.  During the day,
+he saved all the nice things, and made a bucket of swill, and asked
+us to take it ashore in the gig, and looked quite disconcerted when
+the mate told him that he would pitch the swill overboard, and him
+after it, if he saw any of it go into the boats.  We told him that
+he thought more about the pig than he did about his wife, who lived
+down in Robinson's Alley; and, indeed, he could hardly have been
+more attentive, for he actually, on several nights, after dark,
+when he thought he would not he seen, sculled himself ashore in a
+boat with a bucket of nice swill, and returned like Leander from
+crossing the Hellespont.
+
+The next Sunday the other half of our crew went ashore on liberty,
+and left us on board, to enjoy the first quiet Sunday which we
+had had upon the coast.  Here were no hides to come off, and no
+south-easters to fear.  We washed and mended our clothes in the morning,
+and spent the rest of the day in reading and writing.  Several of us
+wrote letters to send home by the Lagoda.  At twelve o'clock the
+Ayacucho dropped her fore topsail, which was a signal for her
+sailing.  She unmoored and warped down into the bight, from which
+she got under way.  During this operation, her crew were a long
+time heaving at the windlass, and I listened for nearly an hour to
+the musical notes of a Sandwich Islander, called Mahannah, who
+"sang out" for them.  Sailors, when heaving at a windlass, in order
+that they may heave together, always have one to sing out; which is
+done in a peculiar, high and long-drawn note, varying with the
+motion of the windlass.  This requires a high voice, strong lungs,
+and much practice, to be done well.  This fellow had a very peculiar,
+wild sort of note, breaking occasionally into a falsetto.  The sailors
+thought it was too high, and not enough of the boatswain hoarseness
+about it; but to me it had a great charm.  The harbor was perfectly
+still, and his voice rang among the hills, as though it could have
+been heard for miles.  Toward sundown, a good breeze having
+sprung up, she got under weigh, and with her long, sharp head
+cutting elegantly through the water, on a taught bowline, she
+stood directly out of the harbor, and bore away to the southward.
+She was bound to Callao, and thence to the Sandwich Islands,
+and expected to be on the coast again in eight or ten months.
+
+At the close of the week we were ready to sail, but were delayed
+a day or two by the running away of F-----, the man who had
+been our second mate, and was turned forward.  From the time
+that he was "broken," he had had a dog's berth on board the
+vessel, and determined to run away at the first opportunity.
+Having shipped for an officer when he was not half a seaman,
+he found little pity with the crew, and was not man enough to
+hold his ground among them.  The captain called him a "soger,"(1)
+
+------------------------------
+1. Soger (soldier) is the worst term of reproach that can be applied
+   to a sailor.  It signifies a skulk, a sherk,--one who is always
+   trying to get clear of work, and is out of the way, or hanging back,
+   when duty is to be done.  "Marine" is the term applied more
+   particularly to a man who is ignorant and clumsy about seaman's work
+   --a green-horn--a land-lubber.  To make a sailor shoulder a handspike,
+   and walk fore and aft the deck, like a sentry, is the most ignominious
+   punishment that could be put upon him.  Such a punishment inflicted
+   upon an able seaman in a vessel of war, would break his spirit down
+   more than a flogging.
+------------------------------
+
+and promised to "ride him down as he would the main tack;" and when
+officers are once determined to "ride a man down," it is a gone
+case with him.  He had had several difficulties with the captain,
+and asked leave to go home in the Lagoda; but this was refused him.
+One night he was insolent to an officer on the beach, and refused
+to come aboard in the boat.  He was reported to the captain; and
+as he came aboard,--it being past the proper hour,--he was called
+aft, and told that he was to have a flogging.  Immediately, he fell
+down on the deck, calling out--"Don't flog me, Captain T-----;
+don't flog me!" and the captain, angry with him, and disgusted
+with his cowardice, gave him a few blows over the back with a
+rope's end and sent him forward.  He was not much hurt, but a
+good deal frightened, and made up his mind to run away that
+very night.  This was managed better than anything he ever did
+in his life, and seemed really to show some spirit and forethought.
+He gave his bedding and mattress to one of the Lagoda's crew,
+who took it aboard his vessel as something which he had bought,
+and promised to keep it for him.  He then unpacked his chest,
+putting all his valuable clothes into a large canvas bag, and told
+one of us, who had the watch, to call him at midnight.  Coming on
+deck, at midnight, and finding no officer on deck, and all still
+aft, he lowered his bag into a boat, got softly down into it,
+cast off the painter, and let it drop silently with the tide
+until he was out of hearing, when he sculled ashore.
+
+The next morning, when all hands were mustered, there was a
+great stir to find F-----.  Of course, we would tell nothing, and all
+they could discover was, that he had left an empty chest behind him,
+and that he went off in a boat; for they saw it lying up high and dry
+on the beach.  After breakfast, the captain went up to the town,
+and offered a reward of twenty dollars for him; and for a couple
+of days, the soldiers, Indians, and all others who had nothing to do,
+were scouring the country for him, on horseback, but without effect;
+for he was safely concealed, all the time, within fifty rods of
+the hide-houses.  As soon as he had landed, he went directly to
+the Lagoda's hide-house, and a part of her crew, who were living
+there on shore, promised to conceal him and his traps until the
+Pilgrim should sail, and then to intercede with Captain Bradshaw
+to take him on board the ship.  Just behind the hide-houses,
+among the thickets and underwood, was a small cave, the entrance
+to which was known only to two men on the beach, and which was so
+well concealed that, though, when I afterwards came to live on
+shore, it was shown to me two or three times, I was never able to
+find it alone.  To this cave he was carried before daybreak in the
+morning, and supplied with bread and water, and there remained
+until he saw us under weigh and well round the point.
+
+Friday, March 27th.  The captain, having given up all hope of
+finding F-----, and being unwilling to delay any longer, gave
+orders for unmooring the ship, and we made sail, dropping slowly
+down with the tide and light wind.  We left letters with Captain
+Bradshaw to take to Boston, and had the satisfaction of hearing
+him say that he should be back again before we left the coast.
+The wind, which was very light, died away soon after we doubled the
+point, and we lay becalmed for two days, not moving three miles the
+whole time, and a part of the second day were almost within sight
+of the vessels.  On the third day, about noon, a cool sea-breeze came
+rippling and darkening the surface of the water, and by sundown
+we were off San Juan's, which is about forty miles from San Diego,
+and is called half way to San Pedro, where we were now bound.
+Our crew was now considerably weakened.  One man we had lost
+overboard; another had been taken aft as clerk; and a third had
+run away; so that, beside S----- and myself, there were only three
+able seamen and one boy of twelve years of age.  With this
+diminished and discontented crew, and in a small vessel, we were
+now to battle the watch through a couple of years of hard service;
+yet there was not one who was not glad that F----- had escaped;
+for, shiftless and good for nothing as he was, no one could wish
+to see him dragging on a miserable life, cowed down and disheartened;
+and we were all rejoiced to hear, upon our return to San Diego,
+about two months afterwards, that he had been immediately taken
+aboard the Lagoda, and went home in her, on regular seaman's wages.
+
+After a slow passage of five days, we arrived, on Wednesday,
+the first of April, at our old anchoring ground at San Pedro.
+The bay was as deserted, and looked as dreary, as before, and formed
+no pleasing contrast with the security and snugness of San Diego,
+and the activity and interest which the loading and unloading of four
+vessels gave to that scene.  In a few days the hides began to come
+slowly down, and we got into the old business of rolling goods up
+the hill, pitching hides down, and pulling our long league off and
+on.  Nothing of note occurred while we were lying here, except
+that an attempt was made to repair the small Mexican brig which
+had been cast away in a south-easter, and which now lay up, high
+and dry, over one reef of rocks and two sand-banks.  Our carpenter
+surveyed her, and pronounced her capable of refitting, and in a
+few days the owners came down from the Pueblo, and, waiting for
+the high spring tides, with the help of our cables, kedges, and crew,
+got her off and afloat, after several trials.  The three men at the
+house on shore, who had formerly been a part of her crew, now
+joined her, and seemed glad enough at the prospect of getting off
+the coast.
+
+On board our own vessel, things went on in the common monotonous
+way. The excitement which immediately followed the flogging scene
+had passed off, but the effect of it upon the crew, and especially
+upon the two men themselves, remained.  The different manner in
+which these men were affected, corresponding to their different
+characters, was not a little remarkable.  John was a foreigner
+and high-tempered, and, though mortified, as any one would be at
+having had the worst of an encounter, yet his chief feeling seemed
+to be anger; and he talked much of satisfaction and revenge, if he
+ever got back to Boston.  But with the other, it was very different.
+He was an American, and had had some education; and this thing coming
+upon him, seemed completely to break him down.  He had a feeling
+of the degradation that had been inflicted upon him, which the
+other man was incapable of.  Before that, he had a good deal of
+fun, and mused us often with queer negro stories,--(he was from
+a slave state); but afterwards he seldom smiled; seemed to lose
+all life and elasticity; and appeared to have but one wish,
+and that was for the voyage to be at an end.  I have often known
+him to draw a long sigh when he was alone, and he took but little
+part or interest in John's plans of satisfaction and retaliation.
+
+After a stay of about a fortnight, during which we slipped for
+one south-easter, and were at sea two days, we got under weigh for
+Santa Barbara.  It was now the middle of April, and the south-easter
+season was nearly over; and the light, regular trade-winds, which blow
+down the coast, began to set steadily in, during the latter part of
+each day.  Against these, we beat slowly up to Santa Barbara--a
+distance of about ninety miles--in three days.  There we found,
+lying at anchor, the large Genoese ship which we saw in the same
+place, on the first day of our coming upon the coast.  She had been
+up to San Francisco, or, as it is called, "chock up to windward,"
+had stopped at Monterey on her way down, and was shortly to proceed
+to San Pedro and San Diego, and thence, taking in her cargo, to sail
+for Valparaiso and Cadiz.  She was a large, clumsy ship, and with
+her topmasts stayed forward, and high poop-deck, looked like an
+old woman with a crippled back.  It was now the close of Lent,
+and on Good Friday she had all her yards a'cock-bill, which is
+customary among Catholic vessels.  Some also have an effigy of
+Judas, which the crew amuse themselves with keel-hauling and
+hanging by the neck from the yard-arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+EASTER SUNDAY--"SAIL HO!"--WHALES--SAN JUAN--ROMANCE OF
+HIDE-DROGHING--SAN DIEGO AGAIN
+
+
+The next Sunday was Easter Sunday, and as there had been no
+liberty at San Pedro, it was our turn to go ashore and misspend
+another Sabbath.  Soon after breakfast, a large boat, filled with
+men in blue jackets, scarlet caps, and various colored under-clothes,
+bound ashore on liberty, left the Italian ship, and passed under
+our stern; the men singing beautiful Italian boat-songs, all the way,
+in fine, full chorus.  Among the songs I recognized the favorite
+"O Pescator dell' onda."  It brought back to my mind pianofortes,
+drawing-rooms, young ladies singing, and a thousand other things
+which as little befitted me, in my situation, to be thinking upon.
+Supposing that the whole day would be too long a time to spend
+ashore, as there was no place to which we could take a ride,
+we remained quietly on board until after dinner.  We were then
+pulled ashore in the stern of the boat, and, with orders to be on
+the beach at sundown, we took our way for the town.  There,
+everything wore the appearance of a holyday.  The people were
+all dressed in their best; the men riding about on horseback among
+the houses, and the women sitting on carpets before the doors.
+Under the piazza of a "pulperia," two men were seated, decked out
+with knots of ribbons and bouquets, and playing the violin and
+the Spanish guitar.  These are the only instruments, with the
+exception of the drums and trumpets at Monterey that I ever heard in
+California; and I suspect they play upon no others, for at a great
+fandango at which I was afterwards present, and where they mustered
+all the music they could find, there were three violins and two
+guitars, and no other instrument.  As it was now too near the middle
+of the day to see any dancing and hearing that a bull was expected
+down from the country, to be baited in the presidio square, in the
+course of an hour or two we took a stroll among the houses.
+Inquiring for an American who, we had been told, had married in the
+place, and kept a shop, we were directed to a long, low building,
+at the end of which was a door, with a sign over it, in Spanish.
+Entering the shop, we found no one in it, and the whole had an
+empty, deserted appearance.  In a few minutes the man made his
+appearance, and apologized for having nothing to entertain us with,
+saying that he had had a fandango at his house the night before,
+and the people had eaten and drunk up everything.
+
+"Oh yes!" said I, "Easter holydays?"
+
+"No!" said he, with a singular expression to his face; "I had a
+little daughter die the other day, and that's the custom of the
+country."
+
+Here I felt a little strangely, not knowing what to say, or whether
+to offer consolation or no, and was beginning to retire, when he
+opened a side door and told us to walk in.  Here I was no less
+astonished; for I found a large room, filled with young girls,
+from three or four years of age up to fifteen and sixteen, dressed
+all in white, with wreaths of flowers on their heads, and bouquets
+in their hands.  Following our conductor through all these girls,
+who were playing about in high spirits, we came to a table, at the
+end of the room, covered with a white cloth, on which lay a coffin,
+about three feet long, with the body of his child.  The coffin was
+lined on the outside with white cloth, and on the inside with white
+satin, and was strewed with flowers.  Through an open door we saw,
+in another room, a few elderly people in common dresses; while
+the benches and tables thrown up in a corner, and the stained walls,
+gave evident signs of the last night's "high go."  Feeling, like
+Garrick, between tragedy and comedy, an uncertainty of purpose
+and a little awkwardness, I asked the man when the funeral would
+take place, and being told that it would move toward the mission
+in about an hour, took my leave.
+
+To pass away the time, we took horses and rode down to the
+beach, and there found three or four Italian sailors, mounted, and
+riding up and down, on the hard sand, at a furious rate.  We joined
+them, and found it fine sport.  The beach gave us a stretch of a mile
+or more, and the horses flew over the smooth, hard sand, apparently
+invigorated and excited by the salt sea-breeze, and by the continual
+roar and dashing of the breakers.  From the beach we returned to
+the town, and finding that the funeral procession had moved, rode
+on and overtook it, about half-way to the mission.  Here was as
+peculiar a sight as we had seen before in the house; the one looking
+as much like a funeral procession as the other did like a house of
+mourning.  The little coffin was borne by eight girls, who were
+continually relieved by others, running forward from the procession
+and taking their places.  Behind it came a straggling company of
+girls, dressed as before, in white and flowers, and including, I should
+suppose by their numbers, nearly all the girls between five and fifteen
+in the place.  They played along on the way, frequently stopping
+and running all together to talk to some one, or to pick up a flower,
+and then running on again to overtake the coffin.  There were a few
+elderly women in common colors; and a herd of young men and boys,
+some on foot and others mounted, followed them, or walked or rode
+by their side, frequently interrupting them by jokes and questions.
+But the most singular thing of all was, that two men walked,
+one on each side of the coffin, carrying muskets in their hands,
+which they continually loaded, and fired into the air.  Whether
+this was to keep off the evil spirits or not, I do not know.
+It was the only interpretation that I could put upon it.
+
+As we drew near the mission, we saw the great gate thrown open,
+and the pádre standing on the steps, with a crucifix in hand.
+The mission is a large and deserted-looking place, the out-buildings
+going to ruin, and everything giving one the impression of decayed
+grandeur.  A large stone fountain threw out pure water, from four
+mouths, into a basin, before the church door; and we were on the
+point of riding up to let our horses drink, when it occurred to us
+that it might be consecrated, and we forbore.  Just at this moment,
+the bells set up their harsh, discordant clang; and the procession
+moved into the court.  I was anxious to follow, and see the ceremony,
+but the horse of one of my companions had become frightened, and
+was tearing off toward the town; and having thrown his rider, and
+got one of his feet caught in the saddle, which had slipped, was fast
+dragging and ripping it to pieces.  Knowing that my shipmate
+could not speak a word of Spanish, and fearing that he would get
+into difficulty, I was obliged to leave the ceremony and ride after
+him.  I soon overtook him, trudging along, swearing at the horse,
+and carrying the remains of the saddle, which he had picked up
+on the road.  Going to the owner of the horse, we made a settlement
+with him, and found him surprisingly liberal.  All parts of
+the saddle were brought back, and, being capable of repair, he was
+satisfied with six reáls.  We thought it would have been a few
+dollars.  We pointed to the horse, which was now half way up one
+of the mountains; but he shook his head, saying, "No importe!"
+and giving us to understand that he had plenty more.
+
+Having returned to the town, we saw a great crowd collected in
+the square before the principal pulperia, and riding up, found that
+all these people--men, women, and children--had been drawn together
+by a couple of bantam cocks.  The cocks were in full tilt,
+springing into one another, and the people were as eager, laughing
+and shouting, as though the combatants had been men.  There had
+been a disappointment about the bull; he had broken his bail, and
+taken himself off, and it was too late to get another; so the people
+were obliged to put up with a cock-fight.  One of the bantams having
+been knocked in the head, and had an eye put out, he gave in, and
+two monstrous prize-cocks were brought on.  These were the object
+of the whole affair; the two bantams having been merely served up
+as a first course, to collect the people together.  Two fellows came
+into the ring holding the cocks in their arms, and stroking them,
+and running about on all fours, encouraging and setting them on.
+Bets ran high, and, like most other contests, it remained for some
+time undecided.  They both showed great pluck, and fought probably
+better and longer than their masters would have done.  Whether,
+in the end, it was the white or the red that beat, I do not recollect;
+but, whichever it was, he strutted off with the true veni-vidi-vici look,
+leaving the other lying panting on his beam-ends.
+
+This matter having been settled, we heard some talk about "caballos"
+and "carrera" and seeing the people all streaming off in one direction,
+we followed, and came upon a level piece of ground, just out of
+the town, which was used as a race-course.  Here the crowd soon
+became thick again; the ground was marked off; the judges stationed;
+and the horses led up to one end.  Two fine-looking old gentlemen
+--Don Carlos and Don Domingo, so called--held the stakes, and all
+was now ready.  We waited some time, during which we could just see
+the horses twisting round and turning, until, at length, there
+was a shout along the lines, and on they came--heads stretched
+out and eyes starting;--working all over, both man and beast.
+The steeds came by us like a couple of chain-shot--neck and neck;
+and now we could see nothing but their backs, and their hind hoofs
+flying in the air.  As fast as the horses passed, the crowd broke
+up behind them, and ran to the goal.  When we got there, we found
+the horses returning on a slow walk, having run far beyond the mark,
+and heard that the long, bony one had come in head and shoulders
+before the other.  The riders were light-built men; had handkerchiefs
+tied round their heads; and were bare-armed and bare-legged.
+The horses were noble-looking beasts, not so sleek and combed as
+our Boston stable-horses, but with fine limbs, and spirited eyes.
+After this had been settled, and fully talked over, the crowd
+scattered again and flocked back to the town.
+
+Returning to the large pulperia, we found the violin and guitar
+screaming and twanging away under the piazza, where they had
+been all day.  As it was now sundown, there began to be some
+dancing.  The Italian sailors danced, and one of our crew exhibited
+himself in a sort of West India shuffle, much to the amusement of
+the bystanders, who cried out, "Bravo!" "Otra vez!" and "Vivan
+los marineros!" but the dancing did not become general, as the
+women and the "gente de razón" had not yet made their appearance.
+We wished very much to stay and see the style of dancing; but,
+although we had had our own way during the day, yet we were,
+after all, but 'foremast Jacks; and having been ordered to be on the
+beach by sundown, did not venture to be more than an hour behind
+the time; so we took our way down.  We found the boat just pulling
+ashore through the breakers, which were running high, there having
+been a heavy fog outside, which, from some cause or other, always
+brings on, or precedes a heavy sea.  Liberty-men are privileged
+from the time they leave the vessel until they step on board again;
+so we took our places in the stern sheets, and were congratulating
+ourselves upon getting off dry, when a great comber broke fore and
+aft the boat, and wet us through and through, filling the boat
+half full of water.  Having lost her buoyancy by the weight of the
+water, she dropped heavily into every sea that struck her, and by
+the time we had pulled out of the surf into deep water, she was but
+just afloat, and we were up to our knees.  By the help of a small
+bucket and our hats, we bailed her out, got on board, hoisted the
+boats, eat our supper, changed our clothes, gave (as is usual) the
+whole history of our day's adventures to those who had staid on
+board, and having taken a night-smoke, turned-in.  Thus ended
+our second day's liberty on shore.
+
+On Monday morning, as an offset to our day's sport, we were all
+set to work "tarring down" the rigging.  Some got girt-lines up
+for riding down the stays and back-stays, and others tarred the
+shrouds, lifts, etc., laying out on the yards, and coming down
+the rigging.  We overhauled our bags and took out our old tarry
+trowsers and frocks, which we had used when we tarred down before,
+and were all at work in the rigging by sunrise.  After breakfast,
+we had the satisfaction of seeing the Italian ship's boat go ashore,
+filled with men, gaily dressed, as on the day before, and singing
+their barcarollas.  The Easter holydays are kept up on shore during
+three days; and being a Catholic vessel, the Crew had the advantage
+of them.  For two successive days, while perched up in the rigging,
+covered with tar and engaged in our disagreeable work, we saw these
+fellows going ashore in the morning, and coming off again at night,
+in high spirits.  So much for being Protestants.  There's no danger
+of Catholicism's spreading in New England; Yankees can't afford the
+time to be Catholics.  American shipmasters get nearly three weeks
+more labor out of their crews, in the course of a year, than the
+masters of vessels from Catholic countries.  Yankees don't keep
+Christmas, and ship-masters at sea never know when Thanksgiving
+comes, so Jack has no festival at all.
+
+About noon, a man aloft called out "Sail ho!" and looking round,
+we saw the head sails of a vessel coming round the point.  As she
+drew round, she showed the broadside of a full-rigged brig, with
+the Yankee ensign at her peak.  We ran up our stars and stripes, and,
+knowing that there was no American brig on the coast but ourselves,
+expected to have news from home.  She rounded-to and let go her
+anchor, but the dark faces on her yards, when they furled the sails,
+and the Babel on deck, soon made known that she was from the Islands.
+Immediately afterwards, a boat's crew came aboard, bringing her skipper,
+and from them we learned that she was from Oahu, and was engaged in
+the same trade with the Ayacucho, Loriotte, etc., between the coast,
+the Sandwich Islands, and the leeward coast of Peru and Chili.
+Her captain and officers were Americans, and also a part of her crew;
+the rest were Islanders.  She was called the Catalina, and, like all
+the others vessels in that trade, except the Ayacucho, her papers
+and colors were from Uncle Sam.  They, of course, brought us no news,
+and we were doubly disappointed, for we had thought, at first,
+it might be the ship which we were expecting from Boston.
+
+After lying here about a fortnight, and collecting all the hides the
+place afforded, we set sail again for San Pedro.  There we found
+the brig which we had assisted in getting off lying at anchor,
+with a mixed crew of Americans, English, Sandwich Islanders,
+Spaniards, and Spanish Indians; and, though much smaller than we,
+yet she had three times the number of men; and she needed them,
+for her officers were Californians.  No vessels in the world
+go so poorly manned as American and English; and none do so well.
+A Yankee brig of that size would have had a crew of four men,
+and would have worked round and round her.  The Italian ship had a
+crew of thirty men; nearly three times as many as the Alert, which
+was afterwards on the coast, and was of the same size; yet the Alert
+would get under weigh and come-to in half the time, and get two
+anchors, while they were all talking at once--jabbering like a parcel
+of "Yahoos," and running about decks to find their cat-block.
+
+There was only one point in which they had the advantage over us,
+and that was in lightening their labors in the boats by their songs.
+The Americans are a time and money saving people, but have not yet,
+as a nation, learned that music may be "turned to account."  We pulled
+the long distances to and from the shore, with our loaded boats,
+without a word spoken, and with discontented looks, while they not
+only lightened the labor of rowing, but actually made it pleasant
+and cheerful, by their music.  So true is it, that--
+
+"For the tired slave, song lifts the languid oar,
+  And bids it aptly fall, with chime
+That beautifies the fairest shore,
+  And mitigates the harshest clime."
+
+We lay about a week in San Pedro, and got under weigh for San Diego,
+intending to stop at San Juan, as the south-easter season was
+nearly over, and there was little or no danger.
+
+This being the spring season, San Pedro, as well as all the other
+open ports upon the coast, was filled with whales, that had come in
+to make their annual visit upon soundings.  For the first few days
+that we were here and at Santa Barbara, we watched them with
+great interest--calling out "there she blows!" every time we saw the
+spout of one breaking the surface of the water; but they soon became
+so common that we took little notice of them.  They often "broke"
+very near us; and one thick, foggy night, during a dead calm, while
+I was standing anchor-watch, one of them rose so near, that he
+struck our cable, and made all surge again.  He did not seem to like
+the encounter much himself, for he sheered off, and spouted at a
+good distance.  We once came very near running one down in the
+gig, and should probably have been knocked to pieces and blown
+sky-high.  We had been on board the little Spanish brig, and were
+returning, stretching out well at our oars, the little boat going like a
+swallow; our backs were forward, (as is always the case in pulling,)
+and the captain, who was steering, was not looking ahead, when, all
+at once, we heard the spout of a whale directly ahead.  "Back water!
+back water, for your lives!" shouted the captain; and we backed
+our blades in the water and brought the boat to in a smother of
+foam.  Turning our heads, we saw a great, rough, hump-backed whale,
+slowly crossing our fore foot, within three or four yards of the
+boat's stem.  Had we not backed water just as we did, we should
+inevitably have gone smash upon him, striking him with our stem
+just about amidships.  He took no notice of us, but passed slowly on,
+and dived a few yards beyond us, throwing his tail high in the air.
+He was so near that we had a perfect view of him and as may be
+supposed, had no desire to see him nearer.  He was a disgusting
+creature; with a skin rough, hairy, and of an iron-grey color.
+This kind differs much from the sperm, in color and skin, and is said
+to be fiercer.  We saw a few sperm whales; but most of the whales
+that come upon the coast are fin-backs, hump-backs, and right-whales,
+which are more difficult to take, and are said not to give oil
+enough to pay for the trouble.  For this reason whale-ships do not
+come upon the coast after them.  Our captain, together with Captain
+Nye of the Loriotte, who had been in a whale-ship, thought of
+making an attempt upon one of them with two boats' crews, but
+as we had only two harpoons and no proper lines, they gave it up.
+
+During the months of March, April, and May, these whales appear in
+great numbers in the open ports of Santa Barbara, San Pedro, etc.,
+and hover off the coast, while a few find their way into the
+close harbors of San Diego and Monterey.  They are all off again
+before midsummer, and make their appearance on the "off-shore
+ground."  We saw some fine "schools" of sperm whales, which are
+easily distinguished by their spout, blowing away, a few miles to
+windward, on our passage to San Juan.
+
+Coasting along on the quiet shore of the Pacific, we came to anchor,
+in twenty fathoms' water, almost out at sea, as it were, and directly
+abreast of a steep hill which overhung the water, and was twice as
+high as our royal-mast-head.  We had heard much of this place, from
+the Lagoda's crew, who said it was the worst place in California.
+The shore is rocky, and directly exposed to the south-east, so that
+vessels are obliged to slip and run for their lives on the first
+sign of a gale; and late as it was in the season, we got up our
+slip-rope and gear, though we meant to stay only twenty-four hours.
+We pulled the agent ashore, and were ordered to wait for him,
+while he took a circuitous way round the hill to the mission,
+which was hidden behind it.  We were glad of the opportunity to
+examine this singular place, and hauling the boat up and making
+her well fast, took different directions up and down the beach,
+to explore it.
+
+San Juan is the only romantic spot in California.  The country
+here for several miles is high table-land, running boldly to the shore,
+and breaking off in a steep hill, at the foot of which the waters of the
+Pacific are constantly dashing.  For several miles the water washes
+the very base of the hill, or breaks upon ledges and fragments of
+rocks which run out into the sea.  Just where we landed was a small
+cove, or "bight," which gave us, at high tide, a few square feet of
+sand-beach between the sea and the bottom of the hill.  This was
+the only landing-place.  Directly before us, rose the perpendicular
+height of four or five hundred feet.  How we were to get hides down,
+or goods up, upon the table-land on which the mission was situated,
+was more than we could tell.  The agent had taken a long circuit,
+and yet had frequently to jump over breaks, and climb up steep
+places, in the ascent.  No animal but a man or monkey could get up
+it.  However, that was not our look-out; and knowing that the agent
+would be gone an hour or more, we strolled about, picking up shells,
+and following the sea where it tumbled in, roaring and spouting,
+among the crevices of the great rocks.  What a sight, thought I, must
+this be in a south-easter! The rocks were as large as those of Nahant
+or Newport, but, to my eye, more grand and broken.  Beside, there
+was a grandeur in everything around, which gave almost a solemnity
+to the scene: a silence and solitariness which affected everything!
+Not a human being but ourselves for miles; and no sound heard but
+the pulsations of the great Pacific! and the great steep hill rising
+like a wall, and cutting us off from all the world, but the "world of
+waters!"  I separated myself from the rest and sat down on a rock,
+just where the sea ran in and formed a fine spouting horn.
+Compared with the plain, dull sand-beach of the rest of the coast,
+this grandeur was as refreshing as a great rock in a weary land.
+It was almost the first time that I had been positively alone--free
+from the sense that human beings were at my elbow, if not talking
+with me--since I had left home.  My better nature returned strong
+upon me.  Everything was in accordance with my state of feeling,
+and I experienced a glow of pleasure at finding that what of poetry
+and romance I ever had in me, had not been entirely deadened by the
+laborious and frittering life I had led.  Nearly an hour did I sit,
+almost lost in the luxury of this entire new scene of the play in
+which I had been so long acting, when I was aroused by the distant
+shouts of my companions, and saw that they were collecting together,
+as the agent had made his appearance, on his way back to our
+boat.
+
+We pulled aboard, and found the long-boat hoisted out, and nearly
+laden with goods; and after dinner, we all went on shore in the
+quarter-boat, with the long-boat in tow.  As we drew in, we found
+an ox-cart and a couple of men standing directly on the brow of the
+hill; and having landed, the captain took his way round the hill,
+ordering me and one other to follow him.  We followed, picking our
+way out, and jumping and scrambling up, walking over briers and
+prickly pears, until we came to the top.  Here the country stretched
+out for miles as far as the eye could reach, on a level, table surface;
+and the only habitation in sight was the small white mission of San
+Juan Capistrano, with a few Indian huts about it, standing in a
+small hollow, about a mile from where we were.  Reaching the brow
+of the hill where the cart stood, we found several piles of hides,
+and Indians sitting round them.  One or two other carts were coming
+slowly on from the mission, and the captain told us to begin and
+throw the hides down.  This, then, was the way they were to be got
+down: thrown down, one at a time, a distance of four hundred
+feet! This was doing the business on a great scale.  Standing on
+the edge of the hill and looking down the perpendicular height,
+the sailors,
+
+--"That walk upon the beach,
+Appeared like mice; and our tall anchoring bark
+Diminished to her cock; her cock a buoy
+Almost too small for sight."
+
+Down this height we pitched the hides, throwing them as far out
+into the air as we could; and as they were all large, stiff,
+and doubled, like the cover of a book, the wind took them, and they
+swayed and eddied about, plunging and rising in the air, like a kite
+when it has broken its string.  As it was now low tide, there was
+no danger of their falling into the water, and as fast as they came
+to ground, the men below picked them up, and taking them on their
+heads, walked off with them to the boat.  It was really a picturesque
+sight: the great height; the scaling of the hides; and the continual
+walking to and fro of the men, who looked like mites, on the beach!
+This was the romance of hide-droghing!
+
+Some of the hides lodged in cavities which were under the bank and
+out of our sight, being directly under us; but by sending others down
+in the same direction, we succeeded in dislodging them.  Had they
+remained there, the captain said he should have sent on board for
+a couple of pairs of long halyards, and got some one to have gone
+down for them.  It was said that one of the crew of an English brig
+went down in the same way, a few years before.  We looked over,
+and thought it would not be a welcome task, especially for a few
+paltry hides; but no one knows what he can do until he is called
+upon; for, six months afterwards, I went down the same place by
+a pair of top-gallant studding-sail halyards, to save a half a
+dozen hides which had lodged there.
+
+Having thrown them all down, we took our way back again,
+and found the boat loaded and ready to start.  We pulled off;
+took the hides all aboard; hoisted in the boats; hove up our anchor;
+made sail; and before sundown, were on our way to San Diego.
+
+Friday, May 8th, 1835.  Arrived at San Diego.  Here we found the
+little harbor deserted.  The Lagoda, Ayacucho, Loriotte, and all,
+had left the coast, and we were nearly alone.  All the hide-houses
+on the beach, but ours, were shut up, and the Sandwich Islanders,
+a dozen or twenty in number, who had worked for the other vessels and
+been paid off when they sailed, were living on the beach, keeping up
+a grand carnival.  A Russian discovery-ship which had been in this
+port a few years before, had built a large oven for baking bread,
+and went away, leaving it standing.  This, the Sandwich Islanders
+took possession of, and had kept, ever since, undisturbed.  It was
+big enough to hold six or eight men--that is, it was as large as
+a ship's forecastle; had a door at the side, and a vent-hole at
+top.  They covered it with Oahu mats, for a carpet; stopped up the
+vent-hole in bad weather, and made it their head-quarters.  It was
+now inhabited by as many as a dozen or twenty men, who lived there
+in complete idleness--drinking, playing cards, and carousing in
+every way.  They bought a bullock once a week, which kept them
+in meat, and one of them went up to the town every day to get
+fruit, liquor, and provisions.  Besides this, they had bought
+a cask of ship-bread, and a barrel of flour from the Lagoda,
+before she sailed.  There they lived, having a grand time,
+and caring for nobody.  Captain T----- was anxious to get
+three or four of them to come on board the Pilgrim, as we were
+so much diminished in numbers; and went up to the oven and spent
+an hour or two trying to negotiate with them.  One of them,--a
+finely built, active, strong and intelligent fellow,-- who was
+a sort of king among them, acted as spokesman.  He was called
+Mannini,--or rather, out of compliment to his known importance
+and influence, Mr. Mannini--and was known all over California.
+Through him, the captain offered them fifteen dollars a month,
+and one month's pay in advance; but it was like throwing pearls
+before swine, or rather, carrying coals to Newcastle.  So long
+as they had money, they would not work for fifty dollars a month,
+and when their money was gone, they would work for ten.
+
+"What do you do here, Mr. Mannini?"(1) said the captain.
+
+------------------------------
+1. The letter i in the Sandwich Island language is sounded
+   like e in the English.
+------------------------------
+
+"Oh, we play cards, get drunk, smoke--do anything we're a mind to."
+
+"Don't you want to come aboard and work?"
+
+"Aole! aole make make makou i ka hana.  Now, got plenty money;
+no good, work.  Mamule, money pau--all gone.  Ah! very good, work!--
+maikai, hana hana nui!"
+
+"But you'll spend all your money in this way," said the captain.
+
+"Aye! me know that.  By-'em-by money pau--all gone; then Kanaka work plenty."
+
+This was a hopeless case, and the captain left them, to wait
+patiently until their money was gone.
+
+We discharged our hides and tallow, and in about a week were
+ready to set sail again for the windward.  We unmoored, and got
+everything ready, when the captain made another attempt upon the
+oven.  This time he had more regard to the "mollia tempora fandi,"
+and succeeded very well.  He got Mr. Mannini in his interest, and
+as the shot was getting low in the locker, prevailed upon him and
+three others to come on board with their chests and baggage, and
+sent a hasty summons to me and the boy to come ashore with our
+things, and join the gang at the hide-house.  This was unexpected
+to me; but anything in the way of variety I liked; so we got ready,
+and were pulled ashore.  I stood on the beach while the brig got
+under weigh, and watched her until she rounded the point, and
+then went up to the hide-house to take up my quarters for a few
+months.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE SANDWICH ISLANDERS--HIDE-CURING--WOOD-CUTTING--RATTLE-
+SNAKES--NEW-COMERS
+
+
+Here was a change in my life as complete as it had been sudden.
+In the twinkling of an eye, I was transformed from a sailor into a
+"beach-comber" and a hide-curer; yet the novelty and the comparative
+independence of the life were not unpleasant.  Our hide-house was a
+large building, made of rough boards, and intended to hold forty
+thousand hides.  In one corner of it, a small room was parted off,
+in which four berths were made, where we were to live, with mother
+earth for our floor.  It contained a table, a small locker for pots,
+spoons, plates, etc., and a small hole cut to let in the light.
+Here we put our chests, threw our bedding into the berths, and took
+up our quarters.  Over our head was another small room, in which
+Mr. Russell lived, who had charge of the hide-house; the same man
+who was for a time an officer of the Pilgrim.  There he lived in
+solitary grandeur; eating and sleeping alone, (and these were his
+principal occupations,) and communing with his own dignity.
+The boy was to act as cook; while myself, a giant of a Frenchman
+named Nicholas, and four Sandwich Islanders, were to cure the hides.
+Sam, the Frenchman, and myself, lived together in the room, and the
+four Sandwich Islanders worked and ate with us, but generally slept
+at the oven.  My new messmate, Nicholas, was the most immense man
+that I had ever seen in my life.  He came on the coast in a vessel
+which was afterwards wrecked, and now let himself out to the
+different houses to cure hides.  He was considerably over six
+feet, and of a frame so large that he might have been shown
+for a curiosity.  But the most remarkable thing about him was his
+feet.  They were so large that he could not find a pair of shoes
+in California to fit him, and was obliged to send to Oahu for a
+pair; and when he got them, he was compelled to wear them down at
+the heel.  He told me once, himself, that he was wrecked in an
+American brig on the Goodwin Sands, and was sent up to London,
+to the charge of the American consul, without clothing to his
+back or shoes to his feet, and was obliged to go about London
+streets in his stocking feet three or four days, in the month
+of January, until the consul could have a pair of shoes made
+for him.  His strength was in proportion to his size, and his
+ignorance to his strength--"strong as an ox, and ignorant as
+strong."  He neither knew how to read nor write.  He had been
+to sea from a boy, and had seen all kinds of service, and been
+in every kind of vessel: merchantmen, men-of-war, privateers,
+and slavers; and from what I could gather from his accounts of
+himself, and from what he once told me, in confidence, after we
+had become better acquainted, he had even been in worse business
+than slave-trading.  He was once tried for his life in Charleston,
+South Carolina, and though acquitted, yet he was so frightened that
+he never would show himself in the United States again; and I could
+not persuade him that he could never be tried a second time for the
+same offence.  He said he had got safe off from the breakers, and was
+too good a sailor to risk his timbers again.
+
+Though I knew what his life had been, yet I never had the slightest
+fear of him.  We always got along very well together, and, though
+so much stronger and larger than I, he showed a respect for
+my education, and for what he had heard of my situation before
+coming to sea.  "I'll be good friends with you," he used to say,
+"for by-and-by you'll come out here captain, and then you'll haze me
+well!"  By holding well together, we kept the officer in good order,
+for he was evidently afraid of Nicholas, and never ordered us,
+except when employed upon the hides.  My other companions,
+the Sandwich Islanders, deserve particular notice.
+
+A considerable trade has been carried on for several years between
+California and the Sandwich Islands, and most of the vessels are
+manned with Islanders; who, as they, for the most part, sign no
+articles, leave whenever they choose, and let themselves out to
+cure hides at San Diego, and to supply the places of the men of the
+American vessels while on the coast.  In this way, quite a colony
+of them had become settled at San Diego, as their headquarters.
+Some of these had recently gone off in the Ayacucho and Loriotte,
+and the Pilgrim had taken Mr. Mannini and three others, so that
+there were not more than twenty left.   Of these, four were on pay
+at the Ayacucho's house, four more working with us, and the rest
+were living at the oven in a quiet way; for their money was nearly
+gone, and they must make it last until some other vessel came down
+to employ them.
+
+During the four months that I lived here, I got well acquainted
+with all of them, and took the greatest pains to become familiar
+with their language, habits, and characters.  Their language,
+I could only learn, orally, for they had not any books among them,
+though many of them had been taught to read and write by the
+missionaries at home.  They spoke a little English, and by a sort
+of compromise, a mixed language was used on the beach, which could be
+understood by all.  The long name of Sandwich Islanders is dropped,
+and they are called by the whites, all over the Pacific ocean,
+"Kanákas," from a word in their own language which they apply to
+themselves, and to all South Sea Islanders, in distinction from
+whites, whom they call "Haole."  This name, "Kanaka," they answer to,
+both collectively and individually.  Their proper names, in their
+own language, being difficult to pronounce and remember, they are
+called by any names which the captains or crews may choose to
+give them.  Some are called after the vessel they are in; others
+by common names, as Jack, Tom, Bill; and some have fancy names,
+as Ban-yan, Fore-top, Rope-yarn, Pelican, etc., etc.  Of the four
+who worked at our house one was named "Mr. Bingham," after the
+missionary at Oahu; another, Hope, after a vessel that he had been
+in; a third, Tom Davis, the name of his first captain; and the fourth,
+Pelican, from his fancied resemblance to that bird.  Then there was
+Lagoda-Jack, California-Bill, etc., etc.  But by whatever names
+they might be called, they were the most interesting, intelligent,
+and kind-hearted people that I ever fell in with.  I felt a positive
+attachment for almost all of them; and many of them I have, to this
+time, a feeling for, which would lead me to go a great way for the
+mere pleasure of seeing them, and which will always make me feel a
+strong interest in the mere name of a Sandwich Islander.
+
+Tom Davis knew how to read, write, and cipher in common arithmetic;
+had been to the United States, and spoke English quite well.
+His education was as good as that of three-quarters of the Yankees
+in California, and his manners and principles a good deal better,
+and he was so quick of apprehension that he might have been taught
+navigation, and the elements of many of the sciences, with the most
+perfect ease.  Old "Mr. Bingham" spoke very little English--almost
+none, and neither knew how to read nor write; but he was the
+best-hearted old fellow in the world.  He must have been over fifty
+years of age, and had two of his front teeth knocked out, which was
+done by his parents as a sign of grief at the death of Kamehameha,
+the great king of the Sandwich Islands.  We used to tell him that he
+ate Captain Cook, and lost his teeth in that way.  That was the only
+thing that ever made him angry.  He would always be quite excited
+at that; and say--"Aole!" (no.)  "Me no eat Captain Cook!  Me
+pikinini--small--so high--no more!  My father see Captain Cook!
+Me--no!"  None of them liked to have anything said about Captain
+Cook, for the sailors all believe that he was eaten, and that,
+they cannot endure to be taunted with.--"New Zealand Kanaka eat
+white man;--Sandwich Island Kanaka--no.  Sandwich Island Kanaka
+ua like pu na haole--all 'e same a' you!"
+
+Mr. Bingham was a sort of patriarch among them, and was always
+treated with great respect, though he had not the education and energy
+which gave Mr. Mannini his power over them.  I have spent hours in
+talking with this old fellow about Kamehameha, the Charlemagne
+of the Sandwich Islands; his son and successor Riho Riho, who died
+in England, and was brought to Oahu in the frigate Blonde, Captain
+Lord Byron, and whose funeral he remembered perfectly; and also
+about the customs of his country in his boyhood, and the changes
+which had been made by the missionaries.  He never would allow that
+human beings had been eaten there; and, indeed, it always seemed
+like an insult to tell so affectionate, intelligent, and civilized
+a class of men, that such barbarities had been practised in their
+own country within the recollection of many of them.  Certainly,
+the history of no people on the globe can show anything like so
+rapid an advance.  I would have trusted my life and my fortune in
+the hands of any one of these people; and certainly had I wished
+for a favor or act of sacrifice, I would have gone to them all,
+in turn, before I should have applied to one of my own countrymen
+on the coast, and should have expected to have seen it done,
+before my own countrymen had got half through counting the cost.
+Their costumes, and manner of treating one another, show a simple,
+primitive generosity, which is truly delightful; and which is often
+a reproach to our own people.  Whatever one has, they all have.
+Money, food, clothes, they share with one another; even to the
+last piece of tobacco to put in their pipes.  I once heard old
+Mr. Bingham say, with the highest indignation, to a Yankee trader
+who was trying to persuade him to keep his money to himself--"No!
+We no all 'e same a' you!--Suppose one got money, all got money.
+You;--suppose one got money--lock him up in chest.--No good!"--
+"Kanaka all 'e same a' one!"  This principle they carry so far,
+that none of them will eat anything in the sight of others without
+offering it all round.  I have seen one of them break a biscuit,
+which had been given him, into five parts, at a time when I knew
+he was on a very short allowance, as there was but little to eat
+on the beach.
+
+My favorite among all of them, and one who was liked by both officers
+and men, and by whomever he had anything to do with, was Hope.
+He was an intelligent, kind-hearted little fellow, and I never
+saw him angry, though I knew him for more than a year, and have
+seen him imposed upon by white people, and abused by insolent
+officers of vessels.  He was always civil, and always ready,
+and never forgot a benefit.  I once took care of him when he was ill,
+getting medicines from the ship's chests, when no captain or officer
+would do anything for him, and he never forgot it.  Every Kanaka has
+one particular friend, whom he considers himself bound to do
+everything for, and with whom he has a sort of contract,--an
+alliance offensive and defensive,--and for whom he will often make
+the greatest sacrifices.  This friend they call aikane; and for such
+did Hope adopt me.  I do not believe I could have wanted anything
+which he had, that he would not have given me.  In return for this,
+I was always his friend among the Americans, and used to teach
+him letters and numbers; for he left home before he had learned
+how to read.  He was very curious about Boston (as they call the
+United States); asking many questions about the houses, the people,
+etc., and always wished to have the pictures in books explained to
+him.  They were all astonishingly quick in catching at explanations,
+and many things which I had thought it utterly impossible to make
+them understand, they often seized in an instant, and asked
+questions which showed that they knew enough to make them wish to
+go farther.  The pictures of steamboats and railroad cars, in the
+columns of some newspapers which I had, gave me great difficulty
+to explain.  The grading of the road, the rails, the construction of
+the carriages, they could easily understand, but the motion produced
+by steam was a little too refined for them.  I attempted to show it
+to them once by an experiment upon the cook's coppers, but failed;
+probably as much from my own ignorance as from their want of
+apprehension; and, I have no doubt, left them with about as clear
+an idea of the principle as I had myself.  This difficulty, of course,
+existed in the same force with the steamboats and all I could do was
+to give them some account of the results, in the shape of speed; for,
+failing in the reason, I had to fall back upon the fact.  In my account
+of the speed I was supported by Tom, who had been to Nantucket,
+and seen a little steamboat which ran over to New Bedford.
+
+A map of the world, which I once showed them, kept their attention
+for hours; those who knew how to read pointing out the places
+and referring to me for the distances.  I remember being much
+amused with a question which Hope asked me.  Pointing to the large
+irregular place which is always left blank round the poles, to
+denote that it is undiscovered, he looked up and asked.--"Pau?"
+(Done? ended?)
+
+The system of naming the streets and numbering the houses, they
+easily understood, and the utility of it.  They had a great desire to
+see America, but were afraid of doubling Cape Horn, for they suffer
+much in cold weather, and had heard dreadful accounts of the Cape,
+from those of their number who had been round it.
+
+They smoke a great deal, though not much at a time; using pipes
+with large bowls, and very short stems, or no stems at all.  These,
+they light, and putting them to their mouths, take a long draught,
+getting their mouths as full as they can hold, and their cheeks
+distended, and then let it slowly out through their mouths and nostrils.
+The pipe is then passed to others, who draw, in the same manner,
+one pipe-full serving for half a dozen.  They never take short,
+continuous draughts, like Europeans, but one of these "Oahu puffs,"
+as the sailors call them, serves for an hour or two, until some one
+else lights his pipe, and it is passed round in the same manner.
+Each Kanaka on the beach had a pipe, flint, steel, tinder, a hand
+of tobacco, and a jack-knife, which he always carried about with him.
+
+That which strikes a stranger most peculiarly is their style of
+singing.  They run on, in a low, guttural, monotonous sort of chant,
+their lips and tongues seeming hardly to move, and the sounds modulated
+solely in the throat.  There is very little tune to it, and the
+words, so far as I could learn, are extempore.  They sing about
+persons and things which are around them, and adopt this method
+when they do not wish to be understood by any but themselves;
+and it is very effectual, for with the most careful attention I never
+could detect a word that I knew.  I have often heard Mr. Mannini,
+who was the most noted improvisatore among them, sing for an hour
+together, when at work in the midst of Americans and Englishmen;
+and, by the occasional shouts and laughter of the Kanakas,
+who were at a distance, it was evident that he was singing about
+the different men that he was at work with.  They have great powers
+of ridicule, and are excellent mimics; many of them discovering and
+imitating the peculiarities of our own people, before we had seen
+them ourselves.
+
+These were the people with whom I was to spend a few months;
+and who, with the exception of the officer, Nicholas the Frenchman,
+and the boy, made the whole population of the beach.  I ought,
+perhaps, to except the dogs, for they were an important part of our
+settlement.  Some of the first vessels brought dogs out with them,
+who, for convenience, were left ashore, and there multiplied,
+until they came to be a great people.  While I was on the beach,
+the average number was about forty, and probably an equal, or
+greater number are drowned, or killed in some other way, every year.
+They are very useful in guarding the beach, the Indians being afraid
+to come down at night; for it was impossible for any one to get within
+half a mile of the hide-houses without a general alarm.  The father
+of the colony, old Sachem, so called from the ship in which he was
+brought out, died while I was there, full of years, and was honorably
+buried.  Hogs, and a few chickens, were the rest of the animal tribe,
+and formed, like the dogs, a common company, though they were all
+known and marked, and usually fed at the houses to which they
+belonged.
+
+I had been but a few hours on the beach, and the Pilgrim was
+hardly out of sight, when the cry of "Sail ho!" was raised, and a
+small hermaphrodite brig rounded the point, bore up into the harbor,
+and came to anchor.  It was the Mexican brig Fazio, which we
+had left at San Pedro, and which had come down to land her tallow,
+try it all over, and make new bags, and then take it in, and leave the
+coast.  They moored ship, erected their try-works on shore, put up
+a small tent, in which they all lived, and commenced operations.
+They made an addition to our society, and we spent many evenings in
+their tent, where, amid the Babel of English, Spanish, French, Indian,
+and Kanaka, we found some words that we could understand in common.
+
+The morning after my landing, I began the duties of hide-curing.
+In order to understand these, it will be necessary to give the whole
+history of a hide, from the time it is taken from a bullock until it
+is put on board the vessel to be carried to Boston.  When the hide
+is taken from the bullock, holes are cut round it, near the edge,
+by which it is staked out to dry.  In this manner it dries without
+shrinking.  After they are thus dried in the sun, they are received by
+the vessels, and brought down to the depot at San Diego.  The vessels
+land them, and leave them in large piles near the houses.
+
+Then begins the hide-curer's duty.  The first thing is to put them
+in soak.  This is done by carrying them down at low tide, and making
+them fast, in small piles, by ropes, and letting the tide come up
+and cover them.  Every day we put in soak twenty-five for each
+man, which, with us, made an hundred and fifty.  There they
+lie forty-eight hours, when they are taken out, and rolled up,
+in wheelbarrows, and thrown into the vats.  These vats contain brine,
+made very strong; being sea-water, with great quantities of salt thrown
+in.  This pickles the hides, and in this they lie forty-eight hours;
+the use of the sea-water, into which they are first put, being merely
+to soften and clean them.  From these vats, they are taken, and lie on
+a platform twenty-four hours, and then are spread upon the ground,
+and carefully stretched and staked out, so that they may dry smooth.
+After they were staked, and while yet wet and soft, we used to go
+upon them with our knives, and carefully cut off all the bad parts:--
+the pieces of meat and fat, which would corrupt and infect the whole
+if stowed away in a vessel for many months, the large flippers,
+the ears, and all other parts which would prevent close stowage.
+This was the most difficult part of our duty: as it required much
+skill to take everything necessary off and not to cut or injure the hide.
+It was also a long process, as six of us had to clean an hundred and
+fifty, most of which required a great deal to be done to them, as the
+Spaniards are very careless in skinning their cattle.  Then, too,
+as we cleaned them while they were staked out, we were obliged to
+kneel down upon them, which always gives beginners the back-ache.
+The first day, I was so slow and awkward that I cleaned only eight;
+at the end of a few days I doubled my number; and in a fortnight or
+three weeks, could keep up with the others, and clean my proportion
+--twenty-five.
+
+This cleaning must be got through with before noon; for by that
+time they get too dry.  After the sun has been upon them a few
+hours, they are carefully gone over with scrapers, to get off all the
+grease which the sun brings out.  This being done, the stakes are
+pulled up, and the hides carefully doubled, with the hair side out,
+and left to dry.  About the middle of the afternoon they are turned
+upon the other side, and at sundown piled up and covered over.
+The next day they are spread out and opened again, and at night,
+if fully dry, are thrown upon a long, horizontal pole, five at
+a time, and beat with flails.  This takes all the dust from them.
+Then, being salted, scraped, cleaned, dried, and beaten, they are
+stowed away in the house.  Here ends their history, except that
+they are taken out again when the vessel is ready to go home, beaten,
+stowed away on board, carried to Boston, tanned, made into shoes and
+other articles for which leather is used; and many of them, very probably,
+in the end, brought back again to California in the shape of shoes,
+and worn out in pursuit of other bullocks, or in the curing of
+other hides.
+
+By putting an hundred and fifty in soak every day, we had the
+same number at each stage of curing, on each day; so that we had,
+every day, the same work to do upon the same number: an hundred
+and fifty to put in soak; an hundred and fifty to wash out and put
+in the vat; the same number to haul from the vat and put on the
+platform to drain; the same number to spread and stake out and
+clean; and the same number to beat and stow away in the home.
+I ought to except Sunday; for, by a prescription which no captain
+or agent has yet ventured to break in upon, Sunday has been a day
+of leisure on the beach for years.  On Saturday night, the hides,
+in every stage of progress, are carefully covered up, and not
+uncovered until Monday morning.  On Sundays we had absolutely
+no work to do, unless it was to kill a bullock, which was sent
+down for our use about once a week, and sometimes came on Sunday.
+Another good arrangement was, that we had just so much work to do,
+and when that was through, the time was our own.  Knowing this,
+we worked hard, and needed no driving.  We "turned out" every
+morning at the first signs of daylight, and allowing a short time,
+about eight o'clock, for breakfast, generally got through our labor
+between one and two o'clock, when we dined, and had the rest of the
+time to ourselves; until just before sundown, when we beat the dry
+hides and put them in the house, and covered over all the others.
+By this means we had about three hours to ourselves every afternoon;
+and at sundown we had our supper, and our work was done for the day.
+There was no watch to stand, and no topsails to reef.  The evenings
+we generally spent at one another's houses, and I often went up and
+spent an hour or so at the oven; which was called the "Kanaka Hotel,"
+and the "Oahu Coffee-house."  Immediately after dinner we usually
+took a short siésta to make up for our early rising, and spent the
+rest of the afternoon according to our own fancies.  I generally
+read, wrote, and made or mended clothes; for necessity, the mother
+of invention, had taught me these two latter arts.  The Kanakas went
+up to the oven, and spent the time in sleeping, talking, and smoking;
+and my messmate, Nicholas, who neither knew how to read or write,
+passed away the time by a long siésta, two or three smokes with
+his pipe, and a paséo to the other houses.  This leisure time is
+never interfered with, for the captains know that the men earn it
+by working hard and fast, and that if they interfered with it,
+the men could easily make their twenty-five hides apiece last
+through the day.  We were pretty independent, too, for the master
+of the house--"capitan de la casa"-- had nothing to say to us,
+except when we were at work on the hides, and although we could
+not go up to the town without his permission, this was seldom or
+never refused.
+
+The great weight of the wet hides, which we were obliged to roll
+about in wheelbarrows; the continual stooping upon those which
+were pegged out to be cleaned; and the smell of the vats, into which
+we were often obliged to get, knee-deep, to press down the hides;
+all made the work disagreeable and fatiguing;--but we soon got
+hardened to it, and the comparative independence of our life
+reconciled us to it; for there was nobody to haze us and find fault;
+and when we got through, we had only to wash and change our clothes,
+and our time was our own.  There was, however, one exception to the
+time's being our own; which was, that on two afternoons of every
+week we were obliged to go off and get wood, for the cook to use
+in the galley.  Wood is very scarce in the vicinity of San Diego;
+there being no trees of any size, for miles.  In the town,
+the inhabitants burn the small wood which grows in thickets,
+and for which they send out Indians, in large numbers, every few days.
+Fortunately, the climate is so fine that they had no need of a fire in
+their houses, and only use it for cooking.  With us the getting of
+wood was a great trouble; for all that in the vicinity of the houses
+had been cut down, and we were obliged to go off a mile or two,
+and to carry it some distance on our backs, as we could not get the
+hand-cart up the hills and over the uneven places.  Two afternoons
+in the week, generally Monday and Thursday, as soon as we had got
+through dinner, we started off for the bush, each of us furnished
+with a hatchet and a long piece of rope, and dragging the hand-cart
+behind us, and followed by the whole colony of dogs, who were
+always ready for the bush, and were half mad whenever they saw
+our preparations.  We went with the hand-cart as far as we could
+conveniently drag it, and leaving it in an open, conspicuous place,
+separated ourselves; each taking his own course, and looking about
+for some good place to begin upon.  Frequently, we had to go nearly
+a mile from the hand-cart before we could find any fit place.
+Having lighted upon a good thicket, the next thing was to clear
+away the under-brush, and have fair play at the trees.  These trees
+are seldom more than five or six feet high, and the highest that I
+ever saw in these expeditions could not have been more than twelve;
+so that, with lopping off the branches and clearing away the underwood,
+we had a good deal of cutting to do for a very little wood.  Having cut
+enough for a "back-load," the next thing was to make it well fast
+with the rope, and heaving the bundle upon our backs, and taking
+the hatchet in hand, to walk off, up hill and down dale, to the
+hand-cart.  Two good back-loads apiece filled the hand-cart;
+and that was each one's proportion.  When each had brought down
+his second load, we filled the hand-cart, and took our way again
+slowly back, and unloading, covering the hides for the night,
+and getting our supper, finished the day's work.
+
+These wooding excursions had always a mixture of something
+rather pleasant in them.  Roaming about in the woods with hatchet
+in hand, like a backwoodsman, followed by a troop of dogs; starting
+up of birds, snakes, hares and foxes, and examining the various kinds
+of trees, flowers, and birds' nests, was at least, a change from
+the monotonous drag and pull on shipboard.  Frequently, too,
+we had some amusement and adventure.  The coati, of which I have
+before spoken,--a sort of mixture of the fox and wolf breeds,--fierce
+little animals, with bushy tails and large heads, and a quick, sharp
+bark, abound here, as in all other parts of California.  These,
+the dogs were very watchful for, and whenever they saw them,
+started off in full run after them.  We had many fine chases;
+yet, although our dogs ran finely, the rascals generally escaped.
+They are a match for the dog,---one to one,--but as the dogs
+generally went in squads, there was seldom a fair fight.  A smaller
+dog, belonging to us, once attacked a coati, single, and got a good
+deal worsted, and might perhaps have been killed had we not come to
+his assistance.  We had, however, one dog which gave them a good
+deal of trouble, and many hard runs.  He was a fine, tall fellow,
+and united strength and agility better than any dog that I have
+ever seen.  He was born at the Islands, his father being an English
+mastiff, and his mother a greyhound.  He had the high head, long legs,
+narrow body, and springing gait of the latter, and the heavy jaw,
+thick jowls, and strong fore-quarters of the mastiff.  When he was
+brought to San Diego, an English sailor said that he looked,
+about the face, precisely like the Duke of Wellington, whom he had
+once seen at the Tower; and, indeed, there was something about him
+which resembled the portraits of the Duke.  From this time he was
+christened "Welly," and became the favorite and bully of the beach.
+He always led the dogs by several yards in the chase, and had killed
+two coati at different times in single combats.  We often had fine
+sport with these fellows.  A quick, sharp bark from a coati, and in
+an instant every dog was at the height of his speed.  A few moments
+made up for an unfair start, and gave each dog his relative place.
+Welly, at the head, seemed almost to skim over the bushes; and after
+him came Fanny, Feliciana, Childers, and the other fleet ones,--
+the spaniels and terriers; and then behind, followed the heavy
+corps--bulldogs, etc., for we had every breed.  Pursuit by us was
+in vain, and in about half an hour a few of them would come panting
+and straggling back.
+
+Beside the coati, the dogs sometimes made prizes of rabbits and
+hares, which are very plentiful here, and great numbers of which
+we often shot for our dinners.  There was another animal that I
+was not so much disposed to find amusement from, and that was the
+rattlesnake.  These are very abundant here, especially during the
+spring of the year.  The latter part of the time that I was on shore,
+I did not meet with so many, but for the first two months we seldom
+went into "the bush" without one of our number starting some of them.
+The first that I ever saw, I remember perfectly well.  I had left my
+companions, and was beginning to clear away a fine clump of trees,
+when just in the midst of the thicket, not more than eight yards from
+me, one of these fellows set up his hiss.  It is a sharp, continuous
+sound, and resembles very much the letting off of the steam from
+the small pipe of a steamboat, except that it is on a smaller scale.
+I knew, by the sound of an axe, that one of my companions was near,
+and called out to him, to let him know what I had fallen upon.
+He took it very lightly, and as he seemed inclined to laugh at me for
+being afraid, I determined to keep my place.  I knew that so long
+as I could hear the rattle, I was safe, for these snakes never make
+a noise when they are in motion.  Accordingly, I kept at my work,
+and the noise which I made with cutting and breaking the trees kept
+him in alarm; so that I had the rattle to show me his whereabouts.
+Once or twice the noise stopped for a short time, which gave me a
+little uneasiness, and retreating a few steps, I threw something
+into the bush, at which he would set his rattle agoing; and finding
+that he had not moved from his first place, I was easy again.
+In this way I continued at my work until I had cut a full load,
+never suffering him to be quiet for a moment.  Having cut my load,
+I strapped it together, and got everything ready for starting. 
+I felt that I could now call the others without the imputation of
+being afraid; and went in search of them.  In a few minutes we
+were all collected, and began an attack upon the bush.  The big
+Frenchman, who was the one that I had called to at first, I found
+as little inclined to approach the snake as I had been.  The dogs,
+too, seemed afraid of the rattle, and kept up a barking at a safe
+distance; but the Kanakas showed no fear, and getting long sticks,
+went into the bush, and keeping a bright look-out, stood within a
+few feet of him.  One or two blows struck near him, and a few stones
+thrown, started him, and we lost his track, and had the pleasant
+consciousness that he might be directly under our feet.  By throwing
+stones and chips in different directions, we made him spring his
+rattle again, and began another attack.  This time we drove him
+into the clear ground, and saw him gliding off, with head and tail
+erect, when a stone, well aimed, knocked him over the bank, down a
+declivity of fifteen or twenty feet, and stretched him at his length.
+Having made sure of him, by a few more stones, we went down, and one
+of the Kanakas cut off his rattle.  These rattles vary in number it
+is said, according to the age of the snake; though the Indians think
+they indicate the number of creatures they have killed.  We always
+preserved them as trophies, and at the end of the summer had quite
+a number.  None of our people were ever bitten by them, but one of
+our dogs died of a bite, and another was supposed to have been bitten,
+but recovered.  We had no remedy for the bite, though it was said that
+the Indians of the country had, and the Kanakas professed to have an
+herb which would cure it, but it was fortunately never brought to the test.
+
+Hares and rabbits, as I said before, were abundant, and, during the
+winter months, the waters are covered with wild ducks and geese.
+Crows, too, were very numerous, and frequently alighted in great
+numbers upon our hides, picking at the pieces of dried meat and fat.
+Bears and wolves are numerous in the upper parts, and in the interior,
+(and, indeed, a man was killed by a bear within a few miles of
+San Pedro, while we were there,) but there were none in our
+immediate neighborhood.  The only other animals were horses.
+Over a dozen of these were owned by different people on the beach,
+and were allowed to run loose among the hills, with a long lasso
+attached to them, and pick up feed wherever they could find it.
+We were sure of seeing them once a day, for there was no water
+among the hills, and they were obliged to come down to the well
+which had been dug upon the beach.  These horses were bought at,
+from two, to six and eight dollars apiece, and were held very much
+as common property.  We generally kept one fast to one of the houses
+every day, so that we could mount him and catch any of the others.
+Some of them were really fine animals, and gave us many good runs
+up to the Presidio and over the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+LEISURE--NEWS FROM HOME--"BURNING THE WATER"
+
+
+After we had been a few weeks on shore, and had begun to feel
+broken into the regularity of our life, its monotony was
+interrupted by the arrival of two vessels from the windward.
+We were sitting at dinner in our little room, when we heard the cry
+of "Sail ho!"  This, we had learned, did not always signify a vessel,
+but was raised whenever a woman was seen coming down from the town;
+or a squaw, or an ox-cart, or anything unusual, hove in sight upon
+the road; so we took no notice of it.  But it soon became so loud
+and general from all parts of the beach, that we were led to go
+to the door; and there, sure enough, were two sails coming round
+the point, and leaning over from the strong north-west wind,
+which blows down the coast every afternoon.  The headmost was a
+ship, and the other, a brig.  Everybody was alive on the beach,
+and all manner of conjectures were abroad.  Some said it was the
+Pilgrim, with the Boston ship, which we were expecting; but we soon
+saw that the brig was not the Pilgrim, and the ship with her stump
+top-gallant masts and rusty sides, could not be a dandy Boston
+Indiaman.  As they drew nearer, we soon discovered the high poop
+and top-gallant forecastle, and other marks of the Italian ship Rosa,
+and the brig proved to be the Catalina, which we saw at Santa Barbara,
+just arrived from Valparaiso.  They came to anchor, moored ship,
+and commenced discharging hides and tallow.  The Rosa had purchased
+the house occupied by the Lagoda, and the Catalina took the other
+spare one between ours and the Ayacucho's, so that, now, each one
+was occupied, and the beach, for several days, was all alive.
+The Catalina had several Kanakas on board, who were immediately
+besieged by the others, and carried up to the oven, where they had
+a long pow-wow, and a smoke.  Two Frenchmen, who belonged to the
+Rosa's crew, came in, every evening, to see Nicholas; and from them
+we learned that the Pilgrim was at San Pedro, and was the only other
+vessel now on the coast.  Several of the Italians slept on shore at
+their hide-house; and there, and at the tent in which the Fazio's
+crew lived, we had some very good singing almost every evening.
+The Italians sang a variety of songs--barcarollas, provincial airs,
+etc.; in several of which I recognized parts of our favorite operas
+and sentimental songs.  They often joined in a song, taking all the
+different parts; which produced a fine effect, as many of them had good
+voices, and all seemed to sing with spirit and feeling.  One young
+man, in particular, had a falsetto as clear as a clarionet.
+
+The greater part of the crews of the vessels came ashore every
+evening, and we passed the time in going about from one house to
+another, and listening to all manner of languages.  The Spanish was
+the common ground upon which we all met; for every one knew more or
+less of that.  We had now, out of forty or fifty, representatives
+from almost every nation under the sun: two Englishmen, three Yankees,
+two Scotchmen, two Welshmen, one Irishman, three Frenchmen (two of
+whom were Normans, and the third from Gascony,) one Dutchman,
+one Austrian, two or three Spaniards, (from old Spain,) half a
+dozen Spanish-Americans and half-breeds, two native Indians from
+Chili and the Island of Chiloe, one Negro, one Mulatto, about twenty
+Italians, from all parts of Italy, as many more Sandwich Islanders,
+one Otaheitan, and one Kanaka from the Marquesas Islands.
+
+The night before the vessels were ready to sail, all the
+Europeans united and had an entertainment at the Rosa's hide-house,
+and we had songs of every nation and tongue.  A German gave us
+"Och! mein lieber Augustin!" the three Frenchmen roared through the
+Marseilles Hymn; the English and Scotchmen gave us "Rule Britannia,"
+and "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" the Italians and Spaniards screamed
+through some national affairs, for which I was none the wiser;
+and we three Yankees made an attempt at the "Star-spangled Banner."
+After these national tributes had been paid, the Austrian gave us
+a very pretty little love-song, and the Frenchmen sang a spirited
+thing called "Sentinelle! O prenez garde a vous!" and then
+followed the melange which might have been expected.  When I
+left them, the aguardiente and annisou was pretty well in their
+heads, and they were all singing and talking at once, and their
+peculiar national oaths were getting as plenty as pronouns.
+
+The next day, the two vessels got under weigh for the windward,
+and left us in quiet possession of the beach.  Our numbers were
+somewhat enlarged by the opening of the new houses, and the society
+of the beach a little changed.  In charge of the Catalina's house,
+was an old Scotchman, who, like most of his countrymen, had a pretty
+good education, and, like many of them, was rather pragmatical,
+and had a ludicrously solemn conceit.  He employed his time in
+taking care of his pigs, chickens, turkeys, dogs, etc., and in
+smoking his long pipe.  Everything was as neat as a pin in the
+house, and he was as regular in his hours as a chronometer, but as
+he kept very much by himself, was not a great addition to our
+society.  He hardly spent a cent all the time he was on the beach,
+and the others said he was no shipmate.  He had been a petty officer
+on board the British frigate Dublin, Capt. Lord James Townshend,
+and had great ideas of his own importance.  The man in charge
+of the Rosa's house was an Austrian by birth, but spoke, read,
+and wrote four languages with ease and correctness.  German was his
+native tongue, but being born near the borders of Italy, and having
+sailed out of Genoa, the Italian was almost as familiar to him as
+his own language.  He was six years on board of an English man-of-war,
+where he learned to speak our language with ease, and also to read
+and write it.  He had been several years in Spanish vessels,
+and had acquired that language so well, that he could read any
+books in it.  He was between forty and fifty years of age, and was
+a singular mixture of the man-of-war's-man and Puritan.  He talked
+a great deal about propriety and steadiness, and gave good advice
+to the youngsters and Kanakas, but seldom went up to the town,
+without coming down "three sheets in the wind."  One holyday, he
+and old Robert (the Scotchman from the Catalina) went up to the
+town, and got so cozy, talking over old stories and giving one
+another good advice, that they came down double-backed, on a horse,
+and both rolled off into the sand as soon as the horse stopped.
+This put an end to their pretensions, and they never heard the last
+of it from the rest of the men.  On the night of the entertainment
+at the Rosa's house, I saw old Schmidt, (that was the Austrian's name)
+standing up by a hogshead, holding on by both hands, and calling out
+to himself--"Hold on, Schmidt! hold on, my good fellow, or you'll
+be on your back!"  Still, he was an intelligent, good-natured old
+fellow, and had a chest-full of books, which he willingly lent
+me to read.  In the same house with him was a Frenchman and an
+Englishman; the latter a regular-built "man-of-war Jack;" a thorough
+seaman; a hearty, generous fellow; and, at the same time, a drunken,
+dissolute dog.  He made it a point to get drunk once a fortnight,
+(when he always managed to sleep on the road, and have his money
+stolen from him,) and to battle the Frenchman once a week.
+These, with a Chilian, and a half a dozen Kanakas, formed the
+addition to our company.
+
+In about six weeks from the time when the Pilgrim sailed, we had
+got all the hides which she left us cured and stowed away;
+and having cleared up the ground, and emptied the vats, and set
+everything in order, had nothing more to do until she should come
+down again, but to supply ourselves with wood.  Instead of going
+twice a week for this purpose, we determined to give one whole
+week to getting wood, and then we should have enough to last us
+half through the summer.  Accordingly, we started off every morning,
+after an early breakfast, with our hatchets in hand, and cut wood
+until the sun was over the point,--which was our only mark of time,
+as there was not a watch on the beach--and then came back to dinner,
+and after dinner, started off again with our hand-cart and ropes,
+and carted and "backed" it down, until sunset.  This, we kept up for
+a week, until we had collected several cords,--enough to last us for
+six or eight weeks--when we "knocked off" altogether, much to my joy;
+for, though I liked straying in the woods, and cutting, very well,
+yet the backing the wood for so great a distance, over an uneven
+country, was, without exception, the hardest work I had ever done.
+I usually had to kneel down and contrive to heave the load, which
+was well strapped together, upon my back, and then rise up and
+start off with it up the hills and down the vales, sometimes through
+thickets,--the rough points sticking into the skin, and tearing the
+clothes, so that, at the end of the week, I had hardly a whole shirt
+to my back.
+
+We were now through all our work, and had nothing more to do until
+the Pilgrim should come down again.  We had nearly got through
+our provisions too, as well as our work; for our officer had
+been very wasteful of them, and the tea, flour, sugar, and molasses,
+were all gone.  We suspected him of sending them up to the town;
+and he always treated the squaws with molasses, when they came
+down to the beach.  Finding wheat-coffee and dry bread rather
+poor living, we dubbed together, and I went up to the town on
+horseback with a great salt-bag behind the saddle, and a few reáls
+in my pocket, and brought back the bag full of onions, pears, beans,
+water-melons, and other fruits; for the young woman who tended
+the garden, finding that I belonged to the American ship, and that
+we were short of provisions, put in a double portion.  With these
+we lived like fighting-cocks for a week or two, and had, besides,
+what the sailors call "a blow-out on sleep;" not turning out in the
+morning until breakfast was ready.  I employed several days in
+overhauling my chest, and mending up all my old clothes, until I
+had got everything in order--patch upon patch, like a sand-barge's
+mainsail.  Then I took hold of Bowditch's Navigator, which I had
+always with me.  I had been through the greater part of it, and now
+went carefully through it, from beginning to end working out most
+of the examples.  That done, and there being no signs of the Pilgrim,
+I made a descent upon old Schmidt, and borrowed and read all the
+books there were upon the beach.  Such a dearth was there of these
+latter articles, that anything, even a little child's story-book,
+or the half of a shipping calendar, appeared like a treasure.
+I actually read a jest-book through, from beginning to end, in one
+day, as I should a novel, and enjoyed it very much.  At last,
+when I thought that there were no more to be got, I found, at the
+bottom of old Schmidt's chest, "Mandeville, a Romance, by Godwin,
+in five volumes."  This I had never read, but Godwin's name was enough,
+and after the wretched trash I had devoured, anything bearing the name
+of a distinguished intellectual man, was a prize indeed.  I bore it off,
+and for two days I was up early and late, reading with all my might,
+and actually drinking in delight.  It is no extravagance to say that
+it was like a spring in a desert land.
+
+From the sublime to the ridiculous--so with me, from Mandeville
+to hide-curing, was but a step; for
+
+Wednesday, July 18th, brought us the brig Pilgrim from the windward.
+As she came in, we found that she was a good deal altered in her
+appearance.  Her short top-gallant masts were up; her bowlines all
+unrove (except to the courses); the quarter boom-irons off her lower
+yards; her jack-cross-trees sent down; several blocks got rid of;
+running-rigging rove in new places; and numberless other changes
+of the same character.  Then, too, there was a new voice giving orders,
+and a new face on the quarter-deck,--a short, dark-complexioned man,
+in a green jacket and a high leather cap.  These changes, of course,
+set the whole beach on the qui-vive, and we were all waiting for the
+boat to come ashore, that we might have things explained.  At length,
+after the sails were furled and the anchor carried out, the boat
+pulled ashore, and the news soon flew that the expected ship had
+arrived at Santa Barbara, and that Captain T----- had taken command
+of her, and her captain, Faucon, had taken the Pilgrim, and was the
+green-jacketed man on the quarter-deck.  The boat put directly off
+again, without giving us time to ask any more questions, and we were
+obliged to wait till night, when we took a little skiff, that lay on
+the beach, and paddled off.  When I stepped aboard, the second mate
+called me aft, and gave me a large bundle, directed to me, and marked
+"Ship Alert."  This was what I had longed for, yet I refrained from
+opening it until I went ashore.  Diving down into the forecastle,
+I found the same old crew, and was really glad to see them again.
+Numerous inquiries passed as to the new ship, the latest news from
+Boston, etc., etc.  S----- had received letters from home, and nothing
+remarkable had happened.  The Alert was agreed on all hands to be a
+fine ship, and a large one: "Larger than the Rosa"--"Big enough to
+carry off all the hides in California"--"Rail as high as a man's
+head"--"A crack ship"--"A regular dandy," etc., etc.  Captain
+T----- took command of her, and she went directly up to Monterey;
+from thence she was to go to San Francisco, and probably would not
+be in San Diego under two or three months.  Some of the Pilgrim's
+crew found old ship-mates aboard of her, and spent an hour or two
+in her forecastle, the evening before she sailed.  They said her
+decks were as white as snow--holystoned every morning, like a
+man-of-war's; everything on board "shipshape and Bristol fashion;"
+a fine crew, three mates, a sailmaker and carpenter, and all complete.
+"They've got a man for mate of that ship, and not a bloody sheep
+about decks!"--"A mate that knows his duty, and makes everybody
+do theirs, and won't be imposed upon either by captain or crew."
+After collecting all the information we could get on this point,
+we asked something about their new captain.  He had hardly been
+on board long enough for them to know much about him, but he had
+taken hold strong, as soon as he took command;--sending down the
+top-gallant masts, and unreeving half the rigging, the very first
+day.
+
+Having got all the news we could, we pulled ashore; and as soon as
+we reached the house, I, as might be supposed, proceeded directly
+to opening my bundle, and found a reasonable supply of duck,
+flannel shirts, shoes, etc., and, what was still more valuable,
+a packet of eleven letters.  These I sat up nearly all the night
+to read, and put them carefully away, to be read and re-read again
+and again at my leisure.  Then came a half a dozen newspapers,
+the last of which gave notice of Thanksgiving, and of the clearance
+of "ship Alert, Edward H. Faucon, master, for Callao and California,
+by Bryant, Sturgis & Co."  No one has ever been on distant voyages,
+and after a long absence received a newspaper from home, who cannot
+understand the delight that they give one.  I read every part of them
+--the houses to let; things lost or stolen; auction sales, and all.
+Nothing carries you so entirely to a place, and makes you feel so
+perfectly at home, as a newspaper.  The very name of "Boston Daily
+Advertiser" "sounded hospitably upon the ear."
+
+The Pilgrim discharged her hides, which set us at work again,
+and in a few days we were in the old routine of dry hides--wet
+hides--cleaning--beating, etc.  Captain Faucon came quietly up to
+me, as I was at work, with my knife, cutting the meat from a dirty
+hide, asked me how I liked California, and repeated--"Tityre, tu
+patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi."  Very apropos, thought I, and,
+at the same time, serves to show that you understand Latin.
+However, a kind word from a captain is a thing not to be slighted;
+so I answered him civilly, and made the most of it.
+
+Saturday, July 11th.  The Pilgrim set sail for the windward, and left
+us to go on in our old way.  Having laid in such a supply of wood,
+and the days being now long, and invariably pleasant, we had a
+good deal of time to ourselves.  All the duck I received from home,
+I soon made up into trowsers and frocks, and displayed, every Sunday,
+a complete suit of my own make, from head to foot, having formed
+the remnants of the duck into a cap.  Reading, mending, sleeping,
+with occasional excursions into the bush, with the dogs, in search
+of coati, hares, and rabbits, or to encounter a rattlesnake, and now
+and then a visit to the Presidio, filled up our spare time after
+hide-curing was over for the day.  Another amusement, which we
+sometimes indulged in, was "burning the water" for craw-fish.
+For this purpose, we procured a pair of grains, with a long staff
+like a harpoon, and making torches with tarred rope twisted round a
+long pine stick, took the only boat on the beach, a small skiff,
+and with a torch-bearer in the bow, a steersman in the stern, and one
+man on each side with the grains, went off, on dark nights, to burn
+the water.  This is fine sport.  Keeping within a few rods of the
+shore, where the water is not more than three or four feet deep,
+with a clear sandy bottom, the torches light everything up so that one
+could almost have seen a pin among the grains of sand.  The craw-fish
+are an easy prey, and we used soon to get a load of them.  The other
+fish were more difficult to catch, yet we frequently speared a number
+of them, of various kinds and sizes.  The Pilgrim brought us down
+a supply of fish-hooks, which we had never had before, on the beach,
+and for several days we went down to the Point, and caught a
+quantity of cod and mackerel.  On one of these expeditions, we saw
+a battle between two Sandwich Islanders and a shark.  "Johnny"
+had been playing about our boat for some time, driving away the
+fish, and showing his teeth at our bait, when we missed him, and in
+a few moments heard a great shouting between two Kanakas who were
+fishing on the rock opposite to us: "E hana hana make i ka ia nui!"
+"E pii mai Aikane!" etc., etc.; and saw them pulling away on a stout
+line, and "Johnny Shark" floundering at the other end.  The line
+soon broke; but the Kanakas would not let him off so easily,
+and sprang directly into the water after him.  Now came the tug of
+war.  Before we could get into deep water, one of them seized him
+by the tail, and ran up with him upon the beach; but Johnny
+twisted round, turning his head under his body, and, showing his
+teeth in the vicinity of the Kanaka's hand, made him let go and
+spring out of the way.  The shark now turned tail and made the
+best of his way, by flapping and floundering, toward deep water;
+but here again, before he was fairly off, the other Kanaka seized
+him by the tail, and made a spring towards the beach, his companion
+at the same time paying away upon him with stones and a large stick.
+As soon, however, as the shark could turn, he was obliged to let go
+his hold; but the instant he made toward deep water, they were both
+behind him, watching their chance to seize him.  In this way the
+battle went on for some time, the shark, in a rage, splashing and
+twisting about, and the Kanakas, in high excitement, yelling at the
+top of their voices; but the shark at last got off, carrying away a
+hook and liner and not a few severe bruises.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+CALIFORNIA AND ITS INHABITANTS
+
+
+We kept up a constant connection with the Presidio, and by the close
+of the summer I had added much to my vocabulary, beside having made
+the acquaintance of nearly everybody in the place, and acquired some
+knowledge of the character and habits of the people, as well as of
+the institutions under which they live.
+
+California was first discovered in 1536, by Cortes, and was subsequently
+visited by numerous other adventurers as well as commissioned voyagers
+of the Spanish crown.  It was found to be inhabited by numerous tribes
+of Indians, and to be in many parts extremely fertile; to which, of course,
+was added rumors of gold mines, pearl fishery, etc.  No sooner was the
+importance of the country known, than the Jesuits obtained leave to
+establish themselves in it, to Christianize and enlighten the Indians.
+They established missions in various parts of the country toward the
+close of the seventeenth century, and collected the natives about them,
+baptizing them into the church, and teaching them the arts of civilized
+life.  To protect the Jesuits in their missions, and at the same time
+to support the power of the crown over the civilized Indians, two
+forts were erected and garrisoned, one at San Diego, and the other
+at Monterey.  These were called Presidios, and divided the command of
+the whole country between them.  Presidios have since been established
+at Santa Barbara and San Francisco; thus dividing the country into
+four large districts, each with its presidio, and governed by the
+commandant.  The soldiers, for the most part, married civilized
+Indians; and thus, in the vicinity of each presidio, sprung up,
+gradually, small towns.  In the course of time, vessels began to
+come into the ports to trade with the missions, and received hides
+in return; and thus began the great trade of California.  Nearly all
+the cattle in the country belonged to the missions, and they employed
+their Indians, who became, in fact, their slaves, in tending their
+vast herds.  In the year 1793, when Vancouver visited San Diego,
+the mission had obtained great wealth and power, and are accused of
+having depreciated the country with the sovereign, that they might
+be allowed to retain their possessions.  On the expulsion of the
+Jesuits from the Spanish dominions, the missions passed into the
+hands of the Franciscans, though without any essential change in
+their management.  Ever since the independence of Mexico, the missions
+have been going down; until, at last, a law was passed, stripping them
+of all their possessions, and confining the priests to their spiritual
+duties; and at the same time declaring all the Indians free and independent
+Rancheros.  The change in the condition of the Indians was, as may be
+supposed, only nominal: they are virtually slaves, as much as they
+ever were.  But in the missions, the change was complete.  The priests
+have now no power, except in their religious character, and the great
+possessions of the missions are given over to be preyed upon by the
+harpies of the civil power, who are sent there in the capacity of
+administradores, to settle up the concerns; and who usually end,
+in a few years, by making themselves fortunes, and leaving their
+stewardships worse than they found them.  The dynasty of the priests
+was much more acceptable to the people of the country, and indeed,
+to every one concerned with the country, by trade or otherwise,
+than that of the administradores.  The priests were attached
+perpetually to one mission, and felt the necessity of keeping up
+its credit.  Accordingly, their debts were regularly paid, and the
+people were, in the main, well treated, and attached to those who
+had spent their whole lives among them. But the administradores are
+strangers sent from Mexico, having no interest in the country;
+not identified in any way with their charge, and, for the most
+part, men of desperate fortunes--broken down politicians and
+soldiers--whose only object is to retrieve their condition in
+as short a time as possible.  The change had been made but a few
+years before our arrival upon the coast, yet, in that short time,
+the trade was much diminished, credit impaired, and the venerable
+missions going rapidly to decay.  The external arrangements remain
+the same.  There are four presidios, having under their protection
+the various missions, and pueblos, which are towns formed by the
+civil power, and containing no mission or presidio.  The most
+northerly presidio is San Francisco; the next Monterey; the next
+Santa Barbara; including the mission of the same, St. Louis Obispo,
+and St. Buenaventura, which is the finest mission in the whole
+country, having very fertile soil and rich vineyards.  The last,
+and most southerly, is San Diego, including the mission of the same,
+San Juan Campestrano, the Pueblo de los Angelos, the largest town in
+California, with the neighboring mission of San Gabriel.  The priests
+in spiritual matters are subject to the Archbishop of Mexico, and in
+temporal matters to the governor-general, who is the great civil and
+military head of the country.
+
+The government of the country is an arbitrary democracy; having no
+common law, and no judiciary.  Their only laws are made and unmade at
+the caprice of the legislature, and are as variable as the legislature
+itself.  They pass through the form of sending representatives to the
+congress at Mexico, but as it takes several months to go and return,
+and there is very little communication between the capital and this
+distant province, a member usually stays there, as permanent member,
+knowing very well that there will be revolutions at home before he
+can write and receive an answer; if another member should be sent,
+he has only to challenge him, and decide the contested election in
+that way.
+
+Revolutions are matters of constant occurrence in California.
+They are got up by men who are at the foot of the ladder and in
+desperate circumstances, just as a new political party is started
+by such men in our own country.  The only object, of course, is the
+loaves and fishes; and instead of caucusing, paragraphing, libelling,
+feasting, promising, and lying, as with us, they take muskets and
+bayonets, and seizing upon the presidio and custom-house, divide the
+spoils, and declare a new dynasty.  As for justice, they know no law
+but will and fear.  A Yankee, who had been naturalized, and become a
+Catholic, and had married in the country, was sitting in his house at
+the Pueblo de los Angelos, with his wife and children, when a Spaniard,
+with whom he had had a difficulty, entered the house, and stabbed
+him to the heart before them all.  The murderer was seized by some
+Yankees who had settled there, and kept in confinement until a
+statement of the whole affair could be sent to the governor-general.
+He refused to do anything about it, and the countrymen of the
+murdered man, seeing no prospect of justice being administered,
+made known that if nothing was done, they should try the man
+themselves.  It chanced that, at this time, there was a company
+of forty trappers and hunters from Kentucky, with their rifles,
+who had made their head-quarters at the Pueblo; and these,
+together with the Americans and Englishmen in the place, who were
+between twenty and thirty in number, took possession of the town,
+and waiting a reasonable time, proceeded to try the man according to
+the forms in their own country.  A judge and jury were appointed,
+and he was tried, convicted, sentenced to be shot, and carried out
+before the town, with his eyes blindfolded.  The names of all
+the men were then put into a hat and each one pledging himself
+to perform his duty, twelve names were drawn out, and the men
+took their stations with their rifles, and, firing at the word,
+laid him dead.  He was decently buried, and the place was restored
+quietly to the proper authorities.  A general, with titles enough
+for an hidalgo, was at San Gabriel, and issued a proclamation
+as long as the fore-top-bowline, threatening destruction to
+the rebels, but never stirred from his fort; for forty Kentucky
+hunters, with their rifles, were a match for a whole regiment of
+hungry, drawling, lazy half-breeds.  This affair happened while
+we were at San Pedro, (the port of the Pueblo,) and we had all
+the particulars directly from those who were on the spot.  A few
+months afterwards, another man, whom we had often seen in San Diego,
+murdered a man and his wife on the high road between the Pueblo and
+San Louis Rey, and the foreigners not feeling themselves called upon
+to act in this case, the parties being all natives, nothing was done
+about it; and I frequently afterwards saw the murderer in San Diego,
+where he was living with his wife and family.
+
+When a crime has been committed by Indians, justice, or rather
+vengeance, is not so tardy.  One Sunday afternoon, while I was
+at San Diego, an Indian was sitting on his horse, when another,
+with whom he had had some difficulty, came up to him, drew a long knife,
+and plunged it directly into the horse's heart.  The Indian sprang
+from his falling horse, drew out the knife, and plunged it into
+the other Indian's breast, over his shoulder, and laid him dead.
+The poor fellow was seized at once, clapped into the calabozo,
+and kept there until an answer could be received from Monterey.
+A few weeks afterwards, I saw the poor wretch, sitting on the
+bare ground, in front of the calabozo, with his feet chained to
+a stake, and handcuffs about his wrists.  I knew there was very
+little hope for him.  Although the deed was done in hot blood,
+the horse on which he was sitting being his own, and a great
+favorite, yet he was an Indian, and that was enough.  In about a
+week after I saw him, I heard that he had been shot.  These few
+instances will serve to give one a notion of the distribution of
+justice in California.
+
+In their domestic relations, these people are no better than in their
+public.  The men are thriftless, proud, and extravagant, and very
+much given to gaming; and the women have but little education,
+and a good deal of beauty, and their morality, of course, is none of
+the best; yet the instances of infidelity are much less frequent than
+one would at first suppose.  In fact, one vice is set over against
+another; and thus, something like a balance is obtained.  The women
+have but little virtue, but then the jealousy of their husbands is
+extreme, and their revenge deadly and almost certain.  A few inches
+of cold steel has been the punishment of many an unwary man, who has
+been guilty, perhaps, of nothing more than indiscretion of manner.
+The difficulties of the attempt are numerous, and the consequences
+of discovery fatal.  With the unmarried women, too, great watchfulness
+is used.  The main object of the parents is to marry their daughters
+well, and to this, the slightest slip would be fatal.  The sharp eyes
+of a dueña, and the cold steel of a father or brother, are a protection
+which the characters of most of them--men and women--render by no means
+useless; for the very men who would lay down their lives to avenge the
+dishonor of their own family, would risk the same lives to complete
+the dishonor of another.
+
+Of the poor Indians, very little care is taken.  The priests,
+indeed, at the missions, are said to keep them very strictly,
+and some rules are usually made by the alcaldes to punish their
+misconduct; but it all amounts to but little.  Indeed, to show the
+entire want of any sense of morality or domestic duty among them,
+I have frequently known an Indian to bring his wife, to whom he
+was lawfully married in the church, down to the beach, and carry
+her back again, dividing with her the money which she had got
+from the sailors.  If any of the girls were discovered by the
+alcalde to be open evil-livers, they were whipped, and kept at
+work sweeping the square of the presidio, and carrying mud and
+bricks for the buildings; yet a few reáls would generally buy
+them off.  Intemperance, too, is a common vice among the Indians.
+The Spaniards, on the contrary, are very abstemious, and I do not
+remember ever having seen a Spaniard intoxicated.
+
+Such are the people who inhabit a country embracing four or five
+hundred miles of sea-coast, with several good harbors; with fine
+forests in the north; the waters filled with fish, and the plains
+covered with thousands of herds of cattle; blessed with a climate,
+than which there can be no better in the world; free from all
+manner of diseases, whether epidemic or endemic; and with a soil
+in which corn yields from seventy to eighty fold.  In the hands
+of an enterprising people, what a country this might be! we are
+ready to say.  Yet how long would a people remain so, in such a
+country?  The Americans (as those from the United States are
+called) and Englishmen, who are fast filling up the principal
+towns, and getting the trade into their hands, are indeed more
+industrious and effective than the Spaniards; yet their children
+are brought up Spaniards, in every respect, and if the "California
+fever" (laziness) spares the first generation, it always attacks
+the second.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+LIFE ON SHORE--THE ALERT
+
+
+Saturday, July 18th.  This day, sailed the Mexican hermaphrodite brig,
+Fazio, for San Blas and Mazatlan.  This was the brig which was driven
+ashore at San Pedro in a south-easter, and had been lying at San Diego
+to repair and take in her cargo.  The owner of her had had a good deal
+of difficulty with the government about the duties, etc., and her
+sailing had been delayed for several weeks; but everything having been
+arranged, she got under weigh with a light breeze, and was floating
+out of the harbor, when two horsemen came dashing down to the beach,
+at full speed, and tried to find a boat to put off after her; but there
+being none on the beach, they offered a handful of silver to any Kanaka
+who would swim off and take a letter on board.  One of the Kanakas,
+a fine, active, well-made young fellow, instantly threw off everything
+but his duck trowsers, and putting the letter into his hat, swam off,
+after the vessel.  Fortunately, the wind was very light and the
+vessel was going slowly, so that, although she was nearly a mile
+off when he started, he gained on her rapidly.  He went through the
+water leaving a wake like a small steamboat.  I certainly never saw
+such swimming before.  They saw him coming from the deck, but did
+not heave-to, suspecting the nature of his errand; yet, the wind
+continuing light, he swam alongside and got on board, and delivered
+his letter.  The captain read the letter, told the Kanaka there was no
+answer, and giving him a glass of brandy, left him to jump overboard
+and find the best of his way to the shore.  The Kanaka swam in for
+the nearest point of land, and, in about an hour, made his appearance
+at the hide-house.  He did not seem at all fatigued, had made three
+or four dollars, got a glass of brandy, and was in fine spirits.
+The brig kept on her course, and the government officers, who had
+come down to forbid her sailing, went back, each with something
+like a flea in his ear, having depended upon extorting a little
+more money from the owner.
+
+It was now nearly three months since the Alert arrived at Santa 
+Barbara, and we began to expect her daily.  About a half a mile
+behind the hide-house, was a high hill; and every afternoon,
+as soon as we had done our work, some one of us walked up to see
+if there were any sail in sight, coming down before the regular trades,
+which blow every afternoon.  Each day, after the latter part of July,
+we went up the hill, and came back disappointed.  I was anxious for
+her arrival, for I had been told by letter that the owners in Boston,
+at the request of my friends, had written to Captain T----- to take
+me on board the Alert, in case she returned to the United States
+before the Pilgrim; and I, of course, wished to know whether the
+order had been received, and what was the destination of the ship.
+One year more or less might be of small consequence to others,
+but it was everything to me.  It was now just a year since we sailed
+from Boston, and at the shortest, no vessel could expect to get away
+under eight or nine months, which would make our absence two years in
+all.  This would be pretty long, but would not be fatal.  It would
+not necessarily be decisive of my future life.  But one year more
+would settle the matter.  I should be a sailor for life; and although
+I had made up my mind to it before I had my letters from home, and was,
+as I thought, quite satisfied; yet, as soon as an opportunity was
+held out to me of returning, and the prospect of another kind of life
+was opened to me, my anxiety to return, and, at least, to have the
+chance of deciding upon my course for myself, was beyond measure.
+Beside that, I wished to be "equal to either fortune," and to qualify
+myself for an officer's berth, and a hide-house was no place to
+learn seamanship in.  I had become experienced in hide-curing,
+and everything went on smoothly, and I had many opportunities of
+becoming acquainted with the people, and much leisure for reading and
+studying navigation; yet practical seamanship could only be got on
+board ship; therefore, I determined to ask to be taken on board the
+ship when she arrived.  By the first of August, we finished curing
+all our hides, stored them away, cleaned out our vats, (in which
+latter work we spent two days, up to our knees in mud and the
+sediments of six months' hide-curing, in a stench which would drive
+a donkey from his breakfast,) and got in readiness for the arrival
+of the ship, and had another leisure interval of three or four weeks;
+which I spent, as usual, in reading, writing, studying, making and
+mending my clothes, and getting my wardrobe in complete readiness,
+in case I should go on board the ship; and in fishing, ranging the
+woods with the dogs, and in occasional visits to the presidio and
+mission.  A good deal of my time was spent in taking care of a
+little puppy, which I had selected from thirty-six, that were born
+within three days of one another, at our house.  He was a fine,
+promising pup, with four white paws, and all the rest of his body
+of a dark brown.  I built a little kennel for him, and kept him
+fastened there, away from the other dogs, feeding and disciplining
+him myself.  In a few weeks, I got him in complete subjection,
+and he grew finely, was very much attached to me, and bid fair
+to be one of the leading dogs on the beach.  I called him Bravo,
+and the only thing I regretted at the thought of leaving the beach,
+was parting with him.
+
+Day after day, we went up the hill, but no ship was to be seen,
+and we began to form all sorts of conjectures as to her whereabouts;
+and the theme of every evening's conversation at the different houses,
+and in our afternoon's paséo upon the beach, was the ship--where
+she could be--had she been to San Francisco?--how many hides she
+would bring, etc., etc.
+
+Tuesday, August 25th.  This morning, the officer in charge of
+our house went off beyond the point a fishing, in a small canoe,
+with two Kanakas; and we were sitting quietly in our room at the
+hide-house, when, just before noon, we heard a complete yell of
+"Sail ho!" breaking out from all parts of the beach, at once,--from
+the Kanakas' oven to the Rosa's house.  In an instant, every one
+was out of his house; and there was a fine, tall ship, with royals
+and skysails set, bending over before the strong afternoon breeze,
+and coming rapidly round the point.  Her yards were braced sharp
+up; every sail was set, and drew well; the Yankee ensign was flying
+from her mizen-peak; and having the tide in her favor, she came up
+like a race-horse.  It was nearly six months since a new vessel had
+entered San Diego, and of course, every one was on the qui-vive.
+She certainly made a fine appearance.  Her light sails were taken
+in, as she passed the low, sandy tongue of land, and clewing up her
+head sails, she rounded handsomely to, under her mizen topsail,
+and let go the anchor at about a cable's length from the shore.
+In a few minutes, the topsail yards were manned, and all three
+of the topsails furled at once.  From the fore top-gallant yard,
+the men slid down the stay to furl the jib, and from the mizen
+top-gallant yard, by the stay, into the maintop, and thence to
+the yard; and the men on the topsail yards came down the lifts
+to the yard-arms of the courses.  The sails were furled with
+great care, the bunts triced up by jiggers, and the jibs stowed
+in cloth.  The royal yards were then struck, tackles got upon the
+yard-arms and the stay, the long-boat hoisted out, a large anchor
+carried astern, and the ship moored.  Then the captain's gig was
+lowered away from the quarter, and a boat's crew of fine lads,
+between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, pulled the captain
+ashore.  The gig was a light whale-boat, handsomely painted,
+and fitted up with cushions, etc., in the stern sheets.
+We immediately attacked the boat's crew, and got very thick
+with them in a few minutes.  We had much to ask about Boston,
+their passage out, etc., and they were very curious to know about
+the life we were leading upon the beach.  One of them offered to
+exchange with me; which was just what I wanted; and we had only
+to get the permission of the captain.
+
+After dinner, the crew began discharging their hides, and, as we
+had nothing to do at the hide-houses, we were ordered aboard to
+help them.  I had now my first opportunity of seeing the ship which
+I hoped was to be my home for the next year.  She looked as well
+on board as she did from without.  Her decks were wide and roomy,
+(there being no poop, or house on deck, which disfigures the after
+part of most of our vessels,) flush, fore and aft, and as white as
+snow, which the crew told us was from constant use of holystones.
+There was no foolish gilding and gingerbread work, to take the eye
+of landsmen and passengers, but everything was "ship-shape and
+Bristol fashion."  There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging hanging
+slack, no fag ends of ropes and "Irish pendants" aloft, and the
+yards were squared "to a t" by lifts and braces.
+
+The mate was a fine, hearty, noisy fellow, with a voice like a lion,
+and always wide awake.  He was "a man, every inch of him," as the
+sailors said; and though "a bit of a horse," and "a hard customer,"
+yet he was generally liked by the crew.  There was also a second and
+third mate, a carpenter, sailmaker, steward, cook, etc., and twelve,
+including boys, before the mast.  She had, on board, seven thousand
+hides, which she had collected at the windward, and also horns
+and tallow.  All these we began discharging, from both gangways
+at once, into the two boats, the second mate having charge of
+the launch, and the third mate of the pinnace.  For several days,
+we were employed in this way, until all the hides were taken out,
+when the crew began taking in ballast, and we returned to our old
+work, hide-curing.
+
+Saturday, Aug. 29th.  Arrived, brig Catalina, from the windward. 
+
+Sunday, 30th.  This was the first Sunday that the crew had been
+in San Diego, and of course they were all for going up to see
+the town.  The Indians came down early, with horses to let for
+the day, and all the crew, who could obtain liberty, went off
+to the Presidio and mission, and did not return until night.
+I had seen enough of San Diego, and went on board and spent
+the day with some of the crew, whom I found quietly at work in
+the forecastle, mending and washing their clothes, and reading
+and writing.  They told me that the ship stopped at Callao in
+the passage out, and there lay three weeks.  She had a passage
+of little over eighty days from Boston to Callao, which is one of
+the shortest on record.  There, they left the Brandywine frigate,
+and other smaller American ships of war, and the English frigate
+Blonde, and a French seventy-four.  From Callao they came directly
+to California, and had visited every port on the coast, including
+San Francisco.  The forecastle in which they lived was large,
+tolerably well lighted by bulls-eyes, and, being kept perfectly clean,
+had quite a comfortable appearance; at least, it was far better than
+the little, black, dirty hole in which I had lived so many months on
+board the Pilgrim.  By the regulations of the ship, the forecastle
+was cleaned out every morning, and the crew, being very neat, kept
+it clean by some regulations of their own, such as having a large
+spitbox always under the steps and between the bits, and obliging
+every man to hang up his wet clothes, etc.  In addition to this,
+it was holystoned every Saturday morning.  In the after part of
+the ship was a handsome cabin, a dining-room, and a trade-room,
+fitted out with shelves and furnished with all sorts of goods.
+Between these and the forecastle was the "between-decks," as high
+as the gun deck of a frigate; being six feet and a half, under the
+beams.  These between-decks were holystoned regularly, and kept in
+the most perfect order; the carpenter's bench and tools being in
+one part, the sailmaker's in another, and boatswain's locker,
+with the spare rigging, in a third.  A part of the crew slept
+here, in hammocks swung fore and aft from the beams, and triced up
+every morning.  The sides of the between-decks were clapboarded,
+the knees and stanchions of iron, and the latter made to unship.
+The crew said she was as tight as a drum, and a fine sea boat,
+her only fault being, that of most fast ships,--that she was wet,
+forward.  When she was going, as she sometimes would, eight or
+nine knots on a wind, there would not be a dry spot forward of
+the gangway.  The men told great stories of her sailing, and had
+great confidence in her as a "lucky ship."  She was seven years
+old, and had always been in the Canton trade, and never had met
+with an accident of any consequence, and had never made a passage
+that was not shorter than the average.  The third mate, a young
+man of about eighteen years of age, nephew of one of the owners,
+had been in the ship from a small boy, and "believed in the ship;"
+and the chief mate thought more of her than he would of a wife and
+family.
+
+The ship lay about a week longer in port, when, having discharged
+her cargo and taken in ballast, she prepared to get under weigh.
+I now made my application to the captain to go on board.  He told
+me that I could go home in the ship when she sailed (which I knew
+before); and, finding that I wished to be on board while she was on
+the coast, said he had no objection, if I could find one of my own
+age to exchange with me, for the time.  This, I easily accomplished,
+for they were glad to change the scene by a few months on shore,
+and, moreover, escape the winter and the south-easters; and I went
+on board the next day, with my chest and hammock, and found myself
+once more afloat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+NEW SHIP AND SHIPMATES--MY WATCHMATE
+
+
+Tuesday, Sept. 8th.  This was my first day's duty on board the
+ship; and though a sailor's life is a sailor's life wherever it
+may be, yet I found everything very different here from the customs
+of the brig Pilgrim.  After all hands were called, at day-break,
+three minutes and a half were allowed for every man to dress and
+come on deck, and if any were longer than that, they were sure
+to be overhauled by the mate, who was always on deck, and making
+himself heard all over the ship.  The head-pump was then rigged,
+and the decks washed down by the second and third mates; the chief
+mate walking the quarter-deck and keeping a general supervision,
+but not deigning to touch a bucket or a brush.  Inside and out,
+fore and aft, upper deck and between decks, steerage and forecastle,
+rail, bulwarks, and water-ways, were washed, scrubbed and scraped
+with brooms and canvas, and the decks were wet and sanded all
+over, and then holystoned.  The holystone is a large, soft stone,
+smooth on the bottom, with long ropes attached to each end, by which
+the crew keep it sliding fore and aft, over the wet, sanded decks.
+Smaller hand-stones, which the sailors call "prayer-books," are used
+to scrub in among the crevices and narrow places, where the large
+holystone will not go.  An hour or two, we were kept at this work,
+when the head-pump was manned, and all the sand washed off the
+decks and sides.  Then came swabs and squilgees; and after the
+decks were dry, each one went to his particular morning job.
+There were five boats belonging to the ship,--launch, pinnace,
+jolly-boat, larboard quarter-boat, and gig,--each of which had a
+coxswain, who had charge of it, and was answerable for the order
+and cleanness of it.  The rest of the cleaning was divided among
+the crew; one having the brass and composition work about the capstan;
+another the bell, which was of brass, and kept as bright as a
+gilt button; a third, the harness-cask; another, the man-rope
+stanchions; others, the steps of the forecastle and hatchways,
+which were hauled up and holystoned.  Each of these jobs must
+be finished before breakfast; and, in the meantime, the rest
+of the crew filled the scuttle-butt, and the cook scraped his
+kids (wooden tubs out of which the sailors eat) and polished the
+hoops, and placed them before the galley, to await inspection.
+When the decks were dry, the lord paramount made his appearance
+on the quarter-deck, and took a few turns, when eight bells
+were struck, and all hands went to breakfast.  Half an hour
+was allowed for breakfast, when all hands were called again;
+the kids, pots, bread-bags, etc., stowed away; and, this morning,
+preparations were made for getting under weigh.  We paid out on the
+chain by which we swung; hove in on the other; catted the anchor;
+and hove short on the first.  This work was done in shorter time
+than was usual on board the brig; for though everything was more
+than twice as large and heavy, the cat-block being as much as a
+man could lift, and the chain as large as three of the Pilgrim's,
+yet there was a plenty of room to move about in, more discipline
+and system, more men, and more good will.  Every one seemed ambitious
+to do his best: officers and men knew their duty, and all went well.
+As soon as she was hove short, the mate, on the forecastle, gave the
+order to loose the sails, and, in an instant, every one sprung into
+the rigging, up the shrouds, and out on the yards, scrambling by one
+another,--the first up the best fellow,--cast off the yard-arm gaskets
+and bunt gaskets, and one man remained on each yard, holding the bunt
+jigger with a turn round the tye, all ready to let go, while the rest
+laid down to man the sheets and halyards. The mate then hailed the
+yards--"All ready forward?"--"All ready the cross-jack yards?" etc.,
+etc., and "Aye, aye, sir!" being returned from each, the word was
+given to let go; and in the twinkling of an eye, the ship, which
+had shown nothing but her bare yards, was covered with her loose
+canvas, from the royal-mast-heads to the decks.  Every one then
+laid down, except one man in each top, to overhaul the rigging,
+and the topsails were hoisted and sheeted home; all three yards
+going to the mast-head at once, the larboard watch hoisting the
+fore, the starboard watch the main, and five light hands, (of whom
+I was one,) picked from the two watches, the mizen.  The yards were
+then trimmed, the anchor weighed, the cat-block hooked on, the fall
+stretched out, manned by "all hands and the cook," and the anchor
+brought to the head with "cheerily men!" in full chorus.  The ship
+being now under weigh, the light sails were set, one after another,
+and she was under full sail, before she had passed the sandy point.
+The fore royal, which fell to my lot, (being in the mate's watch,)
+was more than twice as large as that of the Pilgrim, and, though I
+could handle the brig's easily, I found my hands full, with this,
+especially as there were no jacks to the ship; everything being for
+neatness, and nothing left for Jack to hold on by, but his eyelids.
+
+As soon as we were beyond the point, and all sail out, the order
+was given, "Go below the watch!" and the crew said that, ever since
+they had been on the coast, they had had "watch and watch," while
+going from port to port; and, in fact, everything showed that,
+though strict discipline was kept, and the utmost was required
+of every man, in the way of his duty, yet, on the whole, there
+was very good usage on board.  Each one knew that he must be a
+man, and show himself smart when at his duty, yet every one was
+satisfied with the usage; and a contented crew, agreeing with
+one another, and finding no fault, was a contrast indeed with
+the small, hard-used, dissatisfied, grumbling, desponding crew
+of the Pilgrim.
+
+It being the turn of our watch to go below, the men went to work,
+mending their clothes, and doing other little things for themselves;
+and I, having got my wardrobe in complete order at San Diego,
+had nothing to do but to read.  I accordingly overhauled the
+chests of the crew, but found nothing that suited me exactly,
+until one of the men said he had a book which "told all about a
+great highway-man," at the bottom of his chest, and producing it,
+I found, to my surprise and joy, that it was nothing else than
+Bulwer's Paul Clifford.  This, I seized immediately, and going
+to my hammock, lay there, swinging and reading, until the watch
+was out.  The between-decks were clear, the hatchways open,
+and a cool breeze blowing through them, the ship under easy way,
+and everything comfortable.  I had just got well into the story,
+when eight bells were struck, and we were all ordered to dinner.
+After dinner came our watch on deck for four hours, and, at four
+o'clock, I went below again, turned into my hammock, and read
+until the dog watch.  As no lights were allowed after eight o'clock,
+there was no reading in the night watch.  Having light winds and
+calms, we were three days on the passage, and each watch below,
+during the daytime, I spent in the same manner, until I had
+finished my book.  I shall never forget the enjoyment I derived
+from it.  To come across anything with the slightest claims to
+literary merit, was so unusual, that this was a perfect feast to
+me.  The brilliancy of the book, the succession of capital hits,
+lively and characteristic sketches, kept me in a constant state of
+pleasing sensations.  It was far too good for a sailor.  I could
+not expect such fine times to last long.
+
+While on deck, the regular work of the ship went on.  The sailmaker
+and carpenter worked between decks, and the crew had their work to do
+upon the rigging, drawing yarns, making spun-yarn, etc., as usual in
+merchantmen.  The night watches were much more pleasant than on board
+the Pilgrim.  There, there were so few in a watch, that, one being at
+the wheel, and another on the look-out, there was no one left to talk
+with; but here, we had seven in a watch, so that we had long yarns,
+in abundance.  After two or three night watches, I became quite well
+acquainted with all the larboard watch.  The sailmaker was the head
+man of the watch, and was generally considered the most experienced
+seaman on board.  He was a thoroughbred old man-of-war's-man, had
+been to sea twenty-two years, in all kinds of vessels--men-of-war,
+privateers, slavers, and merchantmen;--everything except whalers,
+which a thorough sailor despises, and will always steer clear of,
+if he can.  He had, of course, been in all parts of the world,
+and was remarkable for drawing a long bow.  His yarns frequently
+stretched through a watch, and kept all hands awake.  They were
+always amusing from their improbability, and, indeed, he never
+expected to be believed, but spun them merely for amusement;
+and as he had some humor and a good supply of man-of-war slang
+and sailor's salt phrases, he always made fun.  Next to him in
+age and experience, and, of course, in standing in the watch,
+was an Englishman, named Harris, of whom I shall have more to
+say hereafter.  Then, came two or three Americans, who had been
+the common run of European and South American voyages, and one who
+had been in a "spouter," and, of course, had all the whaling stories
+to himself.  Last of all, was a broad-backed, thick-headed boy from
+Cape Cod, who had been in mackerel schooners, and was making his
+first voyage in a square-rigged vessel.  He was born in Hingham,
+and of course was called "Bucketmaker."  The other watch was composed of
+about the same number.  A tall, fine-looking Frenchman, with coal-black
+whiskers and curly hair, a first-rate seaman, and named John, (one name
+is enough for a sailor,) was the head man of the watch.  Then came two
+Americans (one of whom had been a dissipated young man of property
+and family, and was reduced to duck trowsers and monthly wages,)
+a German, an English lad, named Ben, who belonged on the mizen
+topsail yard with me, and was a good sailor for his years, and two
+Boston boys just from the public schools.  The carpenter sometimes
+mustered in the starboard watch, and was an old sea-dog, a Swede
+by birth, and accounted the best helmsman in the ship.  This was
+our ship's company, beside cook and steward, who were blacks,
+three mates, and the captain.
+
+The second day out, the wind drew ahead, and we had to beat up
+the coast; so that, in tacking ship, I could see the regulations
+of the vessel.  Instead of going wherever was most convenient,
+and running from place to place, wherever work was to be done,
+each man had his station.  A regular tacking and wearing bill
+was made out.  The chief mate commanded on the forecastle, and had
+charge of the head sails and the forward part of the ship.  Two of
+the best men in the ship--the sailmaker from our watch, and John,
+the Frenchman, from the other, worked the forecastle.  The third
+mate commanded in the waist, and, with the carpenter and one man,
+worked the main tack and bowlines; the cook, ex-officio, the fore
+sheet, and the steward the main.  The second mate had charge of
+the after yards, and let go the lee fore and main braces.  I was
+stationed at the weather cross-jack braces; three other light
+hands at the lee; one boy at the spanker-sheet and guy; a man
+and a boy at the main topsail, top-gallant, and royal braces;
+and all the rest of the crew--men and boys--tallied on to the
+main brace.  Every one here knew his station, must be there when
+all hands were called to put the ship about, and was answerable
+for every rope committed to him.  Each man's rope must be let
+go and hauled in at the order, properly made fast, and neatly
+coiled away when the ship was about.  As soon as all hands are at
+their stations, the captain, who stands on the weather side of the
+quarter-deck, makes a sign to the man at the wheel to put it down,
+and calls out "Helm's a lee'!"  "Helm's a lee'!" answers the mate on
+the forecastle, and the head sheets are let go.  "Raise tacks and
+sheets!" says the captain; "tacks and sheets!" is passed forward,
+and the fore tack and main sheet are let go.  The next thing is to
+haul taught for a swing.  The weather cross-jack braces and the lee
+main braces are each belayed together upon two pins, and ready to
+be let go; and the opposite braces hauled taught.  "Main topsail
+haul!" shouts the captain; the braces are let go; and if he has
+taken his time well, the yards swing round like a top; but if he
+is too late, or too soon, it is like drawing teeth.  The after
+yards are then braced up and belayed, the main sheet hauled aft,
+the spanker eased over to leeward, and the men from the braces
+stand by the head yards.  "Let go and haul!" says the captain;
+the second mate lets go the weather fore braces, and the men haul
+in to leeward.  The mate, on the forecastle, looks out for the
+head yards.  "Well, the fore topsail yard!"  "Top-gallant yard's
+well!"  "Royal yard too much! Haul into windward! So! well that!"
+"Well all!"  Then the starboard watch board the main tack, and the
+larboard watch lay forward and board the fore tack and haul down
+the jib sheet, clapping a tackle upon it, if it blows very fresh.
+The after yards are then trimmed, the captain generally looking
+out for them himself.  "Well the cross-jack yard!"  "Small pull the
+main top-gallant yard!"  "Well that!"  "Well the mizen top-gallant
+yard!"  "Cross-jack yards all well!"  "Well all aft!"  "Haul taught
+to windward!"  Everything being now trimmed and in order, each man
+coils up the rigging at his own station, and the order is given--"Go
+below the watch!"
+
+During the last twenty-four hours of the passage, we beat off and
+on the land, making a tack about once in four hours, so that I
+had a sufficient opportunity to observe the working of the ship;
+and certainly, it took no more men to brace about this ship's
+lower yards, which were more than fifty feet square, than it did
+those of the Pilgrim, which were not much more than half the size;
+so much depends upon the manner in which the braces run, and the
+state of the blocks; and Captain Wilson, of the Ayacucho, who was
+afterwards a passenger with us, upon a trip to windward, said he
+had no doubt that our ship worked two men lighter than his brig.
+
+Friday, Sept. 11th.  This morning, at four o'clock, went below,
+San Pedro point being about two leagues ahead, and the ship going
+on under studding-sails.  In about an hour we were waked up by the
+hauling of the chain about decks, and in a few minutes "All hands
+ahoy!" was called; and we were all at work, hauling in and making
+up the studding-sails, overhauling the chain forward, and getting
+the anchors ready.  "The Pilgrim is there at anchor," said some
+one, as we were running about decks; and taking a moment's look
+over the rail, I saw my old friend, deeply laden, lying at anchor
+inside of the kelp.  In coming to anchor, as well as in tacking,
+each one had his station and duty.  The light sails were clewed
+up and furled, the courses hauled up and the jibs down; then came
+the topsails in the buntlines, and the anchor let go.  As soon as
+she was well at anchor, all hands lay aloft to furl the topsails;
+and this, I soon found, was a great matter on board this ship;
+for every sailor knows that a vessel is judged of, a good deal,
+by the furl of her sails.  The third mate, a sailmaker, and the
+larboard watch went upon the fore topsail yard; the second mate,
+carpenter, and the starboard watch upon the main; and myself
+and the English lad, and the two Boston boys, and the young
+Cape-Cod man, furled the mizen topsail.  This sail belonged
+to us altogether, to reef and to furl, and not a man was allowed
+to come upon our yard.  The mate took us under his special care,
+frequently making us furl the sail over, three or four times,
+until we got the bunt up to a perfect cone, and the whole sail
+without a wrinkle.  As soon as each sail was hauled up and the
+bunt made, the jigger was bent on to the slack of the buntlines,
+and the bunt triced up, on deck.  The mate then took his place
+between the knightheads to "twig" the fore, on the windlass to
+twig the main, and at the foot of the mainmast, for the mizen;
+and if anything was wrong,--too much bunt on one side, clews too
+taught or too slack, or any sail abaft the yard,--the whole must be
+dropped again.  When all was right, the bunts were triced well up,
+the yard-arm gaskets passed, so as not to leave a wrinkle forward
+of the yard--short gaskets with turns close together.
+
+From the moment of letting go the anchor, when the captain ceases
+his care of things, the chief mate is the great man.  With a voice
+like a young lion, he was hallooing and bawling, in all directions,
+making everything fly, and, at the same time, doing everything well.
+He was quite a contrast to the worthy, quiet, unobtrusive mate of the
+Pilgrim; not so estimable a man, perhaps, but a far better mate
+of a vessel; and the entire change in Captain T-----'s conduct,
+since he took command of the ship, was owing, no doubt, in a
+great measure, to this fact.  If the chief officer wants force,
+discipline slackens, everything gets out of joint, the captain
+interferes continually; that makes a difficulty between them,
+which encourages the crew, and the whole ends in a three-sided
+quarrel.  But Mr. Brown (the mate of the Alert) wanted no help
+from anybody; took everything into his own hands; and was more
+likely to encroach upon the authority of the master, than to
+need any spurring.  Captain T----- gave his directions to the
+mate in private, and, except in coming to anchor, getting under
+weigh, tacking, reefing topsails, and other "all-hands-work,"
+seldom appeared in person.  This is the proper state of things,
+and while this lasts, and there is a good understanding aft,
+everything will go on well.
+
+Having furled all the sails, the royal yards were next to be sent
+down.  The English lad and myself sent down the main, which was
+larger than the Pilgrim's main top-gallant yard; two more light
+hands, the fore; and one boy, the mizen.  This order, we always
+kept while on the coast; sending them up and down every time we
+came in and went out of port.  They were all tripped and lowered
+together, the main on the starboard side, and the fore and mizen,
+to port.  No sooner was she all snug, than tackles were got up
+on the yards and stays, and the long-boat and pinnace hove out.
+The swinging booms were then guyed out, and the boats made fast
+by geswarps, and everything in harbor style.  After breakfast,
+the hatches were taken off, and all got ready to receive hides
+from the Pilgrim.  All day, boats were passing and repassing,
+until we had taken her hides from her, and left her in ballast
+trim.  These hides made but little show in our hold, though they
+had loaded the Pilgrim down to the water's edge.  This changing
+of the hides settled the question of the destination of the two
+vessels, which had been one of some speculation to us.  We were
+to remain in the leeward ports, while the Pilgrim was to sail,
+the next morning, for San Francisco.  After we had knocked off
+work, and cleared up decks for the night, my friend S----- came
+on board, and spent an hour with me in our berth between decks.
+The Pilgrim's crew envied me my place on board the ship, and seemed
+to think that I had got a little to windward of them; especially in
+the matter of going home first.  S----- was determined to go home on
+the Alert, by begging or buying; if Captain T----- would not let
+him come on other terms, he would purchase an exchange with some
+one of the crew.  The prospect of another year after the Alert
+should sail, was rather "too much of the monkey."  About seven
+o'clock, the mate came down into the steerage, in fine trim for fun,
+roused the boys out of the berth, turned up the carpenter with his
+fiddle, sent the steward with lights to put in the between-decks,
+and set all hands to dancing.  The between-decks were high enough
+to allow of jumping; and being clear, and white, from holystoning,
+made a fine dancing-hall.  Some of the Pilgrim's crew were in the
+forecastle, and we all turned-to and had a regular sailor's shuffle,
+till eight bells.  The Cape-Cod boy could dance the true fisherman's
+jig, barefooted, knocking with his heels, and slapping the decks
+with his bare feet, in time with the music.  This was a favorite
+amusement of the mate's, who always stood at the steerage door,
+looking on, and if the boys would not dance, he hazed them round
+with a rope's end, much to the amusement of the men.
+
+The next morning, according to the orders of the agent, the Pilgrim
+set sail for the windward, to be gone three or four months.  She got
+under weigh with very little fuss, and came so near us as to throw
+a letter on board, Captain Faucon standing at the tiller himself,
+and steering her as he would a mackerel smack.  When Captain T-----
+was in command of the Pilgrim, there was as much preparation
+and ceremony as there would be in getting a seventy-four under
+weigh.  Captain Faucon was a sailor, every inch of him; he knew
+what a ship was, and was as much at home in one, as a cobbler in
+his stall.  I wanted no better proof of this than the opinion of
+the ship's crew, for they had been six months under his command,
+and knew what he was; and if sailors allow their captain to be a
+good seaman, you may be sure he is one, for that is a thing they
+are not always ready to say.
+
+After the Pilgrim left us, we lay three weeks at San Pedro, from the
+11th of September until the 2nd of October, engaged in the usual port
+duties of landing cargo, taking off hides, etc., etc.  These duties
+were much easier, and went on much more agreeably, than on board
+the Pilgrim.  "The more, the merrier," is the sailor's maxim; and a
+boat's crew of a dozen could take off all the hides brought down in
+a day, without much trouble, by division of labor; and on shore,
+as well as on board, a good will, and no discontent or grumbling,
+make everything go well.  The officer, too, who usually went with
+us, the third mate, was a fine young fellow, and made no unnecessary
+trouble; so that we generally had quite a sociable time, and were
+glad to be relieved from the restraint of the ship.  While here,
+I often thought of the miserable, gloomy weeks we had spent in
+this dull place, in the brig; discontent and hard usage on board,
+and four hands to do all the work on shore.  Give me a big ship.
+There is more room, more hands, better outfit, better regulation,
+more life, and more company.  Another thing was better arranged
+here: we had a regular gig's crew.  A light whale-boat, handsomely
+painted, and fitted out with stern seats, yoke, tiller-ropes, etc.,
+hung on the starboard quarter, and was used as the gig.  The youngest
+lad in the ship, a Boston boy about thirteen years old, was coxswain
+of this boat, and had the entire charge of her, to keep her clean,
+and have her in readiness to go and come at any hour.  Four light
+hands, of about the same size and age, of whom I was one, formed the
+crew.  Each had his oar and seat numbered, and we were obliged to be
+in our places, have our oars scraped white, our tholepins in, and the
+fenders over the side.  The bow-man had charge of the boat-hook and
+painter, and the coxswain of the rudder, yoke, and stern-sheets.
+Our duty was to carry the captain and agent about, and passengers
+off and on; which last was no trifling duty, as the people on shore
+have no boats, and every purchaser, from the boy who buys his pair
+of shoes, to the trader who buys his casks and bales, were to be
+taken off and on, in our boat.  Some days, when people were coming
+and going fast, we were in the boat, pulling off and on, all day long,
+with hardly time for our meals; making, as we lay nearly three
+miles from shore, from forty to fifty miles' rowing in a day.
+Still, we thought it the best berth in the ship; for when the
+gig was employed, we had nothing to do with the cargo, except
+small bundles which the passengers carried with them, and no
+hides to carry, besides the opportunity of seeing everybody,
+making acquaintances, hearing the news, etc.  Unless the captain
+or agent were in the boat, we had no officer with us, and often had
+fine times with the passengers, who were always willing to talk and
+joke with us.  Frequently, too, we were obliged to wait several hours
+on shore; when we would haul the boat up on the beach, and leaving
+one to watch her, go up to the nearest house, or spend the time in
+strolling about the beach, picking up shells, or playing hopscotch,
+and other games, on the hard sand.  The rest of the crew never left
+the ship, except for bringing heavy goods and taking off hides;
+and though we were always in the water, the surf hardly leaving us
+a dry thread from morning till night, yet we were young, and the
+climate was good, and we thought it much better than the quiet,
+hum-drum drag and pull on board ship.  We made the acquaintance
+of nearly half of California; for, besides carrying everybody in
+our boat,--men, women, and children,--all the messages, letters,
+and light packages went by us, and being known by our dress,
+we found a ready reception everywhere.
+
+At San Pedro, we had none of this amusement, for, there being but
+one house in the place, we, of course, had but little company.
+All the variety that I had, was riding, once a week, to the
+nearest rancho, to order a bullock down for the ship.
+
+The brig Catalina came in from San Diego, and being bound up to
+windward, we both got under weigh at the same time, for a trial
+of speed up to Santa Barbara, a distance of about eighty miles.
+We hove up and got under sail about eleven o'clock at night, with
+a light land-breeze, which died away toward morning, leaving us
+becalmed only a few miles from our anchoring-place.  The Catalina,
+being a small vessel, of less than half our size, put out sweeps
+and got a boat ahead, and pulled out to sea, during the night,
+so that she had the sea-breeze earlier and stronger than we did,
+and we had the mortification of seeing her standing up the coast,
+with a fine breeze, the sea all ruffled about her, while we
+were becalmed, in-shore.  When the sea-breeze died away, she was
+nearly out of sight; and, toward the latter part of the afternoon,
+the regular north-west wind set in fresh, we braced sharp upon it,
+took a pull at every sheet, tack, and halyard, and stood after her,
+in fine style, our ship being very good upon a taughtened bowline.
+We had nearly five hours of fine sailing, beating up to windward,
+by long stretches in and off shore, and evidently gaining upon the
+Catalina at every tack.  When this breeze left us, we were so near
+as to count the painted ports on her side.  Fortunately, the wind
+died away when we were on our inward tack, and she on her outward,
+so we were in-shore, and caught the land-breeze first, which came
+off upon our quarter, about the middle of the first watch.  All hands
+were turned-up, and we set all sail, to the skysails and the
+royal studding-sails; and with these, we glided quietly through
+the water, leaving the Catalina, which could not spread so much
+canvas as we, gradually astern, and, by daylight, were off
+St. Buenaventura, and our antagonist nearly out of sight.
+The sea-breeze, however, favored her again, while we were becalmed
+under the headland, and laboring slowly along, she was abreast of
+us by noon.  Thus we continued, ahead, astern, and abreast of one
+another, alternately; now, far out at sea, and again, close in under
+the shore.  On the third morning, we came into the great bay of
+Santa Barbara, two hours behind the brig, and thus lost the bet;
+though, if the race had been to the point, we should have beaten
+her by five or six hours.  This, however, settled the relative
+sailing of the vessels, for it was admitted that although she,
+being small and light, could gain upon us in very light winds,
+yet whenever there was breeze enough to set us agoing, we walked
+away from her like hauling in a line; and in beating to windward,
+which is the best trial of a vessel, we had much the advantage of
+her.
+
+Sunday, Oct. 4th.  This was the day of our arrival; and somehow
+or other, our captain always managed not only to sail, but to come
+into port, on a Sunday.  The main reason for sailing on the Sabbath
+is not, as many people suppose, because Sunday is thought a lucky
+day, but because it is a leisure day.  During the six days, the crew
+are employed upon the cargo and other ship's works, and the Sabbath,
+being their only day of rest, whatever additional work can be thrown
+into Sunday, is so much gain to the owners.  This is the reason of
+our coasters, packets, etc, sailing on the Sabbath.  They get six
+good days' work out of the crew, and then throw all the labor of
+sailing into the Sabbath.  Thus it was with us, nearly all the
+time we were on the coast, and many of our Sabbaths were lost
+entirely to us.  The Catholics on shore have no trading and make
+no journeys on Sunday, but the American has no national religion,
+and likes to show his independence of priestcraft by doing as he
+chooses on the Lord's day.
+
+Santa Barbara looked very much as it did when I left it five months
+before: the long sand beach, with the heavy rollers, breaking upon
+it in a continual roar, and the little town, imbedded on the plain,
+girt by its amphitheatre of mountains.  Day after day, the sun shone
+clear and bright upon the wide bay and the red roofs of the houses;
+everything being as still as death, the people really hardly seeming
+to earn their sun-light.  Daylight actually seemed thrown away upon
+them.  We had a few visitors, and collected about a hundred hides,
+and every night, at sundown, the gig was sent ashore, to wait for
+the captain, who spent his evenings in the town.  We always took
+our monkey-jackets with us, and flint and steel, and made a fire
+on the beach with the driftwood and the bushes we pulled from the
+neighboring thickets, and lay down by it, on the sand.  Sometimes we
+would stray up to the town, if the captain was likely to stay late,
+and pass the time at some of the houses, in which we were almost
+always well received by the inhabitants.  Sometimes earlier and
+sometimes later, the captain came down; when, after a good drenching
+in the surf, we went aboard, changed our clothes, and turned in for
+the night--yet not for all the night, for there was the anchor watch
+to stand.
+
+This leads me to speak of my watchmate for nine months--and,
+taking him all in all, the most remarkable man I have ever
+seen--Tom Harris.  An hour, every night, while lying in port,
+Harris and myself had the deck to ourselves, and walking fore
+and aft, night after night, for months, I learned his whole
+character and history, and more about foreign nations, the habits
+of different people, and especially the secrets of sailors' lives
+and hardships, and also of practical seamanship, (in which he was
+abundantly capable of instructing me,) than I could ever have
+learned elsewhere.  But the most remarkable thing about him, was
+the power of his mind.  His memory was perfect; seeming to form a
+regular chain, reaching from his earliest childhood up to the time
+I knew him, without one link wanting.  His power of calculation,
+too, was remarkable.  I called myself pretty quick at figures, and
+had been through a course of mathematical studies; but, working by
+my head, I was unable to keep within sight of this man, who had
+never been beyond his arithmetic: so rapid was his calculation.
+He carried in his head not only a log-book of the whole voyage,
+in which everything was complete and accurate, and from which no
+one ever thought of appealing, but also an accurate registry of
+all the cargo; knowing, precisely, where each thing was, and how
+many hides we took in at every port.
+
+One night, he made a rough calculation of the number of hides that
+could be stowed in the lower hold, between the fore and main masts,
+taking the depth of hold and breadth of beam, (for he always knew
+the dimension of every part of the ship, before he had been a month
+on board,) and the average area and thickness of a hide; he came
+surprisingly near the number, as it afterwards turned out.  The mate
+frequently came to him to know the capacity of different parts of
+the vessel, so he could tell the sailmaker very nearly the amount
+of canvas he would want for each sail in the ship; for he knew the
+hoist of every mast, and spread of every sail, on the head and foot,
+in feet and inches.  When we were at sea, he kept a running account,
+in his head, of the ship's way--the number of knots and the courses;
+and if the courses did not vary much during the twenty-four hours,
+by taking the whole progress, and allowing so many eighths southing
+or northing, to so many easting or westing; he would make up his
+reckoning just before the captain took the sun at noon, and often
+came wonderfully near the mark.  Calculation of all kinds was his
+delight.  He had, in his chest, several volumes giving accounts
+of inventions in mechanics, which he read with great pleasure,
+and made himself master of.  I doubt if he ever forgot anything
+that he read.  The only thing in the way of poetry that he ever
+read was Falconer's Shipwreck, which he was delighted with,
+and whole pages of which he could repeat.  He knew the name
+of every sailor that had ever been his shipmate, and also,
+of every vessel, captain, and officer, and the principal dates
+of each voyage; and a sailor whom he afterwards fell in with,
+who had been in a ship with Harris nearly twelve years before,
+was very much surprised at having Harris tell him things about
+himself which he had entirely forgotten.  His facts, whether dates
+or events, no one thought of disputing; and his opinions, few of
+the sailors dared to oppose; for, right or wrong, he always had
+the best of the argument with them.  His reasoning powers were
+remarkable.  I have had harder work maintaining an argument with
+him in a watch, even when I knew myself to be right, and he was
+only doubting, than I ever had before; not from his obstinacy,
+but from his acuteness.  Give him only a little knowledge of his
+subject, and, certainly among all the young men of my acquaintance
+and standing at college, there was not one whom I had not rather meet,
+than this man.  I never answered a question from him, or advanced
+an opinion to him, without thinking more than once.  With an iron
+memory, he seemed to have your whole past conversation at command,
+and if you said a thing now which ill agreed with something said
+months before, he was sure to have you on the hip.  In fact,
+I always felt, when with him, that I was with no common man.
+I had a positive respect for his powers of mind, and felt often
+that if half the pains had been spent upon his education which
+are thrown away, yearly, in our colleges, he would have been
+a man of great weight in society.  Like most self-taught men,
+he over-estimated the value of an education; and this, I often
+told him, though I profited by it myself; for he always treated
+me with respect, and often unnecessarily gave way to me, from an
+over-estimate of my knowledge.  For the intellectual capacities
+of all the rest of the crew, captain and all, he had the most
+sovereign contempt.  He was a far better sailor, and probably
+a better navigator, than the captain, and had more brains than
+all the after part of the ship put together.  The sailors said,
+"Tom's got a head as long as the bowsprit," and if any one got
+into an argument with him, they would call out--"Ah, Jack! you'd
+better drop that, as you would a hot potato, for Tom will turn
+you inside out before you know it."
+
+I recollect his posing me once on the subject of the Corn Laws.
+I was called to stand my watch, and, coming on deck, found him
+there before me; and we began, as usual, to walk fore and aft,
+in the waist.  He talked about the Corn Laws; asked me my opinion
+about them, which I gave him; and my reasons; my small stock of
+which I set forth to the best advantage, supposing his knowledge
+on the subject must be less than mine, if, indeed, he had
+any at all.  When I had got through, he took the liberty of
+differing from me, and, to my surprise, brought arguments and
+facts connected with the subject which were new to me, to which
+I was entirely unable to reply.  I confessed that I knew almost
+nothing of the subject, and expressed my surprise at the extent
+of his information.  He said that, a number of years before,
+while at a boarding-house in Liverpool, he had fallen in with
+a pamphlet on the subject, and, as it contained calculations,
+had read it very carefully, and had ever since wished to find
+some one who could add to his stock of knowledge on the question.
+Although it was many years since he had seen the book, and it was
+a subject with which he had no previous acquaintance, yet he had
+the chain of reasoning, founded upon principles of political
+economy, perfect in his memory; and his facts, so far as I
+could judge, were correct; at least, he stated them with great
+precision.  The principles of the steam engine, too, he was very
+familiar with, having been several months on board of a steamboat,
+and made himself master of its secrets.  He knew every lunar star
+in both hemispheres, and was a perfect master of his quadrant and
+sextant.  Such was the man, who, at forty, was still a dog before
+the mast, at twelve dollars a month.  The reason of this was to
+be found in his whole past life, as I had it, at different times,
+from himself.
+
+He was an Englishman, by birth, a native of Ilfracomb, in Devonshire.
+His father was skipper of a small coaster, from Bristol, and dying,
+left him, when quite young, to the care of his mother, by whose
+exertions he received a common-school education, passing his
+winters at school and his summers in the coasting trade, until his
+seventeenth year, when he left home to go upon foreign voyages.
+Of his mother, he often spoke with the greatest respect, and said
+that she was a strong-minded woman, and had the best system of
+education he had ever known; a system which had made respectable
+men of his three brothers, and failed only in him, from his own
+indomitable obstinacy.  One thing he often mentioned, in which he
+said his mother differed from all other mothers that he had ever
+seen disciplining their children; that was, that when he was out
+of humor and refused to eat, instead of putting his plate away,
+as most mothers would, and saying that his hunger would bring
+him to it, in time, she would stand over him and oblige him to
+eat it--every mouthful of it.  It was no fault of hers that he
+was what I saw him; and so great was his sense of gratitude for
+her efforts, though unsuccessful, that he determined, at the
+close of the voyage, to embark for home with all the wages he
+should get, to spend with and for his mother, if perchance he
+should find her alive.
+
+After leaving home, he had spent nearly twenty years, sailing upon
+all sorts of voyages, generally out of the ports of New York and
+Boston.  Twenty years of vice!  Every sin that a sailor knows, he
+had gone to the bottom of.  Several times he had been hauled up in
+the hospitals, and as often, the great strength of his constitution
+had brought him out again in health.  Several times, too, from his
+known capacity, he had been promoted to the office of chief mate,
+and as often, his conduct when in port, especially his drunkenness,
+which neither fear nor ambition could induce him to abandon, put him
+back into the forecastle.  One night, when giving me an account of his
+life, and lamenting the years of manhood he had thrown away, he said
+that there, in the forecastle, at the foot of the steps--a chest
+of old clothes--was the result of twenty-two years of hard labor
+and exposure--worked like a horse, and treated like a dog.  As he
+grew older, he began to feel the necessity of some provision for
+his later years, and came gradually to the conviction that rum had
+been his worst enemy.  One night, in Havana, a young shipmate of
+his was brought aboard drunk, with a dangerous gash in his head,
+and his money and new clothes stripped from him.  Harris had seen
+and been in hundreds of such scenes as these, but in his then state
+of mind, it fixed his determination, and he resolved never to taste
+another drop of strong drink, of any kind.  He signed no pledge, and
+made no vow, but relied on his own strength of purpose.  The first
+thing with him was a reason, and then a resolution, and the thing
+was done.  The date of his resolution he knew, of course, to the
+very hour.  It was three years before I knew him, and during all
+that time, nothing stronger than cider or coffee had passed his
+lips.  The sailors never thought of enticing Tom to take a glass,
+any more than they would of talking to the ship's compass.  He was
+now a temperate man for life, and capable of filling any berth in
+a ship, and many a high station there is on shore which is held by
+a meaner man.
+
+He understood the management of a ship upon scientific principles,
+and could give the reason for hauling every rope; and a long
+experience, added to careful observation at the time, and a
+perfect memory, gave him a knowledge of the expedients and resorts
+in times of hazard, which was remarkable, and for which I became
+much indebted to him, as he took the greatest pleasure in opening
+his stores of information to me, in return for what I was able to
+do for him.  Stories of tyranny and hardship which had driven men
+to piracy;--of the incredible ignorance of masters and mates,
+and of horrid brutality to the sick, dead, and dying; as well
+as of the secret knavery and impositions practised upon seamen
+by connivance of the owners, landlords, and officers; all these
+he had, and I could not but believe them; for men who had known him
+for fifteen years had never taken him even in an exaggeration, and,
+as I have said, his statements were never disputed.  I remember,
+among other things, his speaking of a captain whom I had known
+by report, who never handed a thing to a sailor, but put it on
+deck and kicked it to him; and of another, who was of the best
+connections in Boston, who absolutely murdered a lad from Boston
+that went out with him before the mast to Sumatra, by keeping him
+hard at work while ill of the coast fever, and obliging him to
+sleep in the close steerage.  (The same captain has since died
+of the same fever on the same coast.)
+
+In fact, taking together all that I learned from him of seamanship,
+of the history of sailors' lives, of practical wisdom, and of human
+nature under new circumstances,--a great history from which many are
+shut out,--I would not part with the hours I spent in the watch with
+that man for any given hours of my life passed in study and social
+intercourse.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+SAN DIEGO AGAIN--A DESCENT--HURRIED DEPARTURE--A NEW SHIPMATE
+
+
+Sunday, Oct. 11th.  Set sail this morning for the leeward; passed
+within sight of San Pedro, and, to our great joy, did not come
+to anchor, but kept directly on to San Diego, where we arrived
+and moored ship on.
+
+Thursday, Oct. 15th.  Found here the Italian ship La Rosa, from
+the windward, which reported the brig Pilgrim at San Francisco,
+all well.  Everything was as quiet here as usual.  We discharged
+our hides, horns, and tallow, and were ready to sail again on the
+following Sunday.  I went ashore to my old quarters, and found the
+gang at the hide-house going on in the even tenor of their way,
+and spent an hour or two, after dark, at the oven, taking a whiff
+with my old Kanaka friends, who really seemed glad to see me again,
+and saluted me as the Aikane of the Kanakas.  I was grieved to find
+that my poor dog Bravo was dead.  He had sickened and died suddenly,
+the very day after I sailed in the Alert.
+
+Sunday was again, as usual, our sailing day, and we got under weigh
+with a stiff breeze, which reminded us that it was the latter part
+of the autumn, and time to expect south-easters once more.  We beat
+up against a strong head wind, under reefed top-sails, as far as San
+Juan, where we came to anchor nearly three miles from the shore,
+with slip-ropes on our cables, in the old south-easter style
+of last winter.  On the passage up, we had an old sea captain
+on board, who had married and settled in California, and had
+not been on salt water for more than fifteen years.  He was
+astonished at the changes and improvements that had been made
+in ships, and still more at the manner in which we carried sail;
+for he was really a little frightened; and said that while we had
+top-gallant sails on, he should have been under reefed topsails.
+The working of the ship, and her progress to windward, seemed to
+delight him, for he said she went to windward as though she were
+kedging.
+
+Tuesday, Oct. 20th.  Having got everything ready, we set the
+agent ashore, who went up to the mission to hasten down the
+hides for the next morning.  This night we had the strictest
+orders to look out for south-easters; and the long, low clouds
+seemed rather threatening.  But the night passed over without
+any trouble, and early the next morning, we hove out the long-boat
+and pinnace, lowered away the quarter-boats, and went ashore to
+bring off our hides.  Here we were again, in this romantic spot;
+a perpendicular hill, twice the height of the ship's mast-head,
+with a single circuitous path to the top, and long sand beach at
+its base, with the swell of the whole Pacific breaking high upon
+it, and our hides ranged in piles on the overhanging summit.
+The captain sent me, who was the only one of the crew that had
+ever been there before, to the top, to count the hides and pitch
+them down.  There I stood again, as six months before, throwing
+off the hides, and watching them, pitching and scaling, to the
+bottom, while the men, dwarfed by the distance, were walking to
+and fro on the beach, carrying the hides, as they picked them up,
+to the distant boats, upon the tops of their heads.  Two or three
+boat-loads were sent off, until, at last, all were thrown down,
+and the boats nearly loaded again; when we were delayed by a dozen
+or twenty hides which had lodged in the recesses of the hill, and
+which we could not reach by any missiles, as the general line of
+the side was exactly perpendicular, and these places were caved
+in, and could not be seen or reached from the top.  As hides are
+worth in Boston twelve and a half cents a pound, and the captain's
+commission was two per cent, he determined not to give them up;
+and sent on board for a pair of top-gallant studding-sail halyards,
+and requested some one of the crew to go to the top, and come down
+by the halyards.  The older sailors said the boys, who were light
+and active, ought to go, while the boys thought that strength and
+experience were necessary.  Seeing the dilemma, and feeling myself
+to be near the medium of these requisites, I offered my services,
+and went up, with one man to tend the rope, and prepared for the
+descent.
+
+We found a stake fastened strongly into the ground, and apparently
+capable of holding my weight, to which we made one end of the
+halyards well fast, and taking the coil, threw it over the brink.
+The end, we saw, just reached to a landing-place, from which the
+descent to the beach was easy.  Having nothing on but shirt,
+trowsers, and hat, the common sea-rig of warm weather, I had
+no stripping to do, and began my descent, by taking hold of the
+rope in each hand, and slipping down, sometimes with hands and
+feet round the rope, and sometimes breasting off with one hand
+and foot against the precipice, and holding on to the rope with
+the other.  In this way I descended until I came to a place which
+shelved in, and in which the hides were lodged.  Keeping hold of
+the rope with one hand, I scrambled in, and by the other hand
+and feet succeeded in dislodging all the hides, and continued on
+my way.  Just below this place, the precipice projected again,
+and going over the projection, I could see nothing below me but
+the sea and the rocks upon which it broke, and a few gulls flying
+in mid-air.  I got down in safety, pretty well covered with dirt;
+and for my pains was told, "What a d--d fool you were to risk your
+life for a half a dozen hides!"
+
+While we were carrying the hides to the boat, I perceived, what I
+had been too busy to observe before, that heavy black clouds were
+rolling up from seaward, a strong swell heaving in, and every sign
+of a south-easter.  The captain hurried everything.  The hides were
+pitched into the boats; and, with some difficulty, and by wading
+nearly up to our armpits, we got the boats through the surf, and began
+pulling aboard.  Our gig's crew towed the pinnace astern of the gig,
+and the launch was towed by six men in the jolly-boat.  The ship was
+lying three miles off, pitching at her anchor, and the farther we
+pulled, the heavier grew the swell.  Our boat stood nearly up and
+down several times; the pinnace parted her towline, and we expected
+every moment to see the launch swamped.  We at length got alongside,
+our boats half full of water; and now came the greatest difficulty
+of all,--unloading the boats, in a heavy sea, which pitched them
+about so that it was almost impossible to stand in them; raising
+them sometimes even with the rail, and again dropping them below
+the bends.  With great difficulty, we got all the hides aboard and
+stowed under hatches, the yard and stay tackles hooked on, and the
+launch and pinnace hoisted, checked, and griped.  The quarter-boats
+were then hoisted up, and we began heaving in on the chain.
+Getting the anchor was no easy work in such a sea, but as we
+were not coming back to this port, the captain determined not
+to slip.  The ship's head pitched into the sea, and the water
+rushed through the hawse-holes, and the chain surged so as almost
+to unship the barrel of the windlass.  "Hove short, sir!" said
+the mate.  "Aye, aye!  Weather-bit your chain and loose the
+topsails!  Make sail on her, men--with a will!"  A few moments
+served to loose the topsails, which were furled with reefs,
+to sheet them home, and hoist them up.  "Bear a hand!" was the
+order of the day; and every one saw the necessity of it, for the
+gale was already upon us.  The ship broke out her own anchor,
+which we catted and fished, after a fashion, and stood off from
+the lee-shore against a heavy head sea, under reefed topsails,
+fore-topmast staysail and spanker.  The fore course was given
+to her, which helped her a little; but as she hardly held her
+own against the sea which was settling her leeward--"Board the
+main tack!" shouted the captain; when the tack was carried forward
+and taken to the windlass, and all hands called to the handspikes.
+The great sail bellied out horizontally as though it would lift up
+the main stay; the blocks rattled and flew about; but the force of
+machinery was too much for her.  "Heave ho!  Heave and pawl!  Yo,
+heave, hearty, ho!" and, in time with the song, by the force of
+twenty strong arms, the windlass came slowly round, pawl after pawl,
+and the weather clew of the sail was brought down to the waterways.
+The starboard watch hauled aft the sheet, and the ship tore through
+the water like a mad horse, quivering and shaking at every joint,
+and dashing from its head the foam, which flew off at every blow,
+yards and yards to leeward.  A half hour of such sailing served our
+turn, when the clews of the sail were hauled up, the sail furled,
+and the ship, eased of her press, went more quietly on her way.
+Soon after, the foresail was reefed, and we mizen-top men were
+sent up to take another reef in the mizen topsail.  This was the
+first time I had taken a weather earing, and I felt not a little
+proud to sit, astride of the weather yard-arm, pass the earing,
+and sing out "Haul out to leeward!"  From this time until we got
+to Boston, the mate never suffered any one but our own gang to
+go upon the mizen topsail yard, either for reefing or furling,
+and the young English lad and myself generally took the earings
+between us.
+
+Having cleared the point and got well out to sea, we squared away
+the yards, made more sail, and stood on, nearly before the wind,
+for San Pedro.  It blew strong, with some rain, nearly all night,
+but fell calm toward morning, and the gale having gone over,
+we came-to,--
+
+Thursday, Oct. 22d, at San Pedro, in the old south-easter berth,
+a league from shore, with a slip-rope on the cable, reefs in the
+topsails, and rope-yarns for gaskets.  Here we lay ten days,
+with the usual boating, hide-carrying, rolling of cargo up the
+steep hill, walking barefooted over stones, and getting drenched
+in salt water.
+
+The third day after our arrival, the Rosa came in from San Juan,
+where she went the day after the south-easter.  Her crew said it was
+as smooth as a mill-pond, after the gale, and she took off nearly
+a thousand hides, which had been brought down for us, and which
+we lost in consequence of the south-easter.  This mortified us;
+not only that an Italian ship should have got to windward of us in
+the trade, but because every thousand hides went toward completing
+the forty thousand which we were to collect before we could say
+good-by to California.
+
+While lying here, we shipped one new hand, an Englishman, of about
+two or three and twenty, who was quite an acquisition, as he proved
+to be a good sailor, could sing tolerably, and, what was of more
+importance to me, had a good education, and a somewhat remarkable
+history.  He called himself George P. Marsh; professed to have been
+at sea from a small boy, and to have served his time in the smuggling
+trade between Germany and the coasts of France and England.  Thus he
+accounted for his knowledge of the French language, which he spoke
+and read as well as he did English; but his cutter education would
+not account for his English, which was far too good to have been
+learned in a smuggler; for he wrote an uncommonly handsome hand,
+spoke with great correctness, and frequently, when in private talk
+with me, quoted from books, and showed a knowledge of the customs
+of society, and particularly of the formalities of the various
+English courts of law, and of Parliament, which surprised me.
+Still, he would give no other account of himself than that he
+was educated in a smuggler.  A man whom we afterwards fell in with,
+who had been a shipmate of George's a few years before, said that
+he heard at the boarding-house from which they shipped, that George
+had been at college, (probably a naval one, as he knew no Latin
+or Greek,) where he learned French and mathematics.  He was by
+no means the man by nature that Harris was.  Harris had made
+everything of his mind and character in spite of obstacles;
+while this man had evidently been born in a different rank,
+and educated early in life accordingly, but had been a vagabond,
+and done nothing for himself since.  What had been given to him
+by others, was all that made him to differ from those about him;
+while Harris had made himself what he was.  Neither had George
+the character, strength of mind, acuteness, or memory of Harris;
+yet there was about him the remains of a pretty good education,
+which enabled him to talk perhaps beyond his brains, and a high
+spirit and sense of honor, which years of a dog's life had not
+broken.  After he had been a little while on board, we learned
+from him his remarkable history, for the last two years, which we
+afterwards heard confirmed in such a manner, as put the truth of
+it beyond a doubt.
+
+He sailed from New York in the year 1833, if I mistake not, before
+the mast, in the brig Lascar, for Canton.  She was sold in the East
+Indies, and he shipped at Manilla, in a small schooner, bound on
+a trading voyage among the Ladrone and Pelew Islands.  On one of
+the latter islands, their schooner was wrecked on a reef, and they
+were attacked by the natives, and, after a desperate resistance,
+in which all their number except the captain, George, and a boy,
+were killed or drowned, they surrendered, and were carried bound,
+in a canoe, to a neighboring island.  In about a month after this,
+an opportunity occurred by which one of their number might get
+away.  I have forgotten the circumstances, but only one could go,
+and they yielded to the captain, upon his promising to send them
+aid if he escaped.  He was successful in his attempt; got on board
+an American vessel, went back to Manilla, and thence to America,
+without making any effort for their rescue, or indeed, as George
+afterwards discovered, without even mentioning their case to any
+one in Manilla.  The boy that was with George died, and he being
+alone, and there being no chance for his escape, the natives
+soon treated him with kindness, and even with attention.  They
+painted him, tattooed his body, (for he would never consent to
+be marked in the face or hands,) gave him two or three wives;
+and, in fact, made quite a pet of him.  In this way, he lived
+for thirteen months, in a fine climate, with a plenty to eat,
+half naked, and nothing to do.  He soon, however, became tired,
+and went round the island, on different pretences, to look out
+for a sail.  One day, he was out fishing in a small canoe with
+another man, when he saw a large sail to the windward, about a
+league and a half off, passing abreast of the island and standing
+westward.  With some difficulty, he persuaded the islander to go
+off with him to the ship, promising to return with a good supply
+of rum and tobacco.  These articles, which the islanders had got
+a taste of from American traders, were too strong a temptation
+for the fellow, and he consented.  They paddled off in the track of
+the ship, and lay-to until she came down to them.  George stepped
+on board the ship, nearly naked, painted from head to foot, and in
+no way distinguishable from his companion until he began to speak.
+Upon this, the people on board were not a little astonished; and,
+having learned his story, the captain had him washed and clothed,
+and sending away the poor astonished native with a knife or two
+and some tobacco and calico, took George with him on the voyage.
+This was the ship Cabot, of New York, Captain Low.  She was bound
+to Manilla, from across the Pacific, and George did seaman's duty
+in her until her arrival in Manilla, when he left her, and shipped
+in a brig bound to the Sandwich Islands.  From Oahu, he came,
+in the British brig Clementine, to Monterey, as second officer,
+where, having some difficulty with the captain, he left her,
+and coming down the coast, joined us at San Pedro.  Nearly six
+months after this, among some papers we received by an arrival
+from Boston, we found a letter from Captain Low, of the Cabot,
+published immediately upon his arrival at New York, and giving all
+the particulars just as we had them from George.  The letter was
+published for the information of the friends of George, and Captain
+Low added, that he left him at Manilia to go to Oahu, and he had
+heard nothing of him since.
+
+George had an interesting journal of his adventures in the Pelew
+Islands, which he had written out at length, in a handsome hand,
+and in correct English.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+RUMORS OF WAR--A SPOUTER--SLIPPING FOR A SOUTH-EASTER--A GALE
+
+
+Sunday, November 1st.  Sailed this day, (Sunday again,) for
+Santa Barbara, where we arrived on the 5th.  Coming round St.
+Buenaventura, and nearing the anchorage, we saw two vessels in port,
+a large full-rigged, and a small hermaphrodite brig.  The former,
+the crew said must be the Pilgrim; but I had been too long in the
+Pilgrim to be mistaken in her, and I was right in differing from
+them; for, upon nearer approach, her long, low shear, sharp bows,
+and raking masts, told quite another story.  "Man-of-war brig,"
+said some of them; "Baltimore clipper," said others; the Ayacucho,
+thought I; and soon the broad folds of the beautiful banner of
+St. George,--white field with blood-red border and cross,--were
+displayed from her peak.  A few minutes put it beyond a doubt,
+and we were lying by the side of the Ayacucho, which had sailed
+from San Diego about nine months before, while we were lying there
+in the Pilgrim.  She had since been to Valparaiso, Callao, and the
+Sandwich Islands, and had just come upon the coast.  Her boat came
+on board, bringing Captain Wilson; and in half an hour the news was
+all over the ship that there was a war between the United States
+and France.  Exaggerated accounts reached the forecastle.
+Battles had been fought, a large French fleet was in the Pacific,
+etc., etc.; and one of the boat's crew of the Ayacucho said that
+when they left Callao, a large French frigate and the American
+frigate Brandywine, which were lying there, were going outside to
+have a battle, and that the English frigate Blonde was to be umpire,
+and see fair play.  Here was important news for us.  Alone, on an
+unprotected coast, without an American man-of-war within some
+thousands of miles, and the prospect of a voyage home through the
+whole length of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans!  A French prison
+seemed a much more probable place of destination than the good port
+of Boston.  However, we were too salt to believe every yarn that
+comes into the forecastle, and waited to hear the truth of the
+matter from higher authority.  By means of a supercargo's clerk,
+I got the account of the matter, which was, that the governments
+had had difficulty about the payment of a debt; that war had been
+threatened and prepared for, but not actually declared, although it
+was pretty generally anticipated.  This was not quite so bad, yet
+was no small cause of anxiety.  But we cared very little about the
+matter ourselves.  "Happy go lucky" with Jack!  We did not believe
+that a French prison would be much worse than "hide-droghing" on
+the coast of California; and no one who has not been on a long,
+dull voyage, shut up in one ship, can conceive of the effect of
+monotony upon one's thoughts and wishes.  The prospect of a change
+is like a green spot in a desert, and the remotest probability
+of great events and exciting scenes gives a feeling of delight,
+and sets life in motion, so as to give a pleasure, which any one
+not in the same state would be entirely unable to account for.
+In fact, a more jovial night we had not passed in the forecastle
+for months.  Every one seemed in unaccountably high spirits.
+An undefined anticipation of radical changes, of new scenes,
+and great doings, seemed to have possessed every one, and the
+common drudgery of the vessel appeared contemptible.  Here was a
+new vein opened; a grand theme of conversation, and a topic for all
+sorts of discussions.  National feeling was wrought up.  Jokes were
+cracked upon the only Frenchman in the ship, and comparisons made
+between "old horse" and "soup meagre," etc., etc.
+
+We remained in uncertainty as to this war for more than two months,
+when an arrival from the Sandwich Islands brought us the news of an
+amicable arrangement of the difficulties. 
+
+The other vessel which we found in port was the hermaphrodite brig
+Avon, from the Sandwich Islands.  She was fitted up in handsome style;
+fired a gun and ran her ensign up and down at sunrise and sunset; had a
+band of four or five pieces of music on board, and appeared rather like
+a pleasure yacht than a trader; yet, in connection with the Loriotte,
+Clementine, Bolivar, Convoy, and other small vessels, belonging to
+sundry Americans at Oahu, she carried on a great trade--legal and
+illegal--in otter skins, silks, teas, specie, etc.
+
+The second day after our arrival, a full-rigged brig came round
+the point from the northward, sailed leisurely through the bay,
+and stood off again for the south-east, in the direction of the
+large island of Catalina.  The next day the Avon got under weigh,
+and stood in the same direction, bound for San Pedro.  This might
+do for marines and Californians, but we knew the ropes too well.
+The brig was never again seen on the coast, and the Avon arrived
+at San Pedro in about a week, with a full cargo of Canton and
+American goods.
+
+This was one of the means of escaping the heavy duties the Mexicans
+lay upon all imports.  A vessel comes on the coast, enters a
+moderate cargo at Monterey, which is the only custom-house,
+and commences trading.  In a month or more, having sold a large
+part of her cargo, she stretches over to Catalina, or other of the
+large uninhabited islands which lie off the coast, in a trip from
+port to port, and supplies herself with choice goods from a vessel
+from Oahu, which has been lying off and on the islands, waiting for
+her.  Two days after the sailing of the Avon, the Loriotte came
+in from the leeward, and without doubt had also a snatch at the
+brig's cargo.
+
+Tuesday, Nov. 10th.  Going ashore, as usual, in the gig, just
+before sundown, to bring off the captain, we found, upon taking
+in the captain and pulling off again, that our ship, which lay
+the farthest out, had run up her ensign.  This meant "Sail ho!"
+of course, but as we were within the point we could see nothing.
+"Give way, boys!  Give way!  Lay out on your oars, and long stroke!"
+said the captain; and stretching to the whole length of our arms,
+bending back again, so that our backs touched the thwarts, we sent
+her through the water like a rocket.  A few minutes of such pulling
+opened the islands, one after another, in range of the point, and gave
+us a view of the Canal, where was a ship, under top-gallant sails,
+standing in, with a light breeze, for the anchorage.  Putting the
+boat's head in the direction of the ship, the captain told us to lay
+out again; and we needed no spurring, for the prospect of boarding a
+new ship, perhaps from home, hearing the news and having something
+to tell of when we got back, was excitement enough for us, and we
+gave way with a will.  Captain Nye, of the Loriotte, who had
+been an old whaleman, was in the stern-sheets, and fell mightily
+into the spirit of it.  "Bend your backs and break your oars!"
+said he.  "Lay me on, Captain Bunker!"  "There she flukes!" and
+other exclamations, peculiar to whalemen.  In the meantime, it
+fell flat calm, and being within a couple of miles of the ship,
+we expected to board her in a few moments, when a sudden breeze
+sprung up, dead ahead for the ship, and she braced up and stood
+off toward the islands, sharp on the larboard tack, making good
+way through the water.  This, of course, brought us up, and we
+had only to "ease larboard oars; pull round starboard!" and go
+aboard the Alert, with something very like a flea in the ear.
+There was a light land-breeze all night, and the ship did not come
+to anchor until the next morning.  As soon as her anchor was down,
+we went aboard, and found her to be the whaleship, Wilmington and
+Liverpool Packet, of New Bedford, last from the "off-shore ground,"
+with nineteen hundred barrels of oil.  A "spouter" we knew her to
+be as soon as we saw her, by her cranes and boats, and by her stump
+top-gallant masts, and a certain slovenly look to the sails, rigging,
+spars and hull; and when we got on board, we found everything to
+correspond,--spouter fashion.  She had a false deck, which was
+rough and oily, and cut up in every direction by the chimes of
+oil casks; her rigging was slack and turning white; no paint on
+the spars or blocks; clumsy seizings and straps without covers,
+and homeward-bound splices in every direction.  Her crew, too,
+were not in much better order.  Her captain was a slab-sided,
+shamble-legged Quaker, in a suit of brown, with a broad-brimmed
+hat, and sneaking about decks, like a sheep, with his head down;
+and the men looked more like fishermen and farmers than they did
+like sailors.
+
+Though it was by no means cold weather, (we having on only our red
+shirts and duck trowsers,) they all had on woollen trowsers--not blue
+and shipshape--but of all colors--brown, drab, grey, aye, and green,
+with suspenders over their shoulders, and pockets to put their hands
+in.  This, added to guernsey frocks, striped comforters about the
+neck, thick cowhide boots, woollen caps, and a strong, oily smell,
+and a decidedly green look, will complete the description.  Eight or
+ten were on the fore-topsail yard, and as many more in the main,
+furling the topsails, while eight or ten were hanging about the
+forecastle, doing nothing.  This was a strange sight for a vessel
+coming to anchor; so we went up to them, to see what was the matter.
+One of them, a stout, hearty-looking fellow, held out his leg and
+said he had the scurvy; another had cut his hand; and others had
+got nearly well, but said that there were plenty aloft to furl the
+sails, so they were sogering on the forecastle.  There was only one
+"splicer" on board, a fine-looking old tar, who was in the bunt of
+the fore-topsail.  He was probably the only sailor in the ship,
+before the mast.  The mates, of course, and the boat-steerers,
+and also two or three of the crew, had been to sea before, but
+only whaling voyages; and the greater part of the crew were raw
+hands, just from the bush, as green as cabbages, and had not yet
+got the hay-seed out of their heads.  The mizen topsail hung in
+the bunt-lines until everything was furled forward.  Thus a crew
+of thirty men were half an hour in doing what would have been
+done in the Alert with eighteen hands to go aloft, in fifteen
+or twenty minutes.
+
+We found they had been at sea six or eight months, and had no news
+to tell us; so we left them, and promised to get liberty to come
+on board in the evening, for some curiosities, etc.  Accordingly,
+as soon as we were knocked off in the evening and had got supper,
+we obtained leave, took a boat, and went aboard and spent an hour
+or two.  They gave us pieces of whalebone, and the teeth and other
+parts of curious sea animals, and we exchanged books with them--a
+practice very common among ships in foreign ports, by which you
+get rid of the books you have read and re-read, and a supply of
+new ones in their stead, and Jack is not very nice as to their
+comparative value.
+
+Thursday, Nov. 12th.  This day was quite cool in the early part,
+and there were black clouds about; but as it was often so in the
+morning, nothing was apprehended, and all the captains went
+ashore together, to spend the day.  Towards noon, the clouds
+hung heavily over the mountains, coming half way down the
+hills that encircle the town of Santa Barbara, and a heavy
+swell rolled in from the south-east.  The mate immediately
+ordered the gig's crew away, and at the same time, we saw boats
+pulling ashore from the other vessels.  Here was a grand chance
+for a rowing match, and every one did his best.  We passed the
+boats of the Ayacucho and Loriotte, but could gain nothing upon,
+and indeed, hardly hold our own with, the long, six-oared boat of
+the whale-ship.  They reached the breakers before us; but here
+we had the advantage of them, for, not being used to the surf,
+they were obliged to wait to see us beach our boat, just as,
+in the same place, nearly a year before, we, in the Pilgrim,
+were glad to be taught by a boat's crew of Kanakas.
+
+We had hardly got the boats beached, and their heads out, before our
+old friend, Bill Jackson, the handsome English sailor, who steered
+the Loriotte's boat, called out that the brig was adrift; and, sure
+enough, she was dragging her anchors, and drifting down into the
+bight of the bay.  Without waiting for the captain, (for there
+was no one on board but the mate and steward,) he sprung into
+the boat, called the Kanakas together, and tried to put off.
+But the Kanakas, though capital water-dogs, were frightened by
+their vessel's being adrift, and by the emergency of the case,
+and seemed to lose their faculties.  Twice, their boat filled,
+and came broadside upon the beach.  Jackson swore at them for
+a parcel of savages, and promised to flog every one of them.
+This made the matter no better; when we came forward, told the
+Kanakas to take their seats in the boat, and, going two on each
+side, walked out with her till it was up to our shoulders, and gave
+them a shove, when, giving way with their oars, they got her safely
+into the long, regular swell.  In the mean time, boats had put off
+from our ships and the whaler, and coming all on board the brig
+together, they let go the other anchor, paid out chain, braced the
+yards to the wind, and brought the vessel up.
+
+In a few minutes, the captains came hurrying down, on the run;
+and there was no time to be lost, for the gale promised to be a
+severe one, and the surf was breaking upon the beach, three deep,
+higher and higher every instant.  The Ayacucho's boat, pulled by four
+Kanakas, put off first, and as they had no rudder or steering oar,
+would probably never have got off, had we not waded out with them,
+as far as the surf would permit.  The next that made the attempt was
+the whale-boat, for we, being the most experienced "beach-combers,"
+needed no help, and staid till the last.  Whalemen make the best
+boats' crews in the world for a long pull, but this landing was
+new to them, and notwithstanding the examples they had had, they
+slued round and were hove up--boat, oars, and men--altogether,
+high and dry upon the sand.  The second time, they filled, and had
+to turn their boat over, and set her off again.  We could be of no
+help to them, for they were so many as to be in one another's way,
+without the addition of our numbers.  The third time, they got off,
+though not without shipping a sea which drenched them all, and half
+filled their boat, keeping them baling, until they reached their
+ship.  We now got ready to go off, putting the boat's head out;
+English Ben and I, who were the largest, standing on each side of
+the bows, to keep her "head on" to the sea, two more shipping and
+manning the two after oars, and the captain taking the steering
+oar.  Two or three Spaniards, who stood upon the beach looking
+at us, wrapped their cloaks about them, shook their heads, and
+muttered "Caramba!"  They had no taste for such doings; in fact,
+the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows itself in their
+persons as well as their actions.
+
+Watching for a "smooth chance," we determined to show the other
+boats the way it should be done; and, as soon as ours floated,
+ran out with her, keeping her head on, with all our strength, and
+the help of the captain's oar, and the two after oarsmen giving
+way regularly and strongly, until our feet were off the ground,
+we tumbled into the bows, keeping perfectly still, from fear of
+hindering the others.  For some time it was doubtful how it would
+go.  The boat stood nearly up and down in the water, and the sea,
+rolling from under her, let her fall upon the water with a force
+which seemed almost to stave her bottom in.  By quietly sliding
+two oars forward, along the thwarts, without impeding the rowers,
+we shipped two bow oars, and thus, by the help of four oars and
+the captain's strong arm, we got safely off, though we shipped
+several seas, which left us half full of water.  We pulled
+alongside of the Loriotte, put her skipper on board, and found
+her making preparations for slipping, and then pulled aboard our
+own ship.  Here Mr. Brown, always "on hand," had got everything
+ready, so that we had only to hook on the gig and hoist it up,
+when the order was given to loose the sails.  While we were on
+the yards, we saw the Loriotte under weigh, and before our yards
+were mast-headed, the Ayacucho had spread her wings, and, with yards
+braced sharp up, was standing athwart our hawse.  There is no prettier
+sight in the world than a full-rigged, clipper-built brig, sailing sharp
+on the wind.  In a moment, our slip-rope was gone, the head-yards filled
+away, and we were off.  Next came the whaler; and in a half an hour from
+the time when four vessels were lying quietly at anchor, without a
+rag out, or a sign of motion, the bay was deserted, and four white
+clouds were standing off to sea.  Being sure of clearing the point,
+we stood off with our yards a little braced in, while the Ayacucho
+went off with a taught bowline, which brought her to windward of us.
+During all this day, and the greater part of the night, we had the
+usual south-easter entertainment, a gale of wind, variegated and
+finally topped off with a drenching rain of three or four hours.
+At daybreak, the clouds thinned off and rolled away, and the sun
+came up clear.  The wind, instead of coming out from the northward,
+as is usual, blew steadily and freshly from the anchoring-ground.
+This was bad for us, for, being "flying light," with little more
+than ballast trim, we were in no condition for showing off on a
+taught bowline, and had depended upon a fair wind, with which,
+by the help of our light sails and studding-sails, we meant to
+have been the first at the anchoring-ground; but the Ayacucho
+was a good league to windward of us, and was standing in, in fine
+style.  The whaler, however, was as far to leeward of us, and the
+Loriotte was nearly out of sight, among the islands, up the Canal.
+By hauling every brace and bowline, and clapping watch-tackles upon
+all the sheets and halyards, we managed to hold our own, and drop
+the leeward vessels a little in every tack.  When we reached the
+anchoring-ground, the Ayacucho had got her anchor, furled her
+sails, squared her yards, and was lying as quietly as if nothing
+had happened for the last twenty-four hours.
+
+We had our usual good luck in getting our anchor without letting go
+another, and were all snug, with our boats at the boom-ends, in half
+an hour.  In about two hours more, the whaler came in, and made a
+clumsy piece of work in getting her anchor, being obliged to let
+go her best bower, and finally, to get out a kedge and a hawser.
+They were heave-ho-ing, stopping and unstopping, pawling, catting,
+and fishing, for three hours; and the sails hung from the yards all
+the afternoon, and were not furled until sundown.  The Loriotte came
+in just after dark, and let go her anchor, making no attempt to pick
+up the other until the next day.
+
+This affair led to a great dispute as to the sailing of our ship
+and the Ayacucho.  Bets were made between the captains, and the
+crews took it up in their own way; but as she was bound to leeward
+and we to windward, and merchant captains cannot deviate, a trial
+never took place; and perhaps it was well for us that it did not,
+for the Ayacucho had been eight years in the Pacific, in every part
+of it--Valparaiso, Sandwich Islands, Canton, California, and all,
+and was called the fastest merchantman that traded in the Pacific,
+unless it was the brig John Gilpin, and perhaps the ship Ann McKim
+of Baltimore.
+
+Saturday, Nov. 14th.  This day we got under weigh, with the agent
+and several Spaniards of note, as passengers, bound up to Monterey.
+We went ashore in the gig to bring them off with their baggage,
+and found them waiting on the beach, and a little afraid about
+going off, as the surf was running very high.  This was nuts to
+us; for we liked to have a Spaniard wet with salt water; and then
+the agent was very much disliked by the crew, one and all; and we
+hoped, as there was no officer in the boat, to have a chance to
+duck them; for we knew that they were such "marines" that they
+would not know whether it was our fault or not.  Accordingly,
+we kept the boat so far from shore as to oblige them to wet their
+feet in getting into her; and then waited for a good high comber,
+and letting the head slue a little round, sent the whole force of
+the sea into the stern-sheets, drenching them from head to feet.
+The Spaniards sprang out of the boat, swore, and shook themselves
+and protested against trying it again; and it was with the greatest
+difficulty that the agent could prevail upon them to make another
+attempt.  The next time we took care, and went off easily enough,
+and pulled aboard.  The crew came to the side to hoist in their
+baggage, and we gave them the wink, and they heartily enjoyed the
+half-drowned looks of the company.
+
+Everything being now ready, and the passengers aboard, we ran up
+the ensign and broad pennant, (for there was no man-of-war, and
+we were the largest vessel on the coast,) and the other vessels
+ran up their ensigns.  Having hove short, cast off the gaskets,
+and made the bunt of each sail fast by the jigger, with a man on
+each yard; at the word, the whole canvas of the ship was loosed,
+and with the greatest rapidity possible, everything was sheeted
+home and hoisted up, the anchor tripped and catheaded, and the
+ship under headway.  We were determined to show the "spouter" how
+things could be done in a smart ship, with a good crew, though not
+more than half their number.  The royal yards were all crossed at
+once, and royals and skysails set, and, as we had the wind free,
+the booms were run out, and every one was aloft, active as cats,
+laying out on the yards and booms, reeving the studding-sail gear;
+and sail after sail the captain piled upon her, until she was covered
+with canvas, her sails looking like a great white cloud resting
+upon a black speck.  Before we doubled the point, we were going
+at a dashing rate, and leaving the shipping far astern.  We had
+a fine breeze to take us through the Canal, as they call this bay
+of forty miles long by ten wide.  The breeze died away at night,
+and we were becalmed all day on Sunday, about half way between
+Santa Barbara and Point Conception.  Sunday night we had a light,
+fair wind, which set us up again; and having a fine sea-breeze on
+the first part of Monday, we had the prospect of passing, without
+any trouble, Point Conception,--the Cape Horn of California,
+where it begins to blow the first of January, and blows all the
+year round.  Toward the latter part of the afternoon, however,
+the regular northwest wind, as usual, set in, which brought in our
+studding-sails, and gave us the chance of beating round the Point,
+which we were now just abreast of, and which stretched off into the
+Pacific, high, rocky and barren, forming the central point of the
+coast for hundreds of miles north and south.  A cap-full of wind
+will be a bag-full here, and before night our royals were furled,
+and the ship was laboring hard under her top-gallant sails.  At eight
+bells our watch went below, leaving her with as much sail as she
+could stagger under, the water flying over the forecastle at every
+plunge.  It was evidently blowing harder, but then there was not a
+cloud in the sky, and the sun had gone down bright.
+
+We had been below but a short time, before we had the usual
+premonitions of a coming gale: seas washing over the whole
+forward part of the vessel, and her bows beating against them
+with a force and sound like the driving of piles.  The watch,
+too, seemed very busy trampling about decks, and singing out at
+the ropes.  A sailor can always tell, by the sound, what sail is
+coming in, and, in a short time, we heard the top-gallant sails
+come in, one after another, and then the flying jib.  This seemed
+to ease her a good deal, and we were fast going off to the land
+of Nod, when--bang, bang, bang--on the scuttle, and "All hands,
+reef topsails, ahoy!" started us out of our berths; and, it not
+being very cold weather, we had nothing extra to put on, and were
+soon on deck.  I shall never forget the fineness of the sight.
+It was a clear, and rather a chilly night; the stars were twinkling
+with an intense brightness, and as far as the eye could reach,
+there was not a cloud to be seen.  The horizon met the sea in a
+defined line.  A painter could not have painted so clear a sky.
+There was not a speck upon it.  Yet it was blowing great guns from
+the north-west.  When you can see a cloud to windward, you feel that
+there is a place for the wind to come from; but here it seemed to
+come from nowhere.  No person could have told, from the heavens,
+by their eyesight alone, that it was not a still summer's night.
+One reef after another, we took in the topsails, and before
+we could get them hoisted up, we heard a sound like a short,
+quick rattling of thunder, and the jib was blown to atoms out of
+the bolt-rope.  We got the topsails set, and the fragments of the
+jib stowed away, and the fore-topmast staysail set in its place,
+when the great mainsail gaped open, and the sail ripped from head
+to foot.  "Lay up on that main-yard and furl the sail, before it
+blows to tatters!" shouted the captain; and in a moment, we were
+up, gathering the remains of it upon the yard.  We got it wrapped,
+round the yard, and passed gaskets over it as snugly as possible,
+and were just on deck again, when, with another loud rent,
+which was heard throughout the ship, the fore-topsail, which had
+been double-reefed, split in two, athwartships, just below the
+reefband, from earing to earing.  Here again it was down yard,
+haul out reef-tackles, and lay out upon the yard for reefing.
+By hauling the reef-tackles chock-a-block, we took the strain
+from the other earings, and passing the close-reef earing,
+and knotting the points carefully, we succeeded in setting
+the sail, close-reefed.
+
+We had but just got the rigging coiled up, and were waiting to
+hear "go below the watch!" when the main royal worked loose from
+the gaskets, and blew directly out to leeward, flapping, and shaking
+the mast like a wand.  Here was a job for somebody.  The royal must
+come in or be cut adrift, or the mast would be snapped short off.
+All the light hands in the starboard watch were sent up, one after
+another, but they could do nothing with it.  At length, John,
+the tall Frenchman, the head of the starboard watch, (and a better
+sailor never stepped upon a deck,) sprang aloft, and, by the help
+of his long arms and legs, succeeded, after a hard struggle,--the
+sail blowing over the yard-arm to leeward, and the skysail blowing
+directly over his head--in smothering it, and frapping it with long
+pieces of sinnet.  He came very near being blown or shaken from
+the yard, several times, but he was a true sailor, every finger
+a fish-hook.  Having made the sail snug, he prepared to send the
+yard down, which was a long and difficult job; for, frequently,
+he was obliged to stop and hold on with all his might, for several
+minutes, the ship pitching so as to make it impossible to do
+anything else at that height.  The yard at length came down
+safe, and after it, the fore and mizen royal-yards were sent
+down.  All hands were then sent aloft, and for an hour or two
+we were hard at work, making the booms well fast; unreeving the
+studding-sail and royal and skysail gear; getting rolling-ropes
+on the yards; setting up the weather breast-backstays; and making
+other preparations for a storm.  It was a fine night for a gale;
+just cool and bracing enough for quick work, without being cold,
+and as bright as day.  It was sport to have a gale in such weather
+as this.  Yet it blew like a hurricane.  The wind seemed to come
+with a spite, an edge to it, which threatened to scrape us off
+the yards.  The mere force of the wind was greater than I had
+ever seen it before; but darkness, cold, and wet are the worst
+parts of a storm to a sailor.
+
+Having got on deck again, we looked round to see what time of
+night it was, and whose watch.  In a few minutes the man at the
+wheel struck four bells, and we found that the other watch was out,
+and our own half out.  Accordingly, the starboard watch went below,
+and left the ship to us for a couple of hours, yet with orders to
+stand by for a call.
+
+Hardly had they got below, before away went the fore-topmast staysail,
+blown to ribbons.  This was a small sail, which we could manage in
+the watch, so that we were not obliged to call up the other watch.
+We laid out upon the bowsprit, where we were under water half the
+time, and took in the fragments of the sail, and as she must have
+some head sail on her, prepared to bend another staysail.  We got
+the new one out, into the nettings; seized on the tack, sheets,
+and halyards, and the hanks; manned the halyards, cut adrift the
+frapping lines, and hoisted away; but before it was half way up
+the stay, it was blown all to pieces.  When we belayed the halyards,
+there was nothing left but the bolt-rope.  Now large eyes began to
+show themselves in the foresail, and knowing that it must soon go,
+the mate ordered us upon the yard to furl it.  Being unwilling to
+call up the watch who had been on deck all night, he roused out the
+carpenter, sailmaker, cook, steward, and other idlers, and,
+with their help, we manned the foreyard, and after nearly half an
+hour's struggle, mastered the sail, and got it well furled round
+the yard.  The force of the wind had never been greater than at
+this moment.  In going up the rigging, it seemed absolutely to pin
+us down to the shrouds; and on the yard, there was no such thing
+as turning a face to windward.  Yet here was no driving sleet,
+and darkness, and wet, and cold, as off Cape Horn; and instead of
+a stiff oil-cloth suit, south-wester caps, and thick boots, we had
+on hats, round jackets, duck trowsers, light shoes, and everything
+light and easy.  All these things make a great difference to a
+sailor.  When we got on deck, the man at the wheel struck eight
+bells, (four o'clock in the morning,) and "All starbowlines,
+ahoy!" brought the other watch up.  But there was no going below
+for us.  The gale was now at its height, "blowing like scissors
+and thumb-screws;" the captain was on deck; the ship, which was
+light, rolling and pitching as though she would shake the long
+sticks out of her; and the sail gaping open and splitting, in
+every direction.  The mizen topsail, which was a comparatively
+new sail, and close-reefed, split, from head to foot, in the
+bunt; the fore-topsail went, in one rent, from clew to earing,
+and was blowing to tatters; one of the chain bobstays parted;
+the spritsail-yard sprung in the slings; the martingale had slued
+away off to leeward; and, owing to the long dry weather, the lee
+rigging hung in large bights, at every lurch.  One of the main
+top-gallant shrouds had parted; and, to crown all, the galley had
+got adrift, and gone over to leeward, and the anchor on the lee
+bow had worked loose, and was thumping the side.  Here was work
+enough for all hands for half a day.  Our gang laid out on the
+mizen topsail yard, and after more than half an hour's hard work,
+furled the sail, though it bellied out over our heads, and again,
+by a slant of the wind, blew in under the yard, with a fearful
+jerk, and almost threw us off from the foot-ropes.
+
+Double gaskets were passed round the yards, rolling tackles and
+other gear bowsed taught, and everything made as secure as could
+be.  Coming down, we found the rest of the crew just coming down
+the fore rigging, having furled the tattered topsail, or, rather,
+swathed it round the yard, which looked like a broken limb, bandaged.
+There was no sail now on the ship but the spanker and the close-reefed
+main topsail, which still held good.  But this was too much after
+sail; and order was given to furl the spanker.  The brails were
+hauled up, and all the light hands in the starboard watch sent
+out on the gaff to pass the gaskets; but they could do nothing
+with it.  The second mate swore at them for a parcel of "sogers,"
+and sent up a couple of the best men; but they could do no better,
+and the gaff was lowered down.  All hands were now employed in
+setting up the lee rigging, fishing the spritsail-yard, lashing
+the galley, and getting tackles upon the martingale, to bowse it
+to windward.  Being in the larboard watch, my duty was forward,
+to assist in setting up the martingale.  Three of us were out on
+the martingale guys and back-ropes for more than half an hour,
+carrying out, hooking and unhooking the tackles, several times
+buried in the seas, until the mate ordered us in, from fear of
+our being washed off.  The anchors were then to be taken up on
+the rail, which kept all hands on the forecastle for an hour,
+though every now and then the seas broke over it, washing the
+rigging off to leeward, filling the lee scuppers breast high,
+and washing chock aft to the taffrail.
+
+Having got everything secure again, we were promising ourselves
+some breakfast, for it was now nearly nine o'clock in the forenoon,
+when the main topsail showed evident signs of giving way.  Some sail
+must be kept on the ship, and the captain ordered the fore and main
+spencer gaffs to be lowered down, and the two spencers (which were
+storm sails, bran new, small, and made of the strongest canvas)
+to be got up and bent; leaving the main topsail to blow away,
+with a blessing on it, if it would only last until we could set
+the spencers.  These we bent on very carefully, with strong robands
+and seizings, and making tackles fast to the clews, bowsed them down
+to the water-ways.  By this time the main topsail was among the
+things that have been, and we went aloft to stow away the remnant
+of the last sail of all those which were on the ship twenty-four
+hours before.  The spencers were now the only whole sails on the
+ship, and, being strong and small, and near the deck, presenting
+but little surface to the wind above the rail, promised to hold
+out well.  Hove-to under these, and eased by having no sail above
+the tops, the ship rose and fell, and drifted off to leeward like
+a line-of-battle ship.
+
+It was now eleven o'clock, and the watch was sent below to
+get breakfast, and at eight bells (noon), as everything was
+snug, although the gale had not in the least abated, the watch
+was set, and the other watch and idlers sent below.  For three
+days and three nights, the gale continued with unabated fury,
+and with singular regularity.  There was no lulls, and very
+little variation in its fierceness.  Our ship, being light,
+rolled so as almost to send the fore yard-arm under water,
+and drifted off bodily, to leeward.  All this time there was
+not a cloud to be seen in the sky, day or night;--no, not so
+large as a man's hand.  Every morning the sun rose cloudless
+from the sea, and set again at night, in the sea, in a flood of
+light.  The stars, too, came out of the blue, one after another,
+night after night, unobscured, and twinkled as clear as on a still
+frosty night at home, until the day came upon them.  All this time,
+the sea was rolling in immense surges, white with foam, as far as
+the eye could reach, on every side, for we were now leagues and
+leagues from shore.
+
+The between-decks being empty, several of us slept there in hammocks,
+which are the best things in the world to sleep in during a storm;
+it not being true of them, as it is of another kind of bed, "when the
+wind blows, the cradle will rock;" for it is the ship that rocks,
+while they always hang vertically from the beams.  During these
+seventy-two hours we had nothing to do, but to turn in and out,
+four hours on deck, and four below, eat, sleep, and keep watch.
+The watches were only varied by taking the helm in turn, and now
+and then, by one of the sails, which were furled, blowing out of
+the gaskets, and getting adrift, which sent us up on the yards;
+and by getting tackles on different parts of the rigging, which were
+slack.  Once, the wheel-rope parted, which might have been fatal
+to us, had not the chief mate sprung instantly with a relieving
+tackle to windward, and kept the tiller up, till a new one could
+be rove.  On the morning of the twentieth, at daybreak, the gale
+had evidently done its worst, and had somewhat abated; so much so,
+that all hands were called to bend new sails, although it was still
+blowing as hard as two common gales.  One at a time, and with great
+difficulty and labor, the old sails were unbent and sent down
+by the bunt-lines, and three new topsails, made for the homeward
+passage round Cape Horn, and which had never been bent, were got
+up from the sailroom, and under the care of the sailmaker, were
+fitted for bending, and sent up by the halyards into the tops, and,
+with stops and frapping lines, were bent to the yards, close-reefed,
+sheeted home, and hoisted.  These were done one at a time, and with
+the greatest care and difficulty.  Two spare courses were then
+got up and bent in the same manner and furled, and a storm-jib,
+with the bonnet off, bent and furled to the boom.  It was twelve
+o'clock before we got through; and five hours of more exhausting
+labor I never experienced; and no one of that ship's crew, I will
+venture to say, will ever desire again to unbend and bend five large
+sails, in the teeth of a tremendous north-wester.  Towards night,
+a few clouds appeared in the horizon, and as the gale moderated,
+the usual appearance of driving clouds relieved the face of the sky.
+The fifth day after the commencement of the storm, we shook a reef
+out of each topsail, and set the reefed foresail, jib and spanker;
+but it was not until after eight days of reefed topsails that we
+had a whole sail on the ship; and then it was quite soon enough,
+for the captain was anxious to make up for leeway, the gale having
+blown us half the distance to the Sandwich Islands.
+
+Inch by inch, as fast as the gale would permit, we made sail on the
+ship, for the wind still continued a-head, and we had many days'
+sailing to get back to the longitude we were in when the storm
+took us.  For eight days more we beat to windward under a stiff
+top-gallant breeze, when the wind shifted and became variable.
+A light south-easter, to which we could carry a reefed topmast
+studding-sail, did wonders for our dead reckoning.
+
+Friday, December 4th, after a passage of twenty days, we arrived
+at the mouth of the bay of San Francisco.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+SAN FRANCISCO--MONTEREY
+
+
+Our place of destination had been Monterey, but as we were to the
+northward of it when the wind hauled a-head, we made a fair wind
+for San Francisco.  This large bay, which lies in latitude 37° 58',
+was discovered by Sir Francis Drake, and by him represented to
+be (as indeed it is) a magnificent bay, containing several good
+harbors, great depth of water, and surrounded by a fertile and
+finely wooded country.  About thirty miles from the mouth of the
+bay, and on the south-east side, is a high point, upon which the
+presidio is built.  Behind this, is the harbor in which trading
+vessels anchor, and near it, the mission of San Francisco, and a
+newly begun settlement, mostly of Yankee Californians, called Yerba
+Buena, which promises well.  Here, at anchor, and the only vessel,
+was a brig under Russian colors, from Asitka, in Russian America,
+which had come down to winter, and to take in a supply of tallow
+and grain, great quantities of which latter article are raised
+in the missions at the head of the bay.  The second day after
+our arrival, we went on board the brig, it being Sunday, as a
+matter of curiosity; and there was enough there to gratify it.
+Though no larger than the Pilgrim, she had five or six officers,
+and a crew of between twenty and thirty; and such a stupid and
+greasy-looking set, I certainly never saw before.  Although it
+was quite comfortable weather, and we had nothing on but straw
+hats, shirts, and duck trowsers, and were barefooted, they had,
+every man of them, double-soled boots, coming up to the knees,
+and well greased; thick woolen trowsers, frocks, waistcoats,
+pea-jackets, woolen caps, and everything in true Nova Zembla
+rig; and in the warmest days they made no change.  The clothing
+of one of these men would weigh nearly as much as that of half
+our crew.  They had brutish faces, looked like the antipodes of
+sailors, and apparently dealt in nothing but grease.  They lived
+upon grease; eat it, drank it, slept in the midst of it, and their
+clothes were covered with it.  To a Russian, grease is the greatest
+luxury.  They looked with greedy eyes upon the tallow-bags as they
+were taken into the vessel, and, no doubt, would have eaten one up
+whole, had not the officer kept watch over it.  The grease seemed
+actually coming through their pores, and out in their hair, and on
+their faces.  It seems as if it were this saturation which makes
+them stand cold and rain so well.  If they were to go into a warm
+climate, they would all die of the scurvy.
+
+The vessel was no better than the crew.  Everything was in the oldest
+and most inconvenient fashion possible; running trusses on the yards,
+and large hawser cables, coiled all over the decks, and served and
+parcelled in all directions.  The topmasts, top-gallant masts and
+studding-sail booms were nearly black for want of scraping, and
+the decks would have turned the stomach of a man-of-war's-man.
+The galley was down in the forecastle; and there the crew lived,
+in the midst of the steam and grease of the cooking, in a place
+as hot as an oven, and as dirty as a pigsty.  Five minutes in
+the forecastle was enough for us, and we were glad to get into the
+open air.  We made some trade with them, buying Indian curiosities,
+of which they had a great number; such as bead-work, feathers of
+birds, fur moccasins, etc.  I purchased a large robe, made of the
+skins of some animals, dried and sewed nicely together, and covered
+all over on the outside with thick downy feathers, taken from the
+breasts of various birds, and arranged with their different colors,
+so as to make a brilliant show.
+
+A few days after our arrival, the rainy season set in, and,
+for three weeks, it rained almost every hour, without cessation.
+This was bad for our trade, for the collecting of hides is managed
+differently in this port from what it is in any other on the coast.
+The mission of San Francisco near the anchorage, has no trade at
+all, but those of San José, Santa Clara, and others, situated on
+large creeks or rivers which run into the bay, and distant between
+fifteen and forty miles from the anchorage, do a greater business
+in hides than any in California.  Large boats, manned by Indians,
+and capable of carrying nearly a thousand hides apiece, are attached
+to the missions, and sent down to the vessels with hides, to bring
+away goods in return.  Some of the crews of the vessels are obliged
+to go and come in the boats, to look out for the hides and goods.
+These are favorite expeditions with the sailors, in fine weather;
+but now to be gone three or four days, in open boats, in constant
+rain, without any shelter, and with cold food, was hard service.
+Two of our men went up to Santa Clara in one of these boats,
+and were gone three days, during all which time they had a
+constant rain, and did not sleep a wink, but passed three long
+nights, walking fore and aft the boat, in the open air.  When they
+got on board, they were completely exhausted, and took a watch
+below of twelve hours.  All the hides, too, that came down in the
+boats, were soaked with water, and unfit to put below, so that we
+were obliged to trice them up to dry, in the intervals of sunshine
+or wind, upon all parts of the vessel.  We got up tricing-lines
+from the jib-boom-end to each arm of the fore yard, and thence to
+the main and cross-jack yard-arms.  Between the tops, too, and the
+mast-heads, from the fore to the main swifters, and thence to the
+mizen rigging, and in all directions athwartships, tricing-lines
+were run, and strung with hides.  The head stays and guys, and the
+spritsail-yard, were lined, and, having still more, we got out the
+swinging booms, and strung them and the forward and after guys,
+with hides.  The rail, fore and aft, the windlass, capstan, the
+sides of the ship, and every vacant place on deck, were covered
+with wet hides, on the least sign of an interval for drying.
+Our ship was nothing but a mass of hides, from the cat-harpins
+to the water's edge, and from the jib-boom-end to the taffrail.
+
+One cold, rainy evening, about eight o'clock, I received orders to
+get ready to start for San José at four the next morning, in one of
+these Indian boats, with four days' provisions.  I got my oil-cloth
+clothes, south-wester, and thick boots all ready, and turned into
+my hammock early, determined to get some sleep in advance, as the
+boat was to be alongside before daybreak.  I slept on till all hands
+were called in the morning; for, fortunately for me, the Indians,
+intentionally, or from mistaking their orders, had gone off alone
+in the night, and were far out of sight.  Thus I escaped three or
+four days of very uncomfortable service.
+
+Four of our men, a few days afterwards, went up in one of the
+quarter-boats to Santa Clara, to carry the agent, and remained
+out all night in a drenching rain, in the small boat, where there
+was not room for them to turn round; the agent having gone up to
+the mission and left the men to their fate, making no provision
+for their accommodation, and not even sending them anything
+to eat.  After this, they had to pull thirty miles, and when
+they got on board, were so stiff that they could not come up
+the gangway ladder.  This filled up the measure of the agent's
+unpopularity, and never after this could he get anything done by
+any of the crew; and many a delay and vexation, and many a good
+ducking in the surf, did he get to pay up old scores, or "square
+the yards with the bloody quill-driver."
+
+Having collected nearly all the hides that were to be procured,
+we began our preparations for taking in a supply of wood and water,
+for both of which, San Francisco is the best place on the coast.
+A small island, situated about two leagues from the anchorage,
+called by us "Wood Island," and by the Spaniards "Isle de los
+Angelos," was covered with trees to the water's edge; and to
+this, two of our crew, who were Kennebec men, and could handle
+an axe like a plaything, were sent every morning to cut wood,
+with two boys to pile it up for them.  In about a week, they had
+cut enough to last us a year, and the third mate, with myself
+and three others, were sent over in a large, schooner-rigged,
+open launch, which we had hired of the mission, to take in the
+wood, and bring it to the ship.  We left the ship about noon, but,
+owing to a strong head wind, and a tide, which here runs four or
+five knots, did not get into the harbor, formed by two points of
+the island, where the boats lie, until sundown.  No sooner had we
+come-to, than a strong south-easter, which had been threatening
+us all day, set in, with heavy rain and a chilly atmosphere.
+We were in rather a bad situation: an open boat, a heavy rain,
+and a long night; for in winter, in this latitude, it was dark
+nearly fifteen hours.  Taking a small skiff which we had brought
+with us, we went ashore, but found no shelter, for everything was
+open to the rain, and collecting a little wood, which we found by
+lifting up the leaves and brush, and a few muscles, we put aboard
+again, and made the best preparations in our power for passing
+the night.  We unbent the mainsail, and formed an awning with it
+over the after part of the boat, made a bed of wet logs of wood,
+and, with our jackets on, lay down, about six o'clock, to sleep.
+Finding the rain running down upon us, and our jackets getting wet
+through, and the rough, knotty-logs, rather indifferent couches,
+we turned out; and taking an iron pan which we brought with us,
+we wiped it out dry, put some stones around it, cut the wet bark
+from some sticks, and striking a light, made a small fire in the
+pan.  Keeping some sticks near, to dry, and covering the whole
+over with a roof of boards, we kept up a small fire, by which
+we cooked our muscles, and eat them, rather for an occupation
+than from hunger.  Still, it was not ten o'clock, and the night
+was long before us, when one of the party produced an old pack
+of Spanish cards from his monkey-jacket pocket, which we hailed
+as a great windfall; and keeping a dim, flickering light by our
+fagots, we played game after game, till one or two o'clock, when,
+becoming really tired, we went to our logs again, one sitting up
+at a time, in turn, to keep watch over the fire.  Toward morning,
+the rain ceased, and the air became sensibly colder, so that we found
+sleep impossible, and sat up, watching for daybreak.  No sooner
+was it light than we went ashore, and began our preparations for
+loading our vessel.  We were not mistaken in the coldness of the
+weather, for a white frost was on the ground, a thing we had never
+seen before in California, and one or two little puddles of fresh
+water were skimmed over with a thin coat of ice.  In this state
+of the weather and before sunrise, in the grey of the morning,
+we had to wade off, nearly up to our hips in water, to load
+the skiff with the wood by armsfull.  The third mate remained
+on board the launch, two more men staid in the skiff, to load
+and manage it, and all the water-work, as usual, fell upon the
+two youngest of us; and there we were, with frost on the ground,
+wading forward and back, from the beach to the boat, with armsfull
+of wood, barefooted, and our trowsers rolled up.  When the skiff
+went off with her load, we could only keep our feet from freezing
+by racing up and down the beach on the hard sand, as fast as we
+could go.  We were all day at this work, and towards sundown,
+having loaded the vessel as deep as she would bear, we hove up
+our anchor, and made sail, beating out the bay.  No sooner had
+we got into the large bay, than we found a strong tide setting
+us out to seaward, a thick fog which prevented our seeing the
+ship, and a breeze too light to set us against the tide; for we
+were as deep as a sand-barge.  By the utmost exertions, we saved
+ourselves from being carried out to sea, and were glad to reach the
+leewardmost point of the island, where we came-to, and prepared
+to pass another night, more uncomfortable than the first, for we
+were loaded up to the gunwale, and had only a choice among logs
+and sticks for a resting-place.  The next morning, we made sail at
+slack water, with a fair wind, and got on board by eleven o'clock,
+when all hands were turned-to, to unload and stow away the wood,
+which took till night.
+
+Having now taken in all our wood, the next morning a water-party
+was ordered off with all the casks.  From this we escaped, having
+had a pretty good siege with the wooding.  The water-party were
+gone three days, during which time they narrowly escaped being
+carried out to sea, and passed one day on an island, where one
+of them shot a deer, great numbers of which overrun the islands
+and hills of San Francisco Bay.
+
+While not off, on these wood and water parties, or up the rivers
+to the missions, we had very easy times on board the ship.  We were
+moored, stem and stern, within a cable's length of the shore, safe
+from south-easters, and with very little boating to do; and as it
+rained nearly all the time, awnings were put over the hatchways,
+and all hands sent down between decks, where we were at work,
+day after day, picking oakum, until we got enough to caulk the ship
+all over, and to last the whole voyage.  Then we made a whole suit
+of gaskets for the voyage home, a pair of wheel-ropes from strips
+of green hide, great quantities of spun-yarn, and everything else
+that could be made between decks.  It being now mid-winter and
+in high latitude, the nights were very long, so that we were not
+turned-to until seven in the morning, and were obliged to knock
+off at five in the evening, when we got supper; which gave us
+nearly three hours before eight bells, at which time the watch
+was set.
+
+As we had now been about a year on the coast, it was time to think
+of the voyage home; and knowing that the last two or three months
+of our stay would be very busy ones, and that we should never have
+so good an opportunity to work for ourselves as the present, we all
+employed our evenings in making clothes for the passage home, and more
+especially for Cape Horn.  As soon as supper was over and the kids
+cleared away, and each one had taken his smoke, we seated ourselves
+on our chests round the lamp, which swung from a beam, and each one
+went to work in his own way, some making hats, others trowsers,
+others jackets, etc., etc.; and no one was idle.  The boys who
+could not sew well enough to make their own clothes, laid up grass
+into sinnet for the men, who sewed for them in return.  Several of
+us clubbed together and bought a large piece of twilled cotton,
+which we made into trowsers and jackets, and giving them several
+coats of linseed oil, laid them by for Cape Horn.  I also sewed
+and covered a tarpaulin hat, thick and strong enough to sit down
+upon, and made myself a complete suit of flannel under-clothing,
+for bad weather.  Those who had no south-wester caps, made them,
+and several of the crew made themselves tarpaulin jackets and
+trowsers, lined on the inside with flannel.  Industry was the order
+of the day, and every one did something for himself; for we knew
+that as the season advanced, and we went further south, we should
+have no evenings to work in.
+
+Friday, December 25th.  This day was Christmas; and as it rained
+all day long, and there were no hides to take in, and nothing
+especial to do, the captain gave us a holiday, (the first we had
+had since leaving Boston,) and plum duff for dinner.  The Russian
+brig, following the Old Style, had celebrated their Christmas
+eleven days before; when they had a grand blow-out and (as our
+men said) drank, in the forecastle, a barrel of gin, ate up a
+bag of tallow, and made a soup of the skin.
+
+Sunday, December 27th.  We had now finished all our business at
+this port, and it being Sunday, we unmoored ship and got under
+weigh, firing a salute to the Russian brig, and another to the
+Presidio, which were both answered.  The commandant of the Presidio,
+Don Gaudaloupe Villego, a young man, and the most popular, among the
+Americans and English, of any man in California, was on board when
+we got under weigh.  He spoke English very well, and was suspected
+of being favorably inclined to foreigners.
+
+We sailed down this magnificent bay with a light wind, the tide,
+which was running out, carrying us at the rate of four or five
+knots.  It was a fine day; the first of entire sunshine we had
+had for more than a month.  We passed directly under the high
+cliff on which the Presidio is built, and stood into the middle
+of the bay, from whence we could see small bays, making up into
+the interior, on every side; large and beautifully-wooded islands;
+and the mouths of several small rivers.  If California ever becomes
+a prosperous country, this bay will be the centre of its prosperity.
+The abundance of wood and water, the extreme fertility of its shores,
+the excellence of its climate, which is as near to being perfect as
+any in the world, and its facilities for navigation, affording the
+best anchoring-grounds in the whole western coast of America,
+all fit it for a place of great importance; and, indeed, it has
+attracted much attention, for the settlement of "Yerba Buena,"
+where we lay at anchor, made chiefly by Americans and English,
+and which bids fair to become the most important trading place on
+the coast, at this time began to supply traders, Russian ships,
+and whalers, with their stores of wheat and frijoles.
+
+The tide leaving us, we came to anchor near the mouth of the bay,
+under a high and beautifully sloping hill, upon which herds of
+hundreds and hundreds of red deer, and the stag, with his high
+branching antlers, were bounding about, looking at us for a moment,
+and then starting off, affrighted at the noises which we made for
+the purpose of seeing the variety of their beautiful attitudes
+and motions.
+
+At midnight, the tide having turned, we hove up our anchor and
+stood out of the bay, with a fine starry heaven above us,--the
+first we had seen for weeks and weeks.  Before the light northerly
+winds, which blow here with the regularity of trades, we worked
+slowly along, and made Point Año Nuevo, the northerly point of
+the Bay of Monterey, on Monday afternoon.  We spoke, going in,
+the brig Diana, of the Sandwich Islands, from the North-west Coast,
+last from Asitka.  She was off the point at the same time with us,
+but did not get in to the anchoring-ground until an hour or two
+after us.  It was ten o'clock on Tuesday morning when we came
+to anchor.  The town looked just as it did when I saw it last,
+which was eleven months before, in the brig Pilgrim.  The pretty
+lawn on which it stands, as green as sun and rain could make it;
+the pine wood on the south; the small river on the north side;
+the houses, with their white plastered sides and red-tiled roofs,
+dotted about on the green; the low, white presidio, with its soiled,
+tri-colored flag flying, and the discordant din of drums and trumpets
+for the noon parade; all brought up the scene we had witnessed here
+with so much pleasure nearly a year before, when coming from a
+long voyage, and our unprepossessing reception at Santa Barbara.
+It seemed almost like coming to a home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+THE SUNDAY WASH-UP--ON SHORE--A SET-TO--A GRANDEE--"SAIL HO!"--A FANDANGO
+
+
+The only other vessel in port was the Russian government bark,
+from Asitka, mounting eight guns, (four of which we found to be
+Quakers,) and having on board the ex-governor, who was going in
+her to Mazatlan, and thence overland to Vera Cruz.  He offered
+to take letters, and deliver them to the American consul at
+Vera Cruz, whence they could be easily forwarded to the United
+States.  We accordingly made up a packet of letters, almost every
+one writing, and dating them "January 1st, 1836."  The governor
+was true to his promise, and they all reached Boston before the
+middle of March; the shortest communication ever yet made across
+the country.
+
+The brig Pilgrim had been lying in Monterey through the latter part
+of November, according to orders, waiting for us.  Day after day,
+Captain Faucon went up to the hill to look out for us, and at last,
+gave us up, thinking we must have gone down in the gale which we
+experienced off Point Conception, and which had blown with great
+fury over the whole coast, driving ashore several vessels in the
+snuggest ports.  An English brig, which had put into San Francisco,
+lost both her anchors; the Rosa was driven upon a mud bank in
+San Diego; and the Pilgrim, with great difficulty, rode out the
+gale in Monterey, with three anchors a-head.  She sailed early
+in December for San Diego and intermedios.
+
+As we were to be here over Sunday, and Monterey was the best place
+to go ashore on the whole coast, and we had had no liberty-day for
+nearly three months, every one was for going ashore.  On Sunday morning,
+as soon as the decks were washed, and we had got breakfast, those who
+had obtained liberty began to clean themselves, as it is called,
+to go ashore.  A bucket of fresh water apiece, a cake of soap,
+a large coarse towel, and we went to work scrubbing one another,
+on the forecastle.  Having gone through this, the next thing was
+to get into the head,--one on each side--with a bucket apiece,
+and duck one another, by drawing up water and heaving over each
+other, while we were stripped to a pair of trowsers.  Then came
+the rigging-up.  The usual outfit of pumps, white stockings,
+loose white duck trowsers, blue jackets, clean checked shirts,
+black kerchiefs, hats well varnished, with a fathom of black
+ribbon over the left eye, a silk handkerchief flying from the
+outside jacket pocket, and four or five dollars tied up in the
+back of the neckerchief, and we were "all right."  One of the
+quarter-boats pulled us ashore, and we steamed up to the town.
+I tried to find the church, in order to see the worship, but was told
+that there was no service, except a mass early in the morning; so we
+went about the town, visiting the Americans and English, and the
+natives whom we had known when we were here before.  Toward noon
+we procured horses, and rode out to the Carmel mission, which is
+about a league from the town, where we got something in the way
+of a dinner--beef, eggs, frijoles, tortillas, and some middling
+wine--from the mayordomo, who, of course, refused to make any
+charge, as it was the Lord's gift, yet received our present,
+as a gratuity, with a low bow, a touch of the hat, and "Dios
+se lo pague!"
+
+After this repast, we had a fine run, scouring the whole country
+on our fleet horses, and came into town soon after sundown.
+Here we found our companions who had refused to go to ride
+with us, thinking that a sailor has no more business with a horse
+than a fish has with a balloon.  They were moored, stem and stern,
+in a grog-shop, making a great noise, with a crowd of Indians and
+hungry half-breeds about them, and with a fair prospect of being
+stripped and dirked, or left to pass the night in the calabozo.
+With a great deal of trouble, we managed to get them down to the
+boats, though not without many angry looks and interferences from
+the Spaniards, who had marked them out for their prey.  The Diana's
+crew,--a set of worthless outcasts, who had been picked up at the
+islands from the refuse of whale-ships,--were all as drunk as beasts,
+and had a set-to, on the beach, with their captain, who was in no
+better state than themselves.  They swore they would not go aboard,
+and went back to the town, were stripped and beaten, and lodged in
+the calabozo, until the next day, when the captain bought them out.
+Our forecastle, as usual after a liberty-day, was a scene of tumult
+all night long, from the drunken ones.  They had just got to sleep
+toward morning, when they were turned up with the rest, and kept at
+work all day in the water, carrying hides, their heads aching so that
+they could hardly stand.  This is sailor's pleasure.
+
+Nothing worthy of remark happened while we were here, except a little
+boxing-match on board our own ship, which gave us something to talk
+about.  A broad-backed, big-headed Cape Cod boy, about sixteen
+years old, had been playing the bully, for the whole voyage,
+over a slender, delicate-looking boy, from one of the Boston
+schools, and over whom he had much the advantage, in strength,
+age, and experience in the ship's duty, for this was the first
+time the Boston boy had been on salt water.  The latter, however,
+had "picked up his crumbs," was learning his duty, and getting
+strength and confidence daily; and began to assert his rights
+against his oppressor.  Still, the other was his master, and,
+by his superior strength, always tackled with him and threw him
+down.  One afternoon, before we were turned-to, these boys got
+into a violent squabble in the between-decks, when George (the
+Boston boy) said he would fight Nat, if he could have fair play.
+The chief mate heard the noise, dove down the hatchway, hauled them
+both up on deck, and told them to shake hands and have no more
+trouble for the voyage, or else they should fight till one gave
+in for beaten.  Finding neither willing to make an offer for
+reconciliation, he called all hands up, (for the captain was
+ashore, and he could do as he chose aboard,) ranged the crew
+in the waist, marked a line on the deck, brought the two boys
+up to it, making them "toe the mark;" then made the bight of a
+rope fast to a belaying pin, and stretched it across the deck,
+bringing it just above their waists.  "No striking below the
+rope!"  And there they stood, one on each side of it, face to
+face, and went at it like two game-cocks.  The Cape Cod boy, Nat,
+put in his double-fisters, starting the blood, and bringing the
+black and blue spots all over the face and arms of the other,
+whom we expected to see give in every moment: but the more he
+was hurt, the better he fought.  Time after time he was knocked
+nearly down, but up he came again and faced the mark, as bold as
+a lion, again to take the heavy blows, which sounded so as to
+make one's heart turn with pity for him.  At length he came up
+to the mark for the last time, his shirt torn from his body, his
+face covered with blood and bruises, and his eyes flashing fire,
+and swore he would stand there until one or the other was killed,
+and set-to like a young fury.  "Hurrah in the bow!" said the men,
+cheering him on.  "Well crowed!"  "Never say die, while there's
+a shot in the locker!"  Nat tried to close with him, knowing his
+advantage, but the mate stopped that, saying there should be fair
+play, and no fingering.  Nat then came up to the mark, but looked
+white about the mouth, and his blows were not given with half the
+spirit of his first.  He was evidently cowed.  He had always been
+his master, and had nothing to gain, and everything to lose;
+while the other fought for honor and freedom, under a sense of
+wrong.  It would not do.  It was soon over.  Nat gave in; not so
+much beaten, as cowed and mortified; and never afterwards tried
+to act the bully on board.  We took George forward, washed him
+in the deck-tub, complimented his pluck, and from this time he
+became somebody on board, having fought himself into notice.
+Mr. Brown's plan had a good effect, for there was no more quarrelling
+among the boys for the rest of the voyage.
+
+Wednesday, January 6th.  Set sail from Monterey, with a number of
+Spaniards as passengers, and shaped our course for Santa Barbara.
+The Diana went out of the bay in company with us, but parted from
+us off Point Pinos, being bound to the Sandwich Islands.  We had a
+smacking breeze for several hours, and went along at a great rate,
+until night, when it died away, as usual, and the land-breeze set in,
+which brought us upon a taught bowline.  Among our passengers was a
+young man who was the best representation of a decayed gentleman
+I had ever seen.  He reminded me much of some of the characters
+in Gil Blas.  He was of the aristocracy of the country, his family
+being of pure Spanish blood, and once of great importance in Mexico.
+His father had been governor of the province, and having amassed a
+large property, settled at San Diego, where he built a large house
+with a court-yard in front, kept a great retinue of Indians, and set
+up for the grandee of that part of the country.  His son was sent
+to Mexico, where he received the best education, and went into the
+first society of the capital.  Misfortune, extravagance, and the
+want of funds, or any manner of getting interest on money,
+soon eat the estate up, and Don Juan Bandini returned from
+Mexico accomplished, poor, and proud, and without any office
+or occupation, to lead the life of most young men of the better
+families--dissolute and extravagant when the means are at hand;
+ambitious at heart, and impotent in act; often pinched for bread;
+keeping up an appearance of style, when their poverty is known to
+each half-naked Indian boy in the street, and they stand in dread of
+every small trader and shopkeeper in the place.  He had a slight and
+elegant figure, moved gracefully, danced and waltzed beautifully,
+spoke the best of Castilian, with a pleasant and refined voice
+and accent, and had, throughout, the bearing of a man of high
+birth and figure.  Yet here he was, with his passage given him,
+(as I afterwards learned,) for he had not the means of paying
+for it, and living upon the charity of our agent.  He was polite
+to every one, spoke to the sailors, and gave four reáls--I dare
+say the last he had in his pocket--to the steward, who waited
+upon him.  I could not but feel a pity for him, especially when I
+saw him by the side of his fellow-passenger and townsman, a fat,
+coarse, vulgar, pretending fellow of a Yankee trader, who had
+made money in San Diego, and was eating out the very vitals of
+the Bandinis, fattening upon their extravagance, grinding them in
+their poverty; having mortgages on their lands, forestalling their
+cattle, and already making an inroad upon their jewels, which were
+their last hope.
+
+Don Juan had with him a retainer, who was as much like many of
+the characters in Gil Blas as his master.  He called himself a
+private secretary, though there was no writing for him to do,
+and he lived in the steerage with the carpenter and sailmaker.
+He was certainly a character; could read and write extremely well;
+spoke good Spanish; had been all over Spanish America, and lived in
+every possible situation, and served in every conceivable capacity,
+though generally in that of confidential servant to some man
+of figure.  I cultivated this man's acquaintance, and during
+the five weeks that he was with us,--for he remained on board
+until we arrived at San Diego,--I gained a greater knowledge
+of the state of political parties in Mexico, and the habits
+and affairs of the different classes of society, than I could
+have learned from almost any one else.  He took great pains in
+correcting my Spanish, and supplying me with colloquial phrases,
+and common terms and exclamations in speaking.  He lent me a file
+of late newspapers from the city of Mexico, which were full of
+triumphal receptions of Santa Ana, who had just returned from
+Tampico after a victory, and with the preparations for his expedition
+against the Texans.  "Viva Santa Ana!" was the by-word everywhere,
+and it had even reached California, though there were still many
+here, among whom was Don Juan Bandini, who were opposed to his
+government, and intriguing to bring in Bustamente.  Santa Ana,
+they said, was for breaking down the missions; or, as they termed
+it--"Santa Ana no quiere religion."  Yet I had no doubt that the
+office of administrador of San Diego would reconcile Don Juan to
+any dynasty, and any state of the church.  In these papers, too,
+I found scraps of American and English news; but which were so
+unconnected, and I was so ignorant of everything preceding them
+for eighteen months past, that they only awakened a curiosity which
+they could not satisfy.  One article spoke of Taney as Justicia
+Mayor de los Estados Unidos, (what had become of Marshall? was he
+dead, or banished?) and another made known, by news received from
+Vera Cruz, that "El Vizconde Melbourne" had returned to the office
+of "primer ministro," in place of Sir Roberto Peel.  (Sir Robert
+Peel had been minister, then? and where were Earl Grey and the Duke
+of Wellington?)  Here were the outlines of a grand parliamentary
+overturn, the filling up of which I could imagine at my leisure.
+
+The second morning after leaving Monterey, we were off Point Conception.
+It was a bright, sunny day, and the wind, though strong, was fair;
+and everything was in striking contrast with our experience in the
+same place two months before, when we were drifting off from a
+northwester under a fore and main spencer.  "Sail ho!" cried a
+man who was rigging out a top-gallant studding-sail boom.--"Where
+away?"--"Weather beam, sir!" and in a few minutes a full-rigged
+brig was seen standing out from under Point Conception.  The
+studding-sail halyards were let go, and the yards boom-ended,
+the after yards braced aback, and we waited her coming down.
+She rounded to, backed her main topsail, and showed her decks
+full of men, four guns on a side, hammock nettings, and everything
+man-of-war fashion, except that there was no boatswain's whistle,
+and no uniforms on the quarter-deck.  A short, square-built man,
+in a rough grey jacket, with a speaking-trumpet in hand, stood in
+the weather hammock nettings.  "Ship ahoy!"--"Hallo!"-- "What ship
+is that, pray?"--"Alert."--"Where are you from, pray?" etc., etc.
+She proved to be the brig Convoy, from the Sandwich Islands,
+engaged in otter hunting, among the islands which lie along
+the coast.  Her armament was from her being an illegal trader.
+The otter are very numerous among these islands, and being of
+great value, the government require a heavy sum for a license to
+hunt them, and lay a high duty upon every one shot or carried out
+of the country.  This vessel had no license, and paid no duty,
+besides being engaged in smuggling goods on board other vessels
+trading on the coast, and belonging to the same owners in Oahu.
+Our captain told him to look out for the Mexicans, but he said
+they had not an armed vessel of his size in the whole Pacific.
+This was without doubt the same vessel that showed herself off
+Santa Barbara a few months before.  These vessels frequently
+remain on the coast for years, without making port, except at
+the islands for wood and water, and an occasional visit to Oahu
+for a new outfit.
+
+Sunday, January 10th.  Arrived at Santa Barbara, and on the
+following Wednesday, slipped our cable and went to sea, on account
+of a south-easter.  Returned to our anchorage the next day.  We were
+the only vessel in the port.  The Pilgrim had passed through the
+Canal and hove-to off the town, nearly six weeks before, on her
+passage down from Monterey, and was now at the leeward.  She heard
+here of our safe arrival at San Francisco.
+
+Great preparations were making on shore for the marriage of our
+agent, who was to marry Donna Anneta De G----- De N----- y C-----,
+youngest daughter of Don Antonio N-----, the grandee of the place,
+and the head of the first family in California.  Our steward was
+ashore three days, making pastry and cake, and some of the best
+of our stores were sent off with him.  On the day appointed for
+the wedding, we took the captain ashore in the gig, and had orders
+to come for him at night, with leave to go up to the house and see
+the fandango.  Returning on board, we found preparations making for
+a salute.  Our guns were loaded and run out, men appointed to each,
+cartridges served out, matches lighted, and all the flags ready to
+be run up.  I took my place at the starboard after gun, and we all
+waited for the signal from on shore.  At ten o'clock the bride went up
+with her sister to the confessional, dressed in deep black.  Nearly an
+hour intervened, when the great doors of the mission church opened,
+the bells rang out a loud, discordant peal, the private signal for
+us was run up by the captain ashore, the bride, dressed in complete
+white, came out of the church with the bridegroom, followed by
+a long procession.  Just as she stepped from the church door,
+a small white cloud issued from the bows of our ship, which was
+full in sight, the loud report echoed among the surrounding hills
+and over the bay, and instantly the ship was dressed in flags
+and pennants from stem to stern.  Twenty-three guns followed in
+regular succession, with an interval of fifteen seconds between
+each when the cloud cleared away, and the ship lay dressed in her
+colors, all day.  At sun-down, another salute of the same number
+of guns was fired, and all the flags run down.  This we thought
+was pretty well--a gun every fifteen seconds--for a merchantman
+with only four guns and a dozen or twenty men.
+
+After supper, the gig's crew were called, and we rowed ashore,
+dressed in our uniform, beached the boat, and went up to the
+fandango.  The bride's father's house was the principal one in the
+place, with a large court in front, upon which a tent was built,
+capable of containing several hundred people.  As we drew near,
+we heard the accustomed sound of violins and guitars, and saw
+a great motion of the people within.  Going in, we found nearly
+all the people of the town--men, women, and children--collected
+and crowded together, leaving barely room for the dancers; for on
+these occasions no invitations are given, but every one is expected
+to come, though there is always a private entertainment within the
+house for particular friends.  The old women sat down in rows,
+clapping their hands to the music, and applauding the young ones.
+The music was lively, and among the tunes, we recognized several
+of our popular airs, which we, without doubt, have taken from
+the Spanish.  In the dancing, I was much disappointed.  The women
+stood upright, with their hands down by their sides, their eyes
+fixed upon the ground before them, and slided about without any
+perceptible means of motion; for their feet were invisible, the hem
+of their dresses forming a perfect circle about them, reaching to the
+ground.  They looked as grave as though they were going through some
+religious ceremony, their faces as little excited as their limbs;
+and on the whole, instead of the spirited, fascinating Spanish
+dances which I had expected, I found the Californian fandango,
+on the part of the women at least, a lifeless affair.  The men
+did better.  They danced with grace and spirit, moving in circles
+round their nearly stationary partners, and showing their figures
+to great advantage.
+
+A great deal was said about our friend Don Juan Bandini, and when he
+did appear, which was toward the close of the evening, he certainly
+gave us the most graceful dancing that I had ever seen.  He was
+dressed in white pantaloons neatly made, a short jacket of dark
+silk, gaily figured, white stockings and thin morocco slippers
+upon his very small feet.  His slight and graceful figure was
+well calculated for dancing, and he moved about with the grace
+and daintiness of a young fawn.  An occasional touch of the
+toe to the ground, seemed all that was necessary to give him a
+long interval of motion in the air.  At the same time he was not
+fantastic or flourishing, but appeared to be rather repressing a
+strong tendency to motion.  He was loudly applauded, and danced
+frequently toward the close of the evening.  After the supper,
+the waltzing began, which was confined to a very few of the "gente
+de razón," and was considered a high accomplishment, and a mark of
+aristocracy.  Here, too, Don Juan figured greatly, waltzing with the
+sister of the bride, (Donna Angustia, a handsome woman and a general
+favorite,) in a variety of beautiful, but, to me, offensive figures,
+which lasted as much as half an hour, no one else taking the floor.
+They were repeatedly and loudly applauded, the old men and women
+jumping out of their seats in admiration, and the young people
+waving their hats and handkerchiefs.  Indeed among people of the
+character of these Mexicans, the waltz seemed to me to have found
+its right place.  The great amusement of the evening,--which
+I suppose was owing to its being carnival--was the breaking of
+eggs filled with cologne, or other essences, upon the heads of
+the company.  One end of the egg is broken and the inside taken
+out, then it is partly filled with cologne, and the whole sealed
+up.  The women bring a great number of these secretly about them,
+and the amusement is to break one upon the head of a gentleman
+when his back is turned.  He is bound in gallantry to find out
+the lady and return the compliment, though it must not be done
+if the person sees you. A tall, stately Don, with immense grey
+whiskers, and a look of great importance, was standing before me,
+when I felt a light hand on my shoulder, and turning round, saw Donna
+Angustia, (whom we all knew, as she had been up to Monterey, and down
+again, in the Alert,) with her finger upon her lip, motioning me
+gently aside.  I stepped back a little, when she went up behind
+the Don, and with one hand knocked off his huge sombrero, and at
+the same instant, with the other, broke the egg upon his head,
+and springing behind me, was out of sight in a moment.  The Don
+turned slowly round, the cologne, running down his face, and over
+his clothes, and a loud laugh breaking out from every quarter.
+He looked round in vain, for some time, until the direction of
+so many laughing eyes showed him the fair offender.  She was his
+niece, and a great favorite with him, so old Don Domingo had to
+join in the laugh.  A great many such tricks were played, and many
+a war of sharp manoeuvering was carried on between couples of the
+younger people, and at every successful exploit a general laugh
+was raised.
+
+Another singular custom I was for some time at a loss about. 
+A pretty young girl was dancing, named, after what would appear to
+us the sacrilegious custom of the country--Espiritu Santo, when a
+young man went behind her and placed his hat directly upon her
+head, letting it fall down over her eyes, and sprang back among
+the crowd.  She danced for some time with the hat on, when she
+threw it off, which called forth a general shout; and the young
+man was obliged to go out upon the floor and pick it up.  Some of
+the ladies, upon whose heads hats had been placed, threw them off
+at once, and a few kept them on throughout the dance, and took
+them off at the end, and held them out in their hands, when the
+owner stepped out, bowed, and took it from them.  I soon began
+to suspect the meaning of the thing, and was afterward told that
+it was a compliment, and an offer to become the lady's gallant
+for the rest of the evening, and to wait upon her home.  If the
+hat was thrown off, the offer was refused, and the gentleman was
+obliged to pick up his hat amid a general laugh.  Much amusement
+was caused sometimes by gentlemen putting hats on the ladies' heads,
+without permitting them to see whom it was done by.  This obliged
+them to throw them off, or keep them on at a venture, and when they
+came to discover the owner, the laugh was often turned upon them. 
+The captain sent for us about ten o'clock, and we went aboard in
+high spirits, having enjoyed the new scene much, and were of great
+importance among the crew, from having so much to tell, and from the
+prospect of going every night until it was over; for these fandangos
+generally last three days.  The next day, two of us were sent up to
+the town, and took care to come back by way of Capitan Noriego's
+and take a look into the booth.  The musicians were still there,
+upon their platform, scraping and twanging away, and a few people,
+apparently of the lower classes, were dancing.  The dancing is kept
+up, at intervals, throughout the day, but the crowd, the spirit,
+and the élite, come in at night.  The next night, which was the last,
+we went ashore in the same manner, until we got almost tired of the
+monotonous twang of the instruments, the drawling sounds which the
+women kept up, as an accompaniment, and the slapping of the hands
+in time with the music, in place of castanets.  We found ourselves
+as great objects of attention as any persons or anything at the
+place.  Our sailor dresses--and we took great pains to have them
+neat and shipshape--were much admired, and we were invited, from
+every quarter, to give them an American sailor's dance; but after
+the ridiculous figure some of our countrymen cut, in dancing after
+the Spaniards, we thought it best to leave it to their imaginations.
+Our agent, with a tight, black, swallow-tailed coat, just imported
+from Boston, a high stiff cravat, looking as if he had been pinned
+and skewered, with only his feet and hands left free, took the
+floor just after Bandini; and we thought they had had enough of
+Yankee grace.
+
+The last night they kept it up in great style, and were getting
+into a high-go, when the captain called us off to go aboard,
+for, it being south-easter season, he was afraid to remain on
+shore long; and it was well he did not, for that very night,
+we slipped our cables, as a crowner to our fun ashore, and stood
+off before a south-easter, which lasted twelve hours, and returned
+to our anchorage the next day. 
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+AN OLD FRIEND--A VICTIM--CALIFORNIA RANGERS--NEWS FROM
+HOME--LAST LOOKS
+
+
+Monday, Feb. 1st.  After having been in port twenty-one days,
+we sailed for San Pedro, where we arrived on the following day,
+having gone "all fluking," with the weather clew of the mainsail
+hauled up, the yards braced in a little, and the lower studding-sails
+just drawing; the wind hardly shifting a point during the passage. 
+Here we found the Ayacucho and the Pilgrim, which last we had not
+seen since the 11th of September,--nearly five months; and I really
+felt something like an affection for the old brig which had been my
+first home, and in which I had spent nearly a year, and got the
+first rough and tumble of a sea life.  She, too, was associated,
+in my mind with Boston, the wharf from which we sailed, anchorage
+in the stream, leave-taking, and all such matters, which were now
+to me like small links connecting me with another world, which I
+had once been in, and which, please God, I might yet see again. 
+I went on board the first night, after supper; found the old
+cook in the galley, playing upon the fife which I had given him,
+as a parting present; had a hearty shake of the hand from him;
+and dove down into the forecastle, where were my old ship-mates,
+the same as ever, glad to see me; for they had nearly given us up
+as lost, especially when they did not find us in Santa Barbara. 
+They had been at San Diego last, had been lying at San Pedro
+nearly a month, and had received three thousand hides from the
+pueblo.  These were taken from her the next day, which filled
+us up, and we both got under weigh on the 4th, she bound up to
+San Francisco again, and we to San Diego, where we arrived on
+the 6th. 
+
+We were always glad to see San Diego; it being the depot, and a
+snug little place, and seeming quite like home, especially to
+me, who had spent a summer there.  There was no vessel in port,
+the Rosa having sailed for Valparaiso and Cadiz, and the Catalina
+for Callao, nearly a month before.  We discharged our hides, and in
+four days were ready to sail again for the windward; and, to our
+great joy--for the last time!  Over thirty thousand hides had
+been already collected, cured, and stowed away in the house,
+which, together with what we should collect, and the Pilgrim
+would bring down from San Francisco, would make out her cargo. 
+The thought that we were actually going up for the last time,
+and that the next time we went round San Diego point it would
+be "homeward bound," brought things so near a close, that we
+felt as though we were just there, though it must still be the
+greater part of a year before we could see Boston. 
+
+I spent one evening, as had been my custom, at the oven with the
+Sandwich Islanders; but it was far from being the usual noisy,
+laughing time.  It has been said, that the greatest curse to each
+of the South Sea islands, was the first man who discovered it;
+and every one who knows anything of the history of our commerce
+in those parts, knows how much truth there is in this; and that
+the white men, with their vices, have brought in diseases before
+unknown to the islanders, and which are now sweeping off the native
+population of the Sandwich Islands, at the rate of one fortieth of
+the entire population annually.  They seem to be a doomed people. 
+The curse of a people calling themselves Christian, seems to follow
+them everywhere; and even here, in this obscure place, lay two
+young islanders, whom I had left strong, active young men, in the
+vigor of health, wasting away under a disease, which they would
+never have known but for their intercourse with Christianized Mexico
+and people from Christian America.  One of them was not so ill; and
+was moving about, smoking his pipe, and talking, and trying to keep
+up his spirits; but the other, who was my friend, and Aikane--Hope,
+was the most dreadful object I had ever seen in my life: his eyes
+sunken and dead, his cheeks fallen in against his teeth, his hands
+looking like claws; a dreadful cough, which seemed to rack his whole
+shattered system, a hollow whispering voice, and an entire inability
+to move himself.  There he lay, upon a mat, on the ground, which was
+the only floor of the oven, with no medicine, no comforts, and no
+one to care for, or help him, but a few Kanakas, who were willing
+enough, but could do nothing.  The sight of him made me sick,
+and faint.  Poor fellow!  During the four months that I lived
+upon the beach, we were continually together, both in work, and
+in our excursions in the woods, and upon the water.  I really
+felt a strong affection for him, and preferred him to any of my
+own countrymen there; and I believe there was nothing which he
+would not have done for me.  When I came into the oven he looked
+at me, held out his hand, and said, in a low voice, but with a
+delightful smile, "Aloha, Aikane!  Aloha nui!"  I comforted him
+as well as I could, and promised to ask the captain to help him
+from the medicine-chest, and told him I had no doubt the captain
+would do what he could for him, as he had worked in our employ for
+several years, both on shore and aboard our vessels on the coast.
+I went aboard and turned into my hammock, but I could not sleep.
+
+Thinking, from my education, that I must have some knowledge of
+medicine, the Kanakas had insisted upon my examining him carefully;
+and it was not a sight to be forgotten.  One of our crew, an old
+man-of-war's man, of twenty years' standing, who had seen sin
+and suffering in every shape, and whom I afterwards took to
+see Hope, said it was dreadfully worse than anything he had
+ever seen, or even dreamed of.  He was horror-struck, as his
+countenance showed; yet he had been among the worst cases in
+our naval hospitals.  I could not get the thought of the poor
+fellow out of my head all night; his horrible suffering, and his
+apparently inevitable, horrible end. 
+
+The next day I told the captain of Hope's state, and asked him
+if he would be so kind as to go and see him. 
+
+"What? a d----d Kanaka?" 
+
+"Yes, sir," said I; "but he has worked four years for our vessels,
+and has been in the employ of our owners, both on shore and aboard." 
+
+"Oh! he be d----d!" said the captain, and walked off. 
+
+This same man died afterwards of a fever on the deadly coast of
+Sumatra; and God grant he had better care taken of him in his
+sufferings, than he ever gave to any one else!  Finding nothing
+was to be got from the captain, I consulted an old shipmate, who
+had much experience in these matters, and got from him a recipe,
+which he always kept by him.  With this I went to the mate, and told
+him the case.  Mr. Brown had been entrusted with the general care of
+the medicine-chest, and although a driving fellow, and a taught hand
+in a watch, he had good feelings, and was always inclined to be kind
+to the sick.  He said that Hope was not strictly one of the crew,
+but as he was in our employ when taken sick, he should have the
+medicines; and he got them and gave them to me, with leave to go
+ashore at night.  Nothing could exceed the delight of the Kanakas,
+when I came bringing the medicines.  All their terms of affection
+and gratitude were spent upon me, and in a sense wasted, (for I
+could not understand half of them,) yet they made all known by
+their manner.  Poor Hope was so much revived at the bare thought
+of anything's being done for him, that he was already stronger
+and better.  I knew he must die as he was, and he could but die
+under the medicines, and any chance was worth running.  An oven,
+exposed to every wind and change of weather, is no place to take
+calomel; but nothing else would do, and strong remedies must be
+used, or he was gone.  The applications, internal and external,
+were powerful, and I gave him strict directions to keep warm
+and sheltered, telling him it was his only chance for life.
+Twice, after this, I visited him, having only time to run up,
+while waiting in the boat.  He promised to take his medicines
+regularly until we returned, and insisted upon it that he was
+doing better.
+
+We got under weigh on the 10th, bound up to San Pedro, and had
+three days of calm and head winds, making but little progress.
+On the fourth, we took a stiff south-easter, which obliged us
+to reef our topsails.  While on the yard, we saw a sail on the
+weather bow, and in about half an hour, passed the Ayacucho,
+under double-reefed topsails, beating down to San Diego.
+Arrived at San Pedro on the fourth day, and came-to in the old
+place, a league from shore, with no other vessel in port, and the
+prospect of three weeks, or more, of dull life, rolling goods up
+a slippery hill, carrying hides on our heads over sharp stones,
+and, perhaps, slipping for a south-easter.
+
+There was but one man in the only house here, and him I shall
+always remember as a good specimen of a California ranger.
+He had been a tailor in Philadelphia, and getting intemperate
+and in debt, he joined a trapping party and went to the Columbia
+river, and thence down to Monterey, where he spent everything,
+left his party, and came to the Pueblo de los Angelos, to work
+at his trade.  Here he went dead to leeward among the pulperias,
+gambling rooms, etc., and came down to San Pedro, to be moral by
+being out of temptation.  He had been in the house several weeks,
+working hard at his trade, upon orders which he had brought with him,
+and talked much of his resolution, and opened his heart to us about
+his past life.  After we had been here some time, he started off
+one morning, in fine spirits, well dressed, to carry the clothes
+which he had been making to the pueblo, and saying he would bring
+back his money and some fresh orders the next day.  The next day
+came, and a week passed, and nearly a fortnight, when, one day,
+going ashore, we saw a tall man, who looked like our friend the
+tailor, getting out of the back of an Indian's cart, which had
+just come down from the pueblo. He stood for the house, but we bore
+up after him; when finding that we were overhauling him, he hove-to
+and spoke us.  Such a sight I never saw before.  Barefooted, with an
+old pair of trowsers tied round his waist by a piece of green hide,
+a soiled cotton shirt, and a torn Indian hat; "cleaned out," to the
+last reál, and completely "used up."  He confessed the whole matter;
+acknowledged that he was on his back; and now he had a prospect of a
+fit of the horrors for a week, and of being worse than useless for
+months.  This is a specimen of the life of half of the Americans
+and English who are adrift over the whole of California.  One of
+the same stamp was Russell, who was master of the hide-house
+at San Diego, while I was there, and afterwards turned away
+for his misconduct.  He spent his own money and nearly all
+the stores among the half-bloods upon the beach, and being
+turned away, went up to the Presidio, where he lived the life
+of a desperate "loafer," until some rascally deed sent him off
+"between two days," with men on horseback, dogs, and Indians in
+full cry after him, among the hills.  One night, he burst into our
+room at the hide-house, breathless, pale as a ghost, covered with
+mud, and torn by thorns and briers, nearly naked, and begged for
+a crust of bread, saying he had neither eaten nor slept for three
+days.  Here was the great Mr. Russell, who a month before was "Don
+Tomàs," "Capitán de la playa," "Maéstro de la casa," etc., etc.,
+begging food and shelter of Kanakas and sailors.  He staid with
+us till he gave himself up, and was dragged off to the calabozo.
+
+Another, and a more amusing specimen, was one whom we saw at San
+Francisco.  He had been a lad on board the ship California, in one
+of her first voyages, and ran away and commenced Ranchéro, gambling,
+stealing horses, etc. He worked along up to San Francisco, and was
+living on a rancho near there, while we were in port.  One morning,
+when we went ashore in the boat, we found him at the landing-place,
+dressed in California style,--a wide hat, faded velveteen trowsers,
+and a blanket cloak thrown over his shoulders--and wishing to go off
+in the boat, saying he was going to paseár with our captain a little.
+We had many doubts of the reception he would meet with; but he
+seemed to think himself company for any one.  We took him aboard,
+landed him at the gangway, and went about our work, keeping an eye
+upon the quarter-deck, where the captain was walking.  The lad
+went up to him with the most complete assurance, and raising his
+hat, wished him a good afternoon.  Captain T----- turned round,
+looked at him from head to foot, and saying coolly, "Hallo! who
+the h--- are you?" kept on his walk.  This was a rebuff not to
+be mistaken, and the joke passed about among the crew by winks
+and signs, at different parts of the ship.  Finding himself
+disappointed at headquarters, he edged along forward to the mate,
+who was overseeing some work on the forecastle, and tried to begin
+a yarn; but it would not do. The mate had seen the reception he
+had met with aft, and would have no cast-off company.  The second
+mate was aloft, and the third mate and myself were painting the
+quarter-boat, which hung by the davits, so he betook himself to
+us; but we looked at one another, and the officer was too busy
+to say a word.  From us, he went to one and another of the crew,
+but the joke had got before him, and he found everybody busy and
+silent.  Looking over the rail a few moments afterward, we saw him
+at the galley-door talking to the cook.  This was a great comedown,
+from the highest seat in the synagogue to a seat in the galley with
+the black cook.  At night, too, when supper was called, he stood in
+the waist for some time, hoping to be asked down with the officers,
+but they went below, one after another, and left him.  His next
+chance was with the carpenter and sail-maker, and he lounged round
+the after hatchway until the last had gone down.  We had now had
+fun enough out of him, and taking pity on him, offered him a pot
+of tea, and a cut at the kid, with the rest, in the forecastle.
+He was hungry, and it was growing dark, and he began to see that
+there was no use in playing the caballero any longer, and came
+down into the forecastle, put into the "grub" in sailor's style,
+threw off all his airs, and enjoyed the joke as much as any one;
+for a man must take a joke among sailors.  He gave us the whole
+account of his adventures in the country,--roguery and all--and
+was very entertaining.  He was a smart, unprincipled fellow, was at
+the bottom of most of the rascally doings of the country, and gave
+us a great deal of interesting information in the ways of the world
+we were in.
+
+Saturday, Feb. 13th.  Were called up at midnight to slip for
+a violent north-easter, for this rascally hole of San Pedro is
+unsafe in every wind but a south-wester, which is seldom known
+to blow more than once in a half century.  We went off with a
+flowing sheet, and hove-to under the lee of Catalina island,
+where we lay three days, and then returned to our anchorage. 
+
+Tuesday, Feb. 23d.  This afternoon, a signal was made from the
+shore, and we went off in the gig, and found the agent's clerk,
+who had been up to the pueblo, waiting at the landing-place, with a
+package under his arm, covered with brown papers and tied carefully
+with twine.  No sooner had we shoved off than he told us there was
+good news from Santa Barbara.  "What's that?" said one of the crew;
+"has the bloody agent slipped off the hooks?  Has the old bundle of
+bones got him at last?"--"No; better than that.  The California
+has arrived."  Letters, papers, news, and, perhaps,--friends, on
+board!  Our hearts were all up in our mouths, and we pulled away
+like good fellows; for the precious packet could not be opened
+except by the captain.  As we pulled under the stern, the clerk
+held up the package, and called out to the mate, who was leaning
+over the taffrail, that the California had arrived. 
+
+"Hurrah!" said the mate, so as to be heard fore and aft;
+"California come, and news from Boston!" 
+
+Instantly there was a confusion on board which no one could account
+for who has not been in the same situation.  All discipline seemed
+for a moment relaxed. 
+
+"What's that, Mr. Brown?" said the cook, putting his head out of
+the galley--"California come?" 
+
+"Aye, aye! you angel of darkness, and there's a letter for you
+from Bullknop 'treet, number two-two-five--green door and brass
+knocker!" 
+
+The packet was sent down into the cabin, and every one waited
+to hear of the result.  As nothing came up, the officers began
+to feel that they were acting rather a child's part, and turned
+the crew to again and the same strict discipline was restored,
+which prohibits speech between man and man, while at work on
+deck; so that, when the steward came forward with letters for
+the crew, each man took his letters, carried them below to his
+chest, and came up again immediately; and not a letter was read
+until we had cleared up decks for the night. 
+
+An overstrained sense of manliness is the characteristic of
+seafaring men, or, rather, of life on board ship.  This often
+gives an appearance of want of feeling, and even of cruelty.
+From this, if a man comes within an ace of breaking his neck
+and escapes, it is made a joke of; and no notice must be taken
+of a bruise or cut; and any expression of pity, or any show of
+attention, would look sisterly, and unbecoming a man who has to
+face the rough and tumble of such a life.  From this, too, the sick
+are neglected at sea, and whatever sailors may be ashore, a sick
+man finds little sympathy or attention, forward or aft. A man, too,
+can have nothing peculiar or sacred on board ship; for all the nicer
+feelings they take pride in disregarding, both in themselves and
+others.  A thin-skinned man could not live an hour on ship-board.
+One would be torn raw unless he had the hide of an ox. A moment of
+natural feeling for home and friends, and then the frigid routine
+of sea-life returned.  Jokes were made upon those who showed any
+interest in the expected news, and everything near and dear was
+made common stock for rude jokes and unfeeling coarseness, to which
+no exception could be taken by any one.
+
+Supper, too, must be eaten before the letters were read; and when,
+at last, they were brought out, they all got round any one who had
+a letter, and expected to have it read aloud, and have it all in
+common.  If any one went by himself to read, it was--"Fair play,
+there; and no skulking!"  I took mine and went into the sailmaker's
+berth, where I could read it without interruption.  It was dated
+August, just a year from the time I had sailed from home; and every
+one was well, and no great change had taken place.  Thus, for one
+year, my mind was set at ease, yet it was already six months from
+the date of the letter, and what another year would bring to pass,
+who could tell?  Every one away from home thinks that some great
+thing must have happened, while to those at home there seems to
+be a continued monotony and lack of incident. 
+
+As much as my feelings were taken up by my own intelligence
+from home, I could not but be amused by a scene in the steerage. 
+The carpenter had been married just before leaving Boston, and
+during the voyage had talked much about his wife, and had to bear
+and forbear, as every man, known to be married, must, aboard ship;
+yet the certainty of hearing from his wife by the first ship, seemed
+to keep up his spirits.  The California came, the packet was brought
+on board; no one was in higher spirits than he; but when the letters
+came forward, there was none for him.  The captain looked again,
+but there was no mistake.  Poor "Chips," could eat no supper. 
+He was completely down in the mouth.  "Sails" (the sailmaker)
+tried to comfort him, and told him he was a bloody fool to give
+up his grub for any woman's daughter, and reminded him that he
+had told him a dozen times that he'd never see or hear from his
+wife again. 
+
+"Ah!" said "Chips," "you don't know what it is to have a wife, and"--
+
+"Don't I?" said Sails; and then came, for the hundredth time, the story
+of his coming ashore at New York, from the Constellation frigate,
+after a cruise of four years round the Horn,--being paid off with
+over five hundred dollars,--marrying, and taking a couple of rooms
+in a four-story house,--furnishing the rooms, (with a particular
+account of the furniture, including a dozen flag-bottomed chairs,
+which he always dilated upon, whenever the subject of furniture was
+alluded to,)--going off to sea again, leaving his wife half-pay,
+like a fool,--coming home and finding her "off, like Bob's horse,
+with nobody to pay the reckoning;" furniture gone,--flag-bottomed
+chairs and all;--and with it, his "long togs," the half-pay,
+his beaver hat, white linen shirts, and everything else.  His wife
+he never saw, or heard of, from that day to this, and never wished
+to.  Then followed a sweeping assertion, not much to the credit of
+the sex, if true, though he has Pope to back him.  "Come, Chips,
+cheer up like a man, and take some hot grub!  Don't be made a fool
+of by anything in petticoats!  As for your wife, you'll never see
+her again; she was 'up keeleg and off' before you were outside of
+Cape Cod.  You hove your money away like a fool; but every man
+must learn once, just as I did; so you'd better square the yards
+with her, and make the best of it." 
+
+This was the best consolation "Sails" had to offer, but it did not
+seem to be just the thing the carpenter wanted; for, during several
+days, he was very much dejected, and bore with difficulty the jokes
+of the sailors, and with still more difficulty their attempts at
+advice and consolation, of most of which the sailmaker's was a
+good specimen. 
+
+Thursday, Feb. 25th.  Set sail for Santa Barbara, where we arrived
+on Sunday, the 28th.  We just missed of seeing the California, for she
+had sailed three days before, bound to Monterey, to enter her cargo and
+procure her license, and thence to San Francisco, etc. Captain Arthur
+left files of Boston papers for Captain T-----, which, after they had
+been read and talked over in the cabin, I procured from my friend
+the third mate.  One file was of all the Boston Transcripts for
+the month of August, 1835, and the rest were about a dozen Daily
+Advertisers and Couriers, of different dates.  After all, there is
+nothing in a strange land like a newspaper from home.  Even a letter,
+in many respects, is nothing, in comparison with it.  It carries you
+back to the spot, better than anything else.  It is almost equal to
+clairvoyance.  The names of the streets, with the things advertised,
+are almost as good as seeing the signs; and while reading "Boy lost!" 
+one can almost hear the bell and well-known voice of "Old Wilson,"
+crying the boy as "strayed, stolen, or mislaid!"  Then there was
+the Commencement at Cambridge, and the full account of the
+exercises at the graduating of my own class.  A list of all
+those familiar names, (beginning as usual with Abbot, and ending
+with W., ) which, as I read them over, one by one, brought up their
+faces and characters as I had known them in the various scenes of
+college life.  Then I imagined them upon the stage, speaking their
+orations, dissertations, colloquies, etc., with the gestures and
+tones of each, and tried to fancy the manner in which each would
+handle his subject, *****, handsome, showy, and superficial; *****,
+with his strong head, clear brain, cool self-possession; *****,
+modest, sensitive, and underrated; *****, the mouth-piece of the
+debating clubs, noisy, vaporous, and democratic; and so following. 
+Then I could see them receiving their A. Bs. from the dignified,
+feudal-looking President, with his "auctoritate mihi commissâ,"
+and walking off the stage with their diplomas in their hands;
+while upon the very same day, their classmate was walking up
+and down California beach with a hide upon his head. 
+
+Every watch below, for a week, I pored over these papers, until I was
+sure there could be nothing in them that had escaped my attention,
+and was ashamed to keep them any longer. 
+
+Saturday, March 5th.  This was an important day in our almanac,
+for it was on this day that we were first assured that our voyage
+was really drawing to a close.  The captain gave orders to have
+the ship ready for getting under weigh; and observed that there
+was a good breeze to take us down to San Pedro.  Then we were not
+going up to windward.  Thus much was certain, and was soon known,
+fore and aft; and when we went in the gig to take him off, he shook
+hands with the people on the beach, and said that he never expected
+to see Santa Barbara again.  This settled the matter, and sent a
+thrill of pleasure through the heart of every one in the boat. 
+We pulled off with a will, saying to ourselves (I can speak for
+myself at least)--"Good-by, Santa Barbara!--This is the last pull
+here--No more duckings in your breakers, and slipping from your
+cursed south-easters!"  The news was soon known aboard, and put
+life into everything when we were getting under weigh.  Each one
+was taking his last look at the mission, the town, the breakers
+on the beach, and swearing that no money would make him ship to
+see them again; and when all hands tallied on to the cat-fall,
+the chorus of "Time for us to go!" was raised for the first time,
+and joined in, with full swing, by everybody.  One would have thought
+we were on our voyage home, so near did it seem to us, though there
+were yet three months for us on the coast. 
+
+We left here the young Englishman, George Marsh, of whom I have
+before spoken, who was wrecked upon the Pelew Islands.  He left us
+to take the berth of second mate on board the Ayacucho, which was
+lying in port.  He was well qualified for this, and his education
+would enable him to rise to any situation on board ship.  I felt
+really sorry to part from him.  There was something about him which
+excited my curiosity; for I could not, for a moment, doubt that he
+was well born, and, in early life, well bred.  There was the latent
+gentleman about him, and the sense of honor, and no little of the
+pride, of a young man of good family.  The situation was offered
+him only a few hours before we sailed; and though he must give up
+returning to America, yet I have no doubt that the change from a
+dog's berth to an officer's, was too agreeable to his feelings to
+be declined.  We pulled him on board the Ayacucho, and when he left
+the boat he gave each of its crew a piece of money, except myself,
+and shook hands with me, nodding his head, as much as to say,--"We
+understand one another," and sprang on board.  Had I known, an hour
+sooner, that he was to leave us, I would have made an effort to get
+from him the true history of his early life.  He knew that I had
+no faith in the story which he told the crew, and perhaps, in the
+moment of parting from me, probably forever, he would have given me
+the true account.  Whether I shall ever meet him again, or whether
+his manuscript narrative of his adventures in the Pelew Islands,
+which would be creditable to him and interesting to the world,
+will ever see the light, I cannot tell.  His is one of those cases
+which are more numerous than those suppose, who have never lived
+anywhere but in their own homes, and never walked but in one line
+from their cradles to their graves.  We must come down from our
+heights, and leave our straight paths, for the byways and low
+places of life, if we would learn truths by strong contrasts;
+and in hovels, in forecastles, and among our own outcasts in
+foreign lands, see what has been wrought upon our fellow-creatures
+by accident, hardship, or vice.
+
+Two days brought us to San Pedro, and two days more (to our
+no small joy) gave us our last view of that place, which was
+universally called the hell of California, and seemed designed,
+in every way, for the wear and tear of sailors.  Not even the last
+view could bring out one feeling of regret.  No thanks, thought I,
+as we left the sandy shores in the distance, for the hours I have
+walked over your stones, barefooted, with hides on my head;--for
+the burdens I have carried up your steep, muddy hill;  for the
+duckings in your surf; and for the long days and longer nights
+passed on your desolate hill, watching piles of hides, hearing
+the sharp bark of your eternal coati, and the dismal hooting of
+your owls. 
+
+As I bade good-by to each successive place, I felt as though one
+link after another were struck from the chain of my servitude.
+Having kept close in shore, for the land-breeze, we passed the
+mission of San Juan Campestráno the same night, and saw distinctly,
+by the bright moonlight, the hill which I had gone down by a pair of
+halyards in search of a few paltry hides.  "Forsan et haec olim,"
+thought I, and took my last look of that place too.  And on the
+next morning we were under the high point of San Diego.  The flood
+tide took us swiftly in, and we came-to, opposite our hide-house,
+and prepared to get everything in trim for a long stay.  This was
+our last port.  Here we were to discharge everything from the ship,
+clean her out, smoke her, take in our hides, wood, water, etc.,
+and set sail for Boston.  While all this was doing, we were to
+lie still in one place, and the port was a safe one, and there
+was no fear of south-easters.  Accordingly, having picked out
+a good berth, in the stream, with a good smooth beach opposite,
+for a landing-place and within two cables' length of our hide-house,
+we moored ship, unbent all the sails, sent down the top-gallant
+yards and all the studding-sail booms, and housed the top-gallant
+masts.  The boats were then hove out, and all the sails, spare spars,
+the stores, the rigging not rove, and, in fact, everything which
+was not in daily use, sent ashore, and stowed away in the house.
+Then went all our hides and horns, and we left hardly anything
+in the ship but her ballast, and this we made preparation to
+heave out, the next day.  At night, after we had knocked off,
+and were sitting round in the forecastle, smoking and talking
+and taking sailor's pleasure, we congratulated ourselves upon
+being in that situation in which we had wished ourselves every
+time we had come into San Diego.  "If we were only here for the
+last time," we had often said, "with our top-gallant masts housed
+and our sails unbent!"--and now we had our wish.  Six weeks, or
+two months, of the hardest work we had yet seen, was before us,
+and then--"Good-by to California!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+LOADING FOR HOME--A SURPRISE--LAST OF AN OLD FRIEND--THE LAST
+HIDE--A HARD CASE--UP ANCHOR, FOR HOME!--HOMEWARD BOUND
+
+
+We turned-in early, knowing that we might expect an early call;
+and sure enough, before the stars had quite faded, "All hands ahoy!"
+and we were turned-to, heaving out ballast.  A regulation of the port
+forbids any ballast to be thrown overboard; accordingly, our long-boat
+was lined inside with rough boards and brought alongside the gangway,
+but where one tub-full went into the boat, twenty went overboard.
+This is done by every vessel, for the ballast can make but little
+difference in the channel, and it saves more than a week of labor,
+which would be spent in loading the boats, rowing them to the point,
+and unloading them.  When any people from the Presidio were on
+board, the boat was hauled up and ballast thrown in; but when the
+coast was clear, she was dropped astern again, and the ballast
+fell overboard. This is one of those petty frauds which every
+vessel practises in ports of inferior foreign nations, and which
+are lost sight of, among the countless deeds of greater weight
+which are hardly less common.  Fortunately a sailor, not being a
+free agent in work aboard ship, is not accountable; yet the fact
+of being constantly employed, without thought, in such things,
+begets an indifference to the rights of others.
+
+Friday, and a part of Saturday, we were engaged in this work,
+until we had thrown out all but what we wanted under our cargo
+on the passage home; when, as the next day was Sunday, and a
+good day for smoking ship, we cleared everything out of the
+cabin and forecastle, made a slow fire of charcoal, birch bark,
+brimstone, and other matters, on the ballast in the bottom of
+the hold, calked up the hatches and every open seam, and pasted
+over the cracks of the windows, and the slides of the scuttles,
+and companionway.  Wherever smoke was seen coming out, we calked
+and pasted, and, so far as we could, made the ship smoke tight. 
+The captain and officers slept under the awning which was spread
+over the quarter-deck; and we stowed ourselves away under an old
+studding-sail, which we drew over one side of the forecastle. 
+The next day, from fear that something might happen, orders were
+given for no one to leave the ship, and, as the decks were lumbered
+up with everything, we could not wash them down, so we had nothing
+to do, all day long. Unfortunately, our books were where we could not
+get at them, and we were turning about for something to do, when one
+man recollected a book he had left in the galley.  He went after
+it, and it proved to be Woodstock.  This was a great windfall,
+and as all could not read it at once, I, being the scholar of
+the company, was appointed reader.  I got a knot of six or eight
+about me, and no one could have had a more attentive audience. 
+Some laughed at the "scholars," and went over the other side
+of the forecastle, to work, and spin their yarns; but I carried
+the day, and had the cream of the crew for my hearers.  Many of
+the reflections, and the political parts, I omitted, but all the
+narrative they were delighted with; especially the descriptions
+of the Puritans, and the sermons and harangues of the Round-head
+soldiers.  The gallantry of Charles, Dr. Radcliffe's plots,
+the knavery of "trusty Tompkins,"--in fact, every part seemed to
+chain their attention.  Many things which, while I was reading,
+I had a misgiving about, thinking them above their capacity, I was
+surprised to find them enter into completely. 
+
+I read nearly all day, until sundown; when, as soon as supper was
+over, as I had nearly finished, they got a light from the galley;
+and by skipping what was less interesting, I carried them through
+to the marriage of Everard, and the restoration of Charles the
+Second, before eight o'clock. 
+
+The next morning, we took the battens from the hatches, and opened
+the ship.  A few stifled rats were found; and what bugs, cockroaches,
+fleas, and other vermin, there might have been on board, must have
+unrove their life-lines before the hatches were opened.  The ship
+being now ready, we covered the bottom of the hold over, fore and
+aft, with dried brush for dunnage, and having levelled everything
+away, we were ready to take in our cargo.  All the hides that had
+been collected since the California left the coast, (a little more
+than two years,) amounting to about forty thousand, were cured,
+dried, and stowed away in the house, waiting for our good ship
+to take them to Boston. 
+
+Now began the operation of taking in our cargo, which kept us hard
+at work, from the grey of the morning till star-light, for six weeks,
+with the exception of Sundays, and of just time to swallow our meals.
+To carry the work on quicker, a division of labor was made.  Two men
+threw the hides down from the piles in the house, two more picked
+them up and put them on a long horizontal pole, raised a few feet
+from the ground, where they were beaten, by two more, with flails,
+somewhat like those used in threshing wheat.  When beaten, they were
+taken from this pole by two more, and placed upon a platform
+of boards; and ten or a dozen men, with their trowsers rolled
+up, were constantly going, back and forth, from the platform to
+the boat, which was kept off where she would just float, with the
+hides upon their heads.  The throwing the hides upon the pole was
+the most difficult work, and required a sleight of hand which was
+only to be got by long practice.  As I was known for a hide-curer,
+this post was assigned to me, and I continued at it for six or
+eight days, tossing, in that time, from eight to ten thousand hides,
+until my wrists became so lame that I gave in; and was transferred
+to the gang that was employed in filling the boats, where I remained
+for the rest of the time.  As we were obliged to carry the hides
+on our heads from fear of their getting wet, we each had a piece
+of sheepskin sewed into the inside of our hats, with the wool next
+to our heads, and thus were able to bear the weight, day after day,
+which would otherwise have soon worn off our hair, and borne hard upon
+our skulls.  Upon the whole, ours was the best berth; for though the
+water was nipping cold, early in the morning and late at night,
+and being so continually wet was rather an exposure, yet we got
+rid of the constant dust and dirt from the beating of the hides,
+and being all of us young and hearty, did not mind the exposure.
+The older men of the crew, whom it would have been dangerous to
+have kept in the water, remained on board with the mate, to stow
+the hides away, as fast as they were brought off by the boats.
+
+We continued at work in this manner until the lower hold was filled
+to within four feet of the beams, when all hands were called aboard
+to commence steeving.  As this is a peculiar operation, it will
+require a minute description. 
+
+Before stowing the hides, as I have said, the ballast is levelled
+off, just above the keelson, and then loose dunnage placed upon it,
+on which the hides rest.  The greatest care is used in stowing, to make
+the ship hold as many hides as possible.  It is no mean art, and a man
+skilled in it is an important character in California.  Many a dispute
+have I heard raging high between professed "beach-combers," as to
+whether the hides should be stowed "shingling," or "back-to-back,
+and flipper-to-flipper;" upon which point there was an entire and
+bitter division of sentiment among the savans.  We adopted each
+method at different periods of the stowing, and parties ran high
+in the forecastle, some siding with "old Bill" in favor of the
+former, and others scouting him, and relying upon "English Bob"
+of the Ayacucho, who had been eight years in California, and was
+willing to risk his life and limb for the latter method.  At length
+a compromise was effected, and a middle course, of shifting the ends
+and backs at every lay, was adopted, which worked well, and which,
+though they held it inferior to their own, each party granted was
+better than that of the other. 
+
+Having filled the ship up, in this way, to within four feet of
+her beams, the process of steeving commenced, by which an hundred
+hides are got into a place where one could not be forced by hand,
+and which presses the hides to the utmost, sometimes starting the
+beams of the ship, resembling in its effects the jack-screws which
+are used in stowing cotton.  Each morning we went ashore, and beat
+and brought off as many hides as we could steeve in the course of
+the day, and, after breakfast, went down into the hold, where we
+remained at work until night.  The whole length of the hold, from
+stem to stern, was floored off level, and we began with raising
+a pile in the after part, hard against the bulkhead of the run,
+and filling it up to the beams, crowding in as many as we could
+by hand and pushing in with oars; when a large "book" was made
+of from twenty-five to fifty hides, doubled at the backs, and put
+into one another, like the leaves of a book.  An opening was then
+made between two hides in the pile, and the back of the outside
+hide of the book inserted.  Two long, heavy spars, called steeves,
+made of the strongest wood, and sharpened off like a wedge at
+one end, were placed with their wedge ends into the inside of
+the hide which was the centre of the book, and to the other end
+of each, straps were fitted, into which large tackles were hooked,
+composed each of two huge purchase blocks, one hooked to the strap
+on the end of the steeve, and the other into a dog, fastened into
+one of the beams, as far aft as it could be got.  When this was
+arranged, and the ways greased upon which the book was to slide,
+the falls of the tackles were stretched forward, and all hands
+tallied on, and bowsed away until the book was well entered;
+when these tackles were nippered, straps and toggles clapped
+upon the falls, and two more luff tackles hooked on, with dogs,
+in the same manner; and thus, by luff upon luff, the power was
+multiplied, until into a pile in which one hide more could not
+be crowded by hand, an hundred or an hundred and fifty were often
+driven in by this complication of purchases.  When the last luff
+was hooked on, all hands were called to the rope--cook, steward,
+and all--and ranging ourselves at the falls, one behind the other,
+sitting down on the hides, with our heads just even with the beams,
+we set taught upon the tackles, and striking up a song, and all
+lying back at the chorus, we bowsed the tackles home, and drove
+the large books chock in out of sight.
+
+The sailor's songs for capstans and falls are of a peculiar kind,
+having a chorus at the end of each line.  The burden is usually
+sung, by one alone, and, at the chorus, all hands join in,--and
+the louder the noise, the better.  With us, the chorus seemed
+almost to raise the decks of the ship, and might be heard at
+a great distance, ashore.  A song is as necessary to sailors
+as the drum and fife to a soldier.  They can't pull in time,
+or pull with a will, without it.  Many a time, when a thing
+goes heavy, with one fellow yo-ho-ing, a lively song, like "Heave,
+to the girls!"  "Nancy oh!"  "Jack Cross-tree," etc., has put life
+and strength into every arm. We often found a great difference in
+the effect of the different songs in driving in the hides.  Two or
+three songs would be tried, one after the other; with no effect;--not
+an inch could be got upon the tackles--when a new song, struck up,
+seemed to hit the humor of the moment, and drove the tackles "two
+blocks" at once. "Heave round hearty!"  "Captain gone ashore!" and
+the like, might do for common pulls, but in an emergency, when we
+wanted a heavy, "raise-the-dead" pull, which should start the beams
+of the ship, there was nothing like "Time for us to go!"  "Round
+the corner," or "Hurrah! hurrah! my hearty bullies!"
+
+This was the most lively part of our work.  A little boating and
+beach work in the morning; then twenty or thirty men down in a
+close hold, where we were obliged to sit down and slide about,
+passing hides, and rowsing about the great steeves, tackles,
+and dogs, singing out at the falls, and seeing the ship filling up
+every day.  The work was as hard as it could well be.  There was
+not a moment's cessation from Monday morning till Saturday night,
+when we were generally beaten out, and glad to have a full night's
+rest, a wash and shift of clothes, and a quiet Sunday.  During all
+this time,--which would have startled Dr. Graham--we lived upon
+almost nothing but fresh beef; fried beefsteaks, three times a
+day,--morning, noon, and night.  At morning and night we had a
+quart of tea to each man; and an allowance of about a pound of
+hard bread a day; but our chief article of food was the beef.
+A mess, consisting of six men, had a large wooden kid piled up
+with beefsteaks, cut thick, and fried in fat, with the grease
+poured over them.  Round this we sat, attacking it with our
+jack-knives and teeth, and with the appetite of young lions,
+and sent back an empty kid to the galley.  This was done three
+times a day.  How many pounds each man ate in a day, I will not
+attempt to compute.  A whole bullock (we ate liver and all) lasted
+us but four days.  Such devouring of flesh, I will venture to say,
+was seldom known before.  What one man ate in a day, over a hearty
+man's allowance, would make a Russian's heart leap into his mouth.
+Indeed, during all the time we were upon the coast, our principal
+food was fresh beef, and every man had perfect health; but this
+was a time of especial devouring; and what we should have done
+without meat, I cannot tell.  Once or twice, when our bullocks
+failed and we were obliged to make a meal upon dry bread and
+water, it seemed like feeding upon shavings.  Light and dry,
+feeling unsatisfied, and, at the same time, full, we were glad
+to see four quarters of a bullock, just killed, swinging from
+the fore-top.  Whatever theories may be started by sedentary
+men, certainly no men could have gone through more hard work and
+exposure for sixteen months in more perfect health, and without
+ailings and failings, than our ship's crew, let them have lived
+upon Hygeia's own baking and dressing.
+
+Friday, April 15th.  Arrived, brig Pilgrim, from the windward.
+It was a sad sight for her crew to see us getting ready to go off
+the coast, while they, who had been longer on the coast than the
+Alert, were condemned to another year's hard service.  I spent an
+evening on board, and found them making the best of the matter,
+and determined to rough it out as they might; but my friend S-----
+was determined to go home in the ship, if money or interest could
+bring it to pass.  After considerable negotiating and working,
+he succeeded in persuading my English friend, Tom Harris,--my
+companion in the anchor watch--for thirty dollars, some clothes,
+and an intimation from Captain Faucon that he should want a second
+mate before the voyage was up, to take his place in the brig as
+soon as she was ready to go up to windward. 
+
+The first opportunity I could get to speak to Captain Faucon,
+I asked him to step up to the oven and look at Hope, whom he
+knew well, having had him on board his vessel.  He went to
+see him, but said that he had so little medicine, and expected
+to be so long on the coast, that he could do nothing for him,
+but that Captain Arthur would take care of him when he came down
+in the California, which would be in a week or more.  I had been
+to see Hope the first night after we got into San Diego this last
+time, and had frequently since spent the early part of a night in
+the oven.  I hardly expected, when I left him to go to windward,
+to find him alive upon my return.  He was certainly as low as he
+could well be when I left him, and what would be the effect of the
+medicines that I gave him, I hardly then dared to conjecture. 
+Yet I knew that he must die without them.  I was not a little
+rejoiced, therefore, and relieved, upon our return, to see him
+decidedly better.  The medicines were strong, and took hold and
+gave a check to the disorder which was destroying him; and, more
+than that, they had begun the work of exterminating it.  I shall
+never forget the gratitude that he expressed.  All the Kanakas
+attributed his escape solely to my knowledge, and would not be
+persuaded that I had not all the secrets of the physical system
+open to me and under my control.  My medicines, however, were gone,
+and no more could be got from the ship, so that his life was left
+to hang upon the arrival of the California.
+
+Sunday, April 24th.  We had now been nearly seven weeks in San Diego,
+and had taken in the greater part of our cargo, and were looking out,
+every day, for the arrival of the California, which had our agent
+on board; when, this afternoon, some Kanakas, who had been over
+the hill for rabbits and to fight rattlesnakes, came running down
+the path, singing out, "Kail ho!" with all their might.  Mr. H.,
+our third mate, was ashore, and asking them particularly about
+the size of the sail, etc., and learning that it was "Moku--Nui
+Moku," hailed our ship, and said that the California was on the
+other side of the point.  Instantly, all hands were turned up,
+the bow guns run out and loaded, the ensign and broad pennant set,
+the yards squared by lifts and braces, and everything got ready to
+make a good appearance.  The instant she showed her nose round
+the point, we began our salute.  She came in under top-gallant
+sails, clewed up and furled her sails in good order, and came-to,
+within good swinging distance of us.  It being Sunday, and nothing
+to do, all hands were on the forecastle, criticising the new-comer. 
+She was a good, substantial ship, not quite so long as the Alert,
+and wall-sided and kettle-bottomed, after the latest fashion of
+south-shore cotton and sugar wagons; strong, too, and tight, and a
+good average sailor, but with no pretensions to beauty, and nothing
+in the style of a "crack ship."  Upon the whole, we were perfectly
+satisfied that the Alert might hold up her head with a ship twice
+as smart as she. 
+
+At night, some of us got a boat and went on board, and found
+a large, roomy forecastle, (for she was squarer forward than
+the Alert,) and a crew of a dozen or fifteen men and boys,
+sitting around on their chests, smoking and talking, and ready
+to give a welcome to any of our ship's company.  It was just
+seven months since they left Boston, which seemed but yesterday
+to us.  Accordingly, we had much to ask, for though we had seen
+the newspapers that she brought, yet these were the very men who
+had been in Boston and seen everything with their own eyes.  One of
+the green-hands was a Boston boy, from one of the public schools,
+and, of course, knew many things which we wished to ask about, and
+on inquiring the names of our two Boston boys, found that they had
+been schoolmates of his.  Our men had hundreds of questions to ask
+about Ann street, the boarding-houses, the ships in port, the rate
+of wages, and other matters. 
+
+Among her crew were two English man-of-war's-men, so that, of course,
+we soon had music.  They sang in the true sailor's style, and the
+rest of the crew, which was a remarkably musical one, joined in the
+choruses.  They had many of the latest sailor songs, which had not
+yet got about among our merchantmen, and which they were very choice
+of.  They began soon after we came on board, and kept it up until
+after two bells, when the second mate came forward and called "the
+Alerts away!"  Battle-songs, drinking-songs, boat-songs, love-songs,
+and everything else, they seemed to have a complete assortment of,
+and I was glad to find that "All in the Downs," "Poor Tom Bowline,"
+"The Bay of Biscay," "List, ye Landsmen!" and all those classical
+songs of the sea, still held their places.  In addition to these,
+they had picked up at the theatres and other places a few songs of
+a little more genteel cast, which they were very proud of; and I
+shall never forget hearing an old salt, who had broken his voice
+by hard drinking on shore, and bellowing from the mast-head in a
+hundred northwesters, with all manner of ungovernable trills and
+quavers in the high notes, breaking into a rough falsetto--and in
+the low ones, growling along like the dying away of the boatswain's
+"all hands ahoy!" down the hatch-way, singing, "Oh, no, we never
+mention him." 
+
+"Perhaps, like me, he struggles with
+Each feeling of regret;
+But if he's loved as I have loved,
+He never can forget!" 
+
+The last line, being the conclusion, he roared out at the top of
+his voice, breaking each word up into half a dozen syllables. 
+This was very popular, and Jack was called upon every night to
+give them his "sentimental song."  No one called for it more
+loudly than I, for the complete absurdity of the execution,
+and the sailors' perfect satisfaction in it, were ludicrous
+beyond measure. 
+
+The next day, the California commenced unloading her cargo; and
+her boats' crews, in coming and going, sang their boat-songs,
+keeping time with their oars.  This they did all day long for
+several days, until their hides were all discharged, when a gang
+of them were sent on board the Alert, to help us steeve our hides. 
+This was a windfall for us, for they had a set of new songs for the
+capstan and fall, and ours had got nearly worn out by six weeks'
+constant use.  I have no doubt that this timely reinforcement of
+songs hastened our work several days. 
+
+Our cargo was now nearly all taken in; and my old friend, the Pilgrim,
+having completed her discharge, unmoored, to set sail the next morning
+on another long trip to windward.  I was just thinking of her hard
+lot, and congratulating myself upon my escape from her, when I
+received a summons into the cabin.  I went aft, and there found,
+seated round the cabin table, my own captain, Captain Faucon of
+the Pilgrim, and Mr. R-----, the agent.  Captain T----- turned
+to me and asked abruptly--
+
+"D-----, do you want to go home in the ship?" 
+
+"Certainly, sir," said I; "I expect to go home in the ship." 
+
+"Then," said he, "you must get some one to go in your place on
+board the Pilgrim." 
+
+I was so completely "taken aback" by this sudden intimation, that for
+a moment I could make no reply.  I knew that it would be hopeless to
+attempt to prevail upon any of the ship's crew to take twelve months
+more upon the California in the brig.  I knew, too, that Captain
+T----- had received orders to bring me home in the Alert, and he
+had told me, when I was at the hide-house, that I was to go home
+in her; and even if this had not been so, it was cruel to give me
+no notice of the step they were going to take, until a few hours
+before the brig would sail.  As soon as I had got my wits about me,
+I put on a bold front, and told him plainly that I had a letter in
+my chest informing me that he had been written to, by the owners
+in Boston, to bring me home in the ship, and moreover, that he
+had told me that I was to go in the ship. 
+
+To have this told him, and to be opposed in such a manner, was more
+than my lord paramount had been used to. 
+
+He turned fiercely upon me, and tried to look me down, and face me
+out of my statement; but finding that that wouldn't do, and that I
+was entering upon my defence in such a way as would show to the other
+two that he was in the wrong,--he changed his ground, and pointed
+to the shipping papers of the Pilgrim, from which my name had never
+been erased, and said that there was my name,--that I belonged to
+her,--that he had an absolute discretionary power,--and, in short,
+that I must be on board the Pilgrim by the next morning with my chest
+and hammock, or have some one ready to go in my place, and that he
+would not hear another word from me.  No court or star chamber could
+proceed more summarily with a poor devil, than this trio was about
+to do with me; condemning me to a punishment worse than a Botany
+Bay exile, and to a fate which would alter the whole current of
+my future life; for two years more in California would have made
+me a sailor for the rest of my days.  I felt all this, and saw
+the necessity of being determined.  I repeated what I had said,
+and insisted upon my right to return in the ship. 
+
+I "raised my arm, and tauld my crack,
+Before them a'." 
+
+But it would have all availed me nothing, had I been "some poor
+body," before this absolute, domineering tribunal.  But they saw
+that I would not go, unless "vi et armis," and they knew that I
+had friends and interest enough at home to make them suffer for
+any injustice they might do me.  It was probably this that turned
+the matter; for the captain changed his tone entirely, and asked
+me if, in case any one went in my place, I would give him the same
+sum that S----- gave Harris to exchange with him.  I told him that
+if any one was sent on board the brig, I should pity him, and be
+willing to help him to that, or almost any amount; but would not
+speak of it as an exchange. 
+
+"Very well," said he.  "Go forward about your business, and send
+English Ben here to me!" 
+
+I went forward with a light heart, but feeling as angry, and as
+much contempt as I could well contain between my teeth.  English Ben
+was sent aft, and in a few moments came forward, looking as though
+he had received his sentence to be hung.  The captain had told him
+to get his things ready to go on board the brig the next morning;
+and that I would give him thirty dollars and a suit of clothes. 
+The hands had "knocked off" for dinner, and were standing about the
+forecastle, when Ben came forward and told his story.  I could see
+plainly that it made a great excitement, and that, unless I explained
+the matter to them, the feeling would be turned against me.  Ben was a
+poor English boy, a stranger in Boston, and without friends or money;
+and being an active, willing lad, and a good sailor for his years,
+was a general favorite.  "Oh, yes!" said the crew, "the captain
+has let you off, because you are a gentleman's son, and have got
+friends, and know the owners; and taken Ben, because he is poor,
+and has got nobody to say a word for him!"  I knew that this was too
+true to be answered, but I excused myself from any blame, and told
+them that I had a right to go home, at all events.  This pacified
+them a little, but Jack had got a notion that a poor lad was to be
+imposed upon, and did not distinguish very clearly; and though I
+knew that I was in no fault, and, in fact, had barely escaped the
+grossest injustice, yet I felt that my berth was getting to be a
+disagreeable one.  The notion that I was not "one of them," which,
+by a participation in all their labor and hardships, and having no
+favor shown me, had been laid asleep, was beginning to revive.
+But far stronger than any feeling for myself, was the pity I felt
+for the poor lad.  He had depended upon going home in the ship;
+and from Boston, was going immediately to Liverpool, to see his
+friends.  Beside this, having begun the voyage with very few clothes,
+he had taken up the greater part of his wages in the slop-chest,
+and it was every day a losing concern to him; and, like all the
+rest of the crew, he had a hearty hatred of California, and the
+prospect of eighteen months or two years more of hide-droghing
+seemed completely to break down his spirit.  I had determined
+not to go myself, happen what would, and I knew that the captain
+would not dare to attempt to force me. I knew, too, that the two
+captains had agreed together to get some one, and that unless I
+could prevail upon somebody to go voluntarily, there would be no
+help for Ben.  From this consideration, though I had said that I
+would have nothing to do with an exchange, I did my best to get
+some one to go voluntarily.  I offered to give an order upon the
+owners in Boston for six months' wages, and also all the clothes,
+books, and other matters, which I should not want upon the voyage
+home.  When this offer was published in the ship, and the case of
+poor Ben was set forth in strong colors, several, who would not
+have dreamed of going themselves, were busy in talking it up to
+others, who, they thought, might be tempted to accept it; and,
+at length, one fellow, a harum-scarum lad, whom we called Harry
+Bluff, and who did not care what country or ship he was in, if he
+had clothes enough and money enough--partly from pity for Ben,
+and partly from the thought he should have "cruising money" for
+the rest of his stay,--came forward, and offered to go and "sling
+his hammock in the bloody hooker."  Lest his purpose should cool,
+I signed an order for the sum upon the owners in Boston, gave him
+all the clothes I could spare, and sent him aft to the captain,
+to let him know what had been done.  The skipper accepted the
+exchange, and was, doubtless, glad to have it pass off so easily.
+At the same time he cashed the order, which was endorsed to him,(1)
+
+---------------
+1. When the crew were paid off in Boston, the owners answered
+the order, but generously refused to deduct the amount from the
+pay-roll, saying that the exchange was made under compulsion. 
+They also allowed S----- his exchange money. 
+---------------
+
+and the next morning, the lad went aboard the brig, apparently in
+good spirits, having shaken hands with each of us and wished us a
+pleasant passage home, jingling the money in his pockets, and calling
+out, "Never say die, while there's a shot in the locker."  The same
+boat carried off Harris, my old watchmate, who had previously made
+an exchange with my friend S-----.
+
+I was sorry to part with Harris.  Nearly two hundred hours (as we
+had calculated it) had we walked the ship's deck together, at anchor
+watch, when all hands were below, and talked over and over every
+subject which came within the ken of either of us.  He gave me a
+strong gripe with his hand; and I told him, if he came to Boston
+again, not to fail to find me out, and let me see an old watchmate. 
+The same boat brought on board S-----, my friend, who had begun
+the voyage with me from Boston, and, like me, was going back to
+his family and to the society which we had been born and brought
+up in.  We congratulated one another upon finding what we had
+long talked over and wished for, thus brought about; and none on
+board the ship were more glad than ourselves to see the old brig
+standing round the point, under full sail.  As she passed abreast
+of us, we all collected in the waist, and gave her three loud,
+hearty cheers, waving our hats in the air.  Her crew sprang
+into the rigging and chains, answered us with three as loud,
+to which we, after the nautical custom, gave one in return. 
+I took my last look of their familiar faces as they got over the
+rail, and saw the old black cook put his head out of the galley,
+and wave his cap over his head.  The crew flew aloft to loose the
+top-gallant sails and royals; the two captains waved their hands
+to one another; and, in ten minutes, we saw the last inch of her
+white canvas, as she rounded the point. 
+
+Relieved as I was to see her well off, (and I felt like one who had
+just sprung from an iron trap which was closing upon him) I had yet a
+feeling of regret at taking the last look at the old craft in which I
+had spent a year, and the first year, of my sailor's life--which had
+been my first home in the new world into which I had entered--and
+with which I had associated so many things,--my first leaving home,
+my first crossing the equator, Cape Horn, Juan Fernandez, death at
+sea, and other things, serious and common.  Yet, with all this,
+and the feeling I had for my old shipmates, condemned to another
+term of California life, the thought that we were done with it,
+and that one week more would see us on our way to Boston, was a
+cure for everything.
+
+Friday, May 6th, completed the taking of our cargo, and was a
+memorable day in our calendar.  The time when we were to take
+in our last hide, we had looked forward to, for sixteen months,
+as the first bright spot.  When the last hide was stowed away,
+and the hatches calked down, the tarpaulins battened on to them,
+the long-boat hoisted in and secured, and the decks swept down for
+the night,--the chief mate sprang upon the top of the long-boat,
+called all hands into the waist, and giving us a signal by swinging
+his cap over his head,--we gave three long, loud cheers, which came
+from the bottom of our hearts, and made the hills and valleys
+ring again.  In a moment, we heard three, in answer, from the
+California's crew, who had seen us taking in our long-boat,
+and--"the cry they heard--its meaning knew."
+
+The last week, we had been occupied in taking in a supply of
+wood and water for the passage home, and bringing on board the
+spare spars, sails, etc.  I was sent off with a party of Indians
+to fill the water-casks, at a spring, about three miles from the
+shipping, and near the town, and was absent three days, living at the
+town, and spending the daytime in filling the casks and transporting
+them on ox-carts to the landing-place, whence they were taken on
+board by the crew with boats.  This being all done with, we gave
+one day to bending our sails; and at night, every sail, from the
+courses to the skysails, was bent, and every studding-sail ready
+for setting.
+
+Before our sailing, an unsuccessful attempt was made by one of
+the crew of the California to effect an exchange with one of our
+number.  It was a lad, between fifteen and sixteen years of age,
+who went by the name of the "reefer," having been a midshipman in
+an East India Company's ship.  His singular character and story
+had excited our interest ever since the ship came into the port.
+He was a delicate, slender little fellow, with a beautiful pearly
+complexion, regular features, forehead as white as marble, black
+haired, curling beautifully, rounded, tapering, delicate fingers,
+small feet, soft voice, gentle manners, and, in fact, every sign
+of having been well born and bred.  At the same time there was
+something in his expression which showed a slight deficiency of
+intellect.  How great the deficiency was, or what it resulted from;
+whether he was born so; whether it was the result of disease or
+accident; or whether, as some said, it was brought on by his
+distress of mind, during the voyage, I cannot say.  From his own
+account of himself, and from many circumstances which were known
+in connection with his story, he must have been the son of a man
+of wealth.  His mother was an Italian woman.  He was probably a
+natural son, for in scarcely any other way could the incidents
+of his early life be accounted for.  He said that his parents did
+not live together, and he seemed to have been ill treated by his
+father.  Though he had been delicately brought up, and indulged
+in every way, (and he had then with him trinkets which had been
+given him at home,) yet his education had been sadly neglected;
+and when only twelve years old, he was sent as midshipman in the
+Company's service.  His own story was, that he afterwards ran
+away from home, upon a difficulty which he had with his father,
+and went to Liverpool, whence he sailed in the ship Rialto,
+Captain Holmes, for Boston.  Captain Holmes endeavored to get
+him a passage back, but there being no vessel to sail for some
+time, the boy left him, and went to board at a common sailor's
+boarding-house, in Ann street, where he supported himself for a
+few weeks by selling some of his valuables.  At length, according
+to his own account, being desirous of returning home, he went to
+a shipping-office, where the shipping articles of the California
+were open.  Upon asking where the ship was going, he was told by
+the shipping-master that she was bound to California.  Not knowing
+where that was, he told him that he wanted to go to Europe, and
+asked if California was in Europe.  The shipping-master answered
+him in a way which the boy did not understand, and advised him to
+ship.  The boy signed the articles, received his advance, laid out
+a little of it in clothes, and spent the rest, and was ready to
+go on board, when, upon the morning of sailing, he heard that the
+ship was bound upon the North-west Coast, on a two or three years'
+voyage, and was not going to Europe.  Frightened at this prospect,
+he slipped away when the crew was going aboard, wandered up into
+another part of the town, and spent all the forenoon in straying
+about the common, and the neighboring streets.
+
+Having no money, and all his clothes and other things being in
+the chest, on board, and being a stranger, he became tired and
+hungry, and ventured down toward the shipping, to see if the vessel
+had sailed.  He was just turning the corner of a street, when the
+shipping-master, who had been in search of him, popped upon him,
+seized him, and carried him on board.  He cried and struggled,
+and said he did not wish to go in the ship, but the topsails
+were at the mast-head, the fasts just ready to be cast off, and
+everything in the hurry and confusion of departure, so that he was
+hardly noticed; and the few who did inquire about the matter were
+told that it was merely a boy who had spent his advance and tried
+to run away.  Had the owners of the vessel known anything of the
+matter, they would have interfered at once; but they either knew
+nothing of it, or heard, like the rest, that it was only an unruly
+boy who was sick of his bargain.  As soon as the boy found himself
+actually at sea, and upon a voyage of two or three years in length,
+his spirits failed him; he refused to work, and became so miserable,
+that Captain Arthur took him into the cabin, where he assisted
+the steward, and occasionally pulled and hauled about decks.
+He was in this capacity when we saw him; and though it was
+much better for him than the life in the forecastle, and the
+hard work, watching, and exposure, which his delicate frame could
+not have borne, yet, to be joined with a black fellow in waiting
+upon a man whom he probably looked upon as but little, in point
+of education and manners, above one of his father's servants, was
+almost too much for his spirit to bear.  Had he entered upon his
+situation of his own free will, he could have endured it; but to
+have been deceived, and, in addition to that, forced into it,
+was intolerable.  He made every effort to go home in our ship,
+but his captain refused to part with him except in the way of
+exchange, and that he could not effect.  If this account of the
+whole matter, which we had from the boy, and which was confirmed
+by all the crew, be correct, I cannot understand why Captain Arthur
+should have refused to let him go, especially being a captain who
+had the name, not only with that crew, but with all whom he had
+ever commanded, of an unusually kind-hearted man.
+
+The truth is, the unlimited power which merchant captains have, upon
+long voyages on strange coasts, takes away a sense of responsibility,
+and too often, even in men otherwise well-disposed, substitutes
+a disregard for the rights and feelings of others.  The lad was
+sent on shore to join the gang at the hide-house; from whence,
+I was afterwards rejoiced to hear, he effected his escape, and
+went down to Callao in a small Spanish schooner; and from Callao,
+he probably returned to England.
+
+Soon after the arrival of the California, I spoke to Captain Arthur
+about Hope; and as he had known him on the voyage before, and was
+very fond of him, he immediately went to see him, gave him proper
+medicines, and, under such care, he began rapidly to recover.  The
+Saturday night before our sailing, I spent an hour in the oven,
+and took leave of my Kanaka friends; and, really, this was the
+only thing connected with leaving California which was in any
+way unpleasant.  I felt an interest and affection for many of
+these simple, true-hearted men, such as I never felt before
+but for a near relation.  Hope shook me by the hand, said he
+should soon be well again, and ready to work for me when I came
+upon the coast, next voyage, as officer of the ship; and told me
+not to forget, when I became captain, how to be kind to the sick.
+Old "Mr. Bingham" and "King Mannini" went down to the boat with me,
+shook me heartily by the hand, wished us a good voyage, and went back
+to the oven, chanting one of their deep monotonous songs, the burden
+of which I gathered to be about us and our voyage.
+
+Sunday, May 8th.  This promised to be our last day in California. 
+
+Our forty thousand hides, thirty thousand horns, besides several
+barrels of otter and beaver skins, were all stowed below, and the
+hatches calked down.  All our spare spars were taken on board and
+lashed; our water-casks secured; and our live stock, consisting
+of four bullocks, a dozen sheep, a dozen or more pigs, and three
+or four dozen of poultry, were all stowed away in their different
+quarters: the bullocks in the long-boat, the sheep in a pen on the
+fore-hatch, and the pigs in a sty under the bows of the long-boat,
+and the poultry in their proper coop; and the jolly-boat was full
+of hay for the sheep and bullocks.  Our unusually large cargo,
+together with the stores for a five months' voyage, brought the
+ship channels down into the water.  In addition to this, she had
+been steeved so thoroughly, and was so bound by the compression of
+her cargo, forced into her by so powerful machinery, that she was
+like a man in a straight-jacket, and would be but a dull sailer,
+until she had worked herself loose.
+
+The California had finished discharging her cargo, and was to get
+under weigh at the same time with us.  Having washed down decks and
+got our breakfast, the two vessels lay side by side, in complete
+readiness for sea, our ensigns hanging from the peaks, and our
+tall spars reflected from the glassy surface of the river, which,
+since sunrise, had been unbroken by a ripple.  At length, a few
+whiffs came across the water, and, by eleven o'clock, the regular
+north-west wind set steadily in.  There was no need of calling
+all hands, for we had all been hanging about the forecastle the
+whole forenoon, and were ready for a start upon the first sign
+of a breeze.
+
+All eyes were aft upon the captain, who was walking the deck,
+with, every now and then, a look to windward.  He made a sign
+to the mate, who came forward, took his station, deliberately
+between the knight-heads, cast a glance aloft, and called out,
+"All hands, lay aloft and loose the sails!"  We were half in the
+rigging before the order came, and never since we left Boston
+were the gaskets off the yards, and the rigging overhauled, in a
+shorter time.  "All ready forward, sir!"--"All ready the main!"--
+"Cross-jack yards all ready, sir!"--"Lay down, all hands but one
+on each yard!"  The yard-arm and bunt gaskets were cast off; and
+each sail hung by the jigger, with one man standing by the tie to
+let it go.  At the same moment that we sprang aloft, a dozen hands
+sprang into the rigging of the California, and in an instant were
+all over her yards; and her sails, too, were ready to be dropped at
+the word.  In the mean time our bow gun had been loaded and run out,
+and its discharge was to be the signal for dropping sails.  A cloud
+of smoke came out of our bows; the echoes of the gun rattled our
+farewell among the hills of California; and the two ships were
+covered, from head to foot, with their white canvas.  For a few
+minutes, all was uproar and apparent confusion: men flying about
+like monkeys in the rigging; ropes and blocks flying; orders given
+and answered, and the confused noises of men singing out at the
+ropes.  The top-sails came to the mast-heads with "Cheerily,
+men!" and, in a few minutes, every sail was set; for the wind
+was light.  The head sails were backed, the windlass came round
+"slip-slap" to the cry of the sailors;--"Hove short, sir," said
+the mate;--"Up with him!"--"Aye, aye, sir."--A few hearty and long
+heaves, and the anchor showed its head.  "Hook cat!"--The fall was
+stretched along the decks; all hands laid hold;--"Hurrah, for the
+last time," said the mate; and the anchor came to the cat-head to
+the tune of "Time for us to go," with a loud chorus.  Everything
+was done quick, as though it were for the last time.  The head
+yards were filled away, and our ship began to move through the
+water on her homeward-bound course.
+
+The California had got under weigh at the same moment; and we
+sailed down the narrow bay abreast and were just off the mouth,
+and finding ourselves gradually shooting ahead of her, were on
+the point of giving her three parting cheers, when, suddenly, we
+found ourselves stopped short, and the California ranging fast
+ahead of us.  A bar stretches across the mouth of the harbor,
+with water enough to float common vessels, but, being low in
+the water, and having kept well to leeward, as we were bound
+to the southward, we had stuck fast, while the California,
+being light, had floated over.
+
+We kept all sail on, in the hope of forcing over, but failing in
+this, we hove aback, and lay waiting for the tide, which was on
+the flood, to take us back into the channel.  This was somewhat
+of a damper to us, and the captain looked not a little mortified
+and vexed.  "This is the same place where the Rosa got ashore,"
+observed the redheaded second mate, most mal-a-propos.  A malediction
+on the Rosa, and him too, was all the answer he got, and he slunk
+off to leeward.  In a few minutes, the force of the wind and the
+rising of the tide backed us into the stream, and we were on our
+way to our old anchoring-place, the tide setting swiftly up, and
+the ship barely manageable, in the light breeze.  We came-to, in
+our old berth, opposite the hide-house, whose inmates were not a
+little surprised to see us return.  We felt as though we were tied
+to California; and some of the crew swore that they never should
+get clear of the bloody coast.
+
+In about half an hour, which was near high water, the order was
+given to man the windlass, and again the anchor was catted; but not
+a word was said about the last time.  The California had come back
+on finding that we had returned, and was hove-to, waiting for us,
+off the point.  This time we passed the bar safely, and were soon
+up with the California, who filled away, and kept us company.
+
+She seemed desirous of a trial of speed, and our captain accepted
+the challenge, although we were loaded down to the bolts of
+our chain plates, as deep as a sand-barge, and bound so taught
+with our cargo that we were no more fit for a race than a man
+in fetters;--while our antagonist was in her best trim.  Being
+clear of the point, the breeze became stiff, and the royal masts
+bent under our sails, but we would not take them in until we saw
+three boys spring aloft into the rigging of the California; when
+they were all furled at once, but with orders to stay aloft at the
+top-gallant mastheads, and loose them again at the word.  It was
+my duty to furl the fore royal; and while standing by to loose
+it again, I had a fine view of the scene.  From where I stood,
+the two vessels seemed nothing but spars and sails, while their
+narrow decks, far below, slanting over by the force of the wind
+aloft, appeared hardly capable of supporting the great fabrics
+raised upon them.  The California was to windward of us, and had
+every advantage; yet, while the breeze was stiff, we held our
+own.  As soon as it began to slacken, she ranged a little ahead,
+and the order was given to loose the royals.  In an instant the
+gaskets were off and the bunt dropped.  "Sheet home the fore royal!
+--Weather sheet's home!"--"Hoist away, sir!" is bawled from aloft.
+"Overhaul your clew-lines!" shouts the mate.  "Aye, aye, sir, all
+clear!"--"Taught leech! belay!  Well the lee brace; haul taught to
+windward"--and the royals are set.  These brought us up again; but
+the wind continuing light, the California set hers, and it was soon
+evident that she was walking away from us.  Our captain then hailed,
+and said that he should keep off to his course; adding--"She isn't
+the Alert now.  If I had her in your trim, she would have been out
+of sight by this time."  This was good-naturedly answered from the
+California, and she braced sharp up, and stood close upon the wind
+up the coast; while we squared away our yards, and stood before the
+wind to the south-south-west.  The California's crew manned her
+weather rigging, waved their hats in the air, and gave up three
+hearty cheers, which we answered as heartily, and the customary
+single cheer came back to us from over the water.  She stood on
+her way, doomed to eighteen months' or two years' hard service upon
+that hated coast, while we were making our way to our home, to which
+every hour and every mile was bringing us nearer.
+
+As soon as we parted company with the California, all hands were
+sent aloft to set the studding-sails.  Booms were rigged out,
+tacks and halyards rove, sail after sail packed upon her, until
+every available inch of canvas was spread, that we might not lose a
+breath of the fair wind.  We could now see how much she was cramped
+and deadened by her cargo; for with a good breeze on her quarter,
+and every stitch of canvas spread, we could not get more than six
+knots out of her.  She had no more life in her than if she were
+water-logged.  The log was hove several times; but she was doing
+her best.  We had hardly patience with her, but the older sailors
+said--"Stand by! you'll see her work herself loose in a week
+or two, and then she'll walk up to Cape Horn like a race-horse."
+
+When all sail had been set, and the decks cleared up, the California
+was a speck in the horizon, and the coast lay like a low cloud along
+the north-east.  At sunset they were both out of sight, and we were
+once more upon the ocean where sky and water meet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+BEGINNING THE LONG RETURN VOYAGE--A SCARE
+
+
+At eight o'clock all hands were called aft, and the watches set for
+the voyage.  Some changes were made; but I was glad to find myself
+still in the larboard watch.  Our crew was somewhat diminished;
+for a man and a boy had gone in the Pilgrim; another was second
+mate of the Ayacucho; and a third, the oldest man of the crew,
+had broken down under the hard work and constant exposure on the
+coast, and, having had a stroke of the palsy, was left behind at
+the hide-house under the charge of Captain Arthur.  The poor fellow
+wished very much to come home in the ship; and he ought to have
+been brought home in her.  But a live dog is better than a dead
+lion, and a sick sailor belongs to nobody's mess; so he was sent
+ashore with the rest of the lumber, which was only in the way.
+By these diminutions, we were short-handed for a voyage round
+Cape Horn in the dead of winter.  Besides S-----  and myself,
+there were only five in the forecastle; who, together with four
+boys in the steerage, the sailmaker, carpenter, etc., composed the
+whole crew.  In addition to this, we were only three or four days
+out, when the sailmaker, who was the oldest and best seaman on
+board, was taken with the palsy, and was useless for the rest of the
+voyage.  The constant wading in the water, in all weathers, to take
+off hides, together with the other labors, is too much for old men,
+and for any who have not good constitutions.  Beside these two men
+of ours, the second officer of the California and the carpenter of
+the Pilgrim broke down under the work, and the latter died at Santa
+Barbara.  The young man, too, who came out with us from Boston in
+the Pilgrim, had to be taken from his berth before the mast and
+made clerk, on account of a fit of rheumatism which attacked him
+soon after he came upon the coast.  By the loss of the sailmaker,
+our watch was reduced to five, of whom two were boys, who never
+steered but in fine weather, so that the other two and myself had
+to stand at the wheel four hours apiece out of every twenty-four;
+and the other watch had only four helmsmen.  "Never mind--we're
+homeward bound!" was the answer to everything; and we should not
+have minded this, were it not for the thought that we should be
+off Cape Horn in the very dead of winter.  It was now the first
+part of May; and two months would bring us off the cape in July,
+which is the worst month in the year there; when the sun rises at
+nine and sets at three, giving eighteen hours night, and there is
+snow and rain, gales and high seas, in abundance.
+
+The prospect of meeting this in a ship half manned, and loaded
+so deep that every heavy sea must wash her fore and aft, was by
+no means pleasant.  The Alert, in her passage out, doubled the
+Cape in the month of February, which is midsummer; and we came
+round in the Pilgrim in the latter part of October, which we
+thought was bad enough.  There was only one of our crew who
+had been off there in the winter, and that was in a whaleship,
+much lighter and higher than our ship; yet he said they had man-
+killing weather for twenty days without intermission, and their
+decks were swept twice, and they were all glad enough to see the
+last of it.  The Brandywine frigate, also, in her passage round,
+had sixty days off the Cape, and lost several boats by the heavy
+sea.  All this was for our comfort; yet pass it we must; and all
+hands agreed to make the best of it.
+
+During our watches below we overhauled our clothes, and made and
+mended everything for bad weather.  Each of us had made for himself
+a suit of oil-cloth or tarpaulin, and these we got out, and gave
+thorough coatings of oil or tar, and hung upon the stays to dry.
+
+Our stout boots, too, we covered over with a thick mixture
+of melted grease and tar, and hung out to dry.  Thus we took
+advantage of the warm sun and fine weather of the Pacific to
+prepare for its other face.  In the forenoon watches below,
+our forecastle looked like the workshop of what a sailor is,--a
+Jack at all trades.  Thick stockings and drawers were darned and
+patched; mittens dragged from the bottom of the chest and mended;
+comforters made for the neck and ears; old flannel shirts cut up
+to line monkey jackets; south-westers lined with flannel, and a
+pot of paint smuggled forward to give them a coat on the outside;
+and everything turned to hand; so that, although two years had
+left us but a scanty wardrobe, yet the economy and invention
+which necessity teaches a sailor, soon put each of us in pretty
+good trim for bad weather, even before we had seen the last of the
+fine.  Even the cobbler's art was not out of place.  Several old
+shoes were very decently repaired, and with waxed ends, an awl,
+and the top of an old boot, I made me quite a respectable sheath
+for my knife.
+
+There was one difficulty, however, which nothing that we could do
+would remedy; and that was the leaking of the forecastle, which made
+it very uncomfortable in bad weather, and rendered half of the
+berths tenantless.  The tightest ships, in a long voyage, from the
+constant strain which is upon the bowsprit, will leak, more or less,
+round the heel of the bowsprit, and the bitts, which come down into
+the forecastle; but, in addition to this, we had an unaccountable
+leak on the starboard bow, near the cat-head, which drove us
+from the forward berths on that side, and, indeed, when she was
+on the starboard tack, from all the forward berths.  One of the
+after berths, too, leaked in very bad weather; so that in a ship
+which was in other respects as tight as a bottle, and brought her
+cargo to Boston perfectly dry, we had, after every effort made to
+prevent it, in the way of caulking and leading, a forecastle with
+only three dry berths for seven of us.  However, as there is never
+but one watch below at a time, by 'turning in and out,' we did
+pretty well.  And there being, in our watch, but three of us who
+lived forward, we generally had a dry berth apiece in bad weather.(1)
+
+---------------
+1. On removing the cat-head, after the ship arrived at Boston, it was
+found that there were two holes under it which had been bored for the
+purpose of driving tree-nails, and which, accidentally, had not been
+plugged up when the cat-head was placed over them.  This was sufficient
+to account for the leak, and for our not having been able to discover
+and stop it. 
+---------------
+
+All this, however, was but anticipation.  We were still in fine
+weather in the North Pacific, running down the north-east trades,
+which we took on the second day after leaving San Diego. 
+
+Sunday, May 15th, one week out, we were in latitude 14° 56' N.,
+long.  116° 14' W., having gone, by reckoning, over thirteen hundred
+miles in seven days.  In fact, ever since leaving San Diego, we had
+had a fair wind, and as much as we wanted of it.  For seven days,
+our lower and topmast studding-sails were set all the time, and our
+royals and top-gallant studding-sails, whenever she could stagger
+under them.  Indeed, the captain had shown, from the moment we got
+to sea, that he was to have no boy's play, but that the ship had
+got to carry all she could, and that he was going to make up, by
+"cracking on" to her, what she wanted in lightness.  In this way,
+we frequently made three degrees of latitude, besides something
+in longitude, in the course of twenty-four hours.--Our days were
+spent in the usual ship's work.  The rigging which had become slack
+from being long in port was to be set up; breast backstays got up;
+studding-sail booms rigged upon the main yard; and the royal studding-
+sails got ready for the light trades; ring-tail set; and new rigging
+fitted and sails got ready for Cape Horn.  For, with a ship's gear,
+as well as a sailor's wardrobe, fine weather must be improved to
+get ready for the bad to come.  Our forenoon watch below, as I
+have said, was given to our own work, and our night watches were
+spent in the usual manner:--a trick at the wheel, a look-out on
+the forecastle, a nap on a coil of rigging under the lee of the
+rail; a yarn round the windlass-end; or, as was generally my way,
+a solitary walk fore and aft, in the weather waist, between the
+windlass-end and the main tack.  Every wave that she threw aside
+brought us nearer home, and every day's observation at noon showed
+a progress which, if it continued, would in less than five months,
+take us into Boston Bay.  This is the pleasure of life at sea,
+--fine weather, day after day, without interruption,--fair wind,
+and a plenty of it,--and homeward bound.  Every one was in good
+humor; things went right; and all was done with a will.  At the
+dog watch, all hands came on deck, and stood round the weather
+side of the forecastle, or sat upon the windlass, and sung sea
+songs, and those ballads of pirates and highwaymen, which sailors
+delight in.  Home, too, and what we should do when we got there,
+and when and how we should arrive, was no infrequent topic.
+Every night, after the kids and pots were put away, and we had
+lighted our pipes and cigars at the galley, and gathered about
+the windlass, the first question was,--
+
+"Well, Tom, what was the latitude to-day?"
+
+"Why fourteen, north, and she has been going seven knots ever since."
+
+"Well, this will bring us up to the line in five days."
+
+"Yes, but these trades won't last twenty-four hours longer,"
+says an old salt, pointing with the sharp of his hand to leeward,
+--"I know that by the look of the clouds."
+
+Then came all manner of calculations and conjectures as to the
+continuance of the wind, the weather under the line, the south-east
+trades, etc., and rough guesses as to the time the ship would be up
+with the Horn; and some, more venturous, gave her so many days
+to Boston light, and offered to bet that she would not exceed it. 
+
+"You'd better wait till you get round Cape Horn," says an old
+croaker. 
+
+"Yes," says another, "you may see Boston, but you've got to
+'smell hell' before that good day."
+
+Rumors also of what had been said in the cabin, as usual, found
+their way forward.  The steward had heard the captain say something
+about the straits of Magellan, and the man at the wheel fancied
+he had heard him tell the "passenger" that, if he found the wind
+ahead and the weather very bad off the Cape, he should stick her
+off for New Holland, and come home round the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+This passenger--the first and only one we had had, except to go
+from port to port, on the coast, was no one else than a gentleman
+whom I had known in my better days; and the last person I should
+have expected to have seen on the coast of California--Professor
+N-----, of Cambridge.  I had left him quietly seated in the chair
+of Botany and Ornithology, in Harvard University; and the next I
+saw of him, was strolling about San Diego beach, in a sailor's
+pea-jacket, with a wide straw hat, and barefooted, with his
+trowsers roiled up to his knees, picking up stones and shells.
+He had travelled overland to the North-west Coast, and come down
+in a small vessel to Monterey.  There he learned that there was a
+ship at the leeward, about to sail for Boston; and, taking passage
+in the Pilgrim, which was then at Monterey, he came slowly down,
+visiting the intermediate ports, and examining the trees, plants,
+earths, birds, etc., and joined us at San Diego shortly before
+we sailed.  The second mate of the Pilgrim told me that they had
+an old gentleman on board who knew me, and came from the college
+that I had been in.
+
+He could not recollect his name, but said he was a "sort of an
+oldish man," with white hair, and spent all his time in the bush,
+and along the beach, picking up flowers and shells, and such truck,
+and had a dozen boxes and barrels, full of them.  I thought over
+everybody who would be likely to be there, but could fix upon no
+one; when, the next day, just as we were about to shove off from
+the beach, he came down to the boat, in the rig I have described,
+with his shoes in his hand, and his pockets full of specimens.
+I knew him at once, though I should not have been more surprised
+to have seen the Old South steeple shoot up from the hide-house.
+He probably had no less difficulty in recognizing me.  As we left
+home about the same time, we had nothing to tell one another;
+and, owing to our different situations on board, I saw but little
+of him on the passage home.  Sometimes, when I was at the wheel
+of a calm night, and the steering required no attention, and the
+officer of the watch was forward, he would come aft and hold a
+short yarn with me; but this was against the rules of the ship,
+as is, in fact, all intercourse between passengers and the crew.
+I was often amused to see the sailors puzzled to know what to make
+of him, and to hear their conjectures about him and his business.
+They were as much puzzled as our old sailmaker was with the captain's
+instruments in the cabin.
+
+He said there were three:--the chro-nometer, the chre-nometer,
+and the the-nometer.  (Chronometer, barometer, and thermometer.)
+The Pilgrim's crew christened Mr. N. "Old Curious," from his zeal
+for curiosities, and some of them said that he was crazy, and that
+his friends let him go about and amuse himself in this way.  Why
+else a rich man (sailors call every man rich who does not work
+with his hands, and wears a long coat and cravat) should leave a
+Christian country, and come to such a place as California, to pick
+up shells and stones, they could not understand.  One of them,
+however, an old salt, who had seen something more of the world
+ashore, set all to rights, as he thought,--"Oh, 'vast there!--You
+don't know anything about them craft.  I've seen them colleges,
+and know the ropes.  They keep all such things for cur'osities,
+and study 'em, and have men a' purpose to go and get 'em.  This
+old chap knows what he's about.  He a'n't the child you take him
+for.  He'll carry all these things to the college, and if they
+are better than any that they have had before, he'll be head of
+the college.  Then, by-and-by, somebody else will go after some
+more, and if they beat him, he'll have to go again, or else give
+up his berth.  That's the way they do it.  This old covey knows
+the ropes.  He has worked a traverse over 'em, and come 'way out
+here, where nobody's ever been afore, and where they'll never
+think of coming."  This explanation satisfied Jack; and as it
+raised Mr. N.'s credit for capacity, and was near enough to
+the truth for common purposes, I did not disturb it.
+
+With the exception of Mr. N., we had no one on board but the
+regular ship's company, and the live stock.  Upon this, we
+had made a considerable inroad.  We killed one of the bullocks
+every four days, so that they did not last us up to the line.
+We, or, rather, they, then began upon the sheep and the poultry,
+for these never come into Jack's mess.(1)  The pigs were left
+
+---------------
+1. The customs as to the allowance of "grub" are very nearly the
+same in all American merchantmen.  Whenever a pig is killed, the
+sailors have one mess from it.  The rest goes to the cabin.  The
+smaller live stock, poultry, etc., they never taste.
+
+And, indeed, they do not complain of this, for it would take a great
+deal to supply them with a good meal, and without the accompaniments,
+(which could hardly be furnished to them,) it would not be much better
+than salt beef.  But even as to the salt beef, they are scarcely dealt
+fairly with; for whenever a barrel is opened, before any of the beef
+is put into the harness-cask, the steward comes up, and picks it
+all over, and takes out the best pieces, (those that have any fat
+in them) for the cabin.
+
+This was done in both the vessels I was in, and the men said that it
+was usual in other vessels.  Indeed, it is made no secret, but some
+of the crew are usually called to help in assorting and putting away
+the pieces.  By this arrangement the hard, dry pieces, which the
+sailors call "old horse," come to their share.
+
+There is a singular piece of rhyme, traditional among sailors,
+which they say over such pieces of beef.  I do not know that
+it ever appeared in print before.  When seated round the kid,
+if a particularly bad piece is found, one of them takes it up,
+and addressing it, repeats these lines: "Old horse! old horse!
+what brought you here?"
+
+--"From Sacarap to Portland pier
+I've carted stone this many a year:
+Till, killed by blows and sore abuse,
+They salted me down for sailors' use. 
+
+The sailors they do me despise:
+They turn me over and damn my eyes;
+Cut off my meat, and pick my bones,
+And pitch the rest to Davy Jones."
+
+There is a story current among seamen, that a beef-dealer was
+convicted, at Boston, of having sold old horse for ship's stores,
+instead of beef, and had been sentenced to be confined in jail,
+until he should eat the whole of it; and that he is now lying
+in Boston jail.  I have heard this story often, on board other
+vessels beside those of our own nation.  It is very generally
+believed, and is always highly commended, as a fair instance
+of retaliatory justice.
+---------------
+
+for the latter part of the voyage, for they are sailors, and can
+stand all weathers.  We had an old sow on board, the mother of a
+numerous progeny, who had been twice round the Cape of Good Hope,
+and once round Cape Horn.  The last time going round, was very
+nearly her death.  We heard her squealing and moaning one dark
+night, after it had been snowing and hailing for several hours,
+and getting into the sty, we found her nearly frozen to death.
+We got some straw, an old sail, and other things, and wrapped her
+up in a corner of the sty, where she staid until we got into fine
+weather again.
+
+Wednesday, May 18th.  Lat. 9° 54' N., long. 113° 17' W.  The north-
+east trades had now left us, and we had the usual variable winds,
+which prevail near the line, together with some rain.  So long as
+we were in these latitudes, we had but little rest in our watch on
+deck at night, for, as the winds were light and variable, and we
+could not lose a breath, we were all the watch bracing the yards,
+and taking in and making sail, and "humbugging" with our flying
+kites.  A little puff of wind on the larboard quarter, and then
+--"larboard fore braces!" and studding-booms were rigged out,
+studding-sails set alow and aloft, the yards trimmed, and jibs and
+spanker in; when it would come as calm as a duck-pond, and the man
+at the wheel stand with the palm of his hand up, feeling for the
+wind.  "Keep her off a little!"  "All aback forward, sir!" cries
+a man from the forecastle.  Down go the braces again; in come
+the studding-sails, all in a mess, which half an hour won't set
+right; yards braced sharp up; and she's on the starboard tack,
+close hauled.
+
+The studding-sails must now be cleared away, and set up in the
+tops, and on the booms.  By the time this is done, and you are
+looking out for a soft plank for a nap,--"Lay aft here, and square
+in the head yards!" and the studding-sails are all set again on
+the starboard side.  So it goes until it is eight bells,--call
+the watch,--heave the log,--relieve the wheel, and go below
+the larboard watch.
+
+Sunday, May 22d.  Lat. 5° 14' N., long. 166° 45' W.  We were now
+a fortnight out, and within five degrees of the line, to which two
+days of good breeze would take us; but we had, for the most part,
+what sailors call "an Irishman's hurricane,--right up and down."
+
+This day it rained nearly all day, and being Sunday, and nothing
+to do, we stopped up the scuppers and filled the decks with rain
+water, and bringing all our clothes on deck, had a grand wash,
+fore and aft.  When this was through, we stripped to our drawers,
+and taking pieces of soap and strips of canvas for towels,
+we turned-to and soaped, washed, and scrubbed one another down,
+to get off, as we said, the California dust; for the common wash
+in salt water, which is all Jack can get, being on an allowance of
+fresh, had little efficacy, and was more for taste than utility.
+The captain was below all the afternoon, and we had something
+nearer to a Saturnalia than anything we had yet seen; for the
+mate came into the scuppers, with a couple of boys to scrub him,
+and got into a battle with them in heaving water.  By unplugging
+the holes, we let the soap-suds off the decks, and in a short time
+had a new supply of rain water, in which we had a grand rinsing.
+It was surprising to see how much soap and fresh water did for
+the complexions of many of us; how much of what we supposed to
+be tan and sea-blacking, we got rid of.  The next day, the sun
+rising clear, the ship was covered, fore and aft, with clothes
+of all sorts, hanging out to dry.
+
+As we approached the line, the wind became more easterly, and
+the weather clearer, and in twenty days from San Diego,--
+
+Saturday, May 28th, at about three P. M., with a fine breeze from
+the east-south-east, we crossed the equator.  In twenty-four hours
+after crossing the line, which was very unusual, we took the regular
+south-east trades.  These winds come a little from the eastward of
+south-east, and, with us, they blew directly from the east-south-
+east, which was fortunate for us, for our course was south-by-west,
+and we could thus go one point free.  The yards were braced so that
+every sail drew, from the spanker to the flying-jib; and the upper
+yards being squared in a little, the fore and main top-gallant
+studding-sails were set, and just drew handsomely.  For twelve
+days this breeze blew steadily, not varying a point, and just so
+fresh that we could carry our royals; and, during the whole time,
+we hardly started a brace.  Such progress did we make, that at the
+end of seven days from the time we took the breeze, on
+
+Sunday, June 5th, we were in lat. 19° 29' S., and long. 118° 01' W.,
+having made twelve hundred miles in seven days, very nearly
+upon a taught bowline.  Our good ship was getting to be herself
+again, had increased her rate of sailing more than one-third since
+leaving San Diego.  The crew ceased complaining of her, and the
+officers hove the log every two hours with evident satisfaction.
+This was glorious sailing.  A steady breeze; the light trade-wind
+clouds over our heads; the incomparable temperature of the Pacific,
+--neither hot nor cold; a clear sun every day, and clear moon and
+stars each night; and new constellations rising in the south, and
+the familiar ones sinking in the north, as we went on our course,
+--"stemming nightly toward the pole."  Already we had sunk the north
+star and the Great Bear in the northern horizon, and all hands
+looked out sharp to the southward for the Magellan Clouds, which,
+each succeeding night, we expected to make.  "The next time we see
+the north star," said one, "we shall be standing to the northward,
+the other side of the Horn." This was true enough, and no doubt it
+would be a welcome sight; for sailors say that in coming home from
+round Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope, the north star is the
+first land you make.
+
+These trades were the same that, in the passage out in the Pilgrim,
+lasted nearly all the way from Juan Fernandez to the line; blowing
+steadily on our starboard quarter for three weeks, without our
+starting a brace, or even brailing down the skysails.  Though we
+had now the same wind, and were in the same latitude with the
+Pilgrim on her passage out, yet we were nearly twelve hundred miles
+to the westward of her course; for the captain, depending upon the
+strong south-west winds which prevail in high southern latitudes
+during the winter months, took the full advantage of the trades,
+and stood well to the westward, so far that we passed within about
+two hundred miles of Ducie's Island.
+
+It was this weather and sailing that brought to my mind a little
+incident that occurred on board the Pilgrim, while we were in the
+same latitude.  We were going along at a great rate, dead before
+the wind, with studding-sails out on both sides, alow and aloft,
+on a dark night, just after midnight, and everything was as still
+as the grave, except the washing of the water by the vessel's side;
+for, being before the wind, with a smooth sea, the little brig,
+covered with canvas, was doing great business, with very little
+noise.  The other watch was below, and all our watch, except myself
+and the man at the wheel, were asleep under the lee of the boat.
+The second mate, who came out before the mast, and was always very
+thick with me, had been holding a yarn with me, and just gone aft
+to his place on the quarter-deck, and I had resumed my usual
+walk to and from the windlass-end, when, suddenly, we heard a
+loud scream coming from ahead, apparently directly from under
+the bows.  The darkness, and complete stillness of the night,
+and the solitude of the ocean, gave to the sound a dreadful and
+almost supernatural effect.  I stood perfectly still, and my heart
+beat quick.
+
+The sound woke up the rest of the watch, who stood looking at one
+another.  "What, in the name of God, is that?" said the second mate,
+coming slowly forward.  The first thought I had was, that it might
+be a boat, with the crew of some wrecked vessel, or perhaps the
+boat of some whaleship, out over night, and we had run them down
+in the darkness.  Another scream, but less loud than the first.
+This started us, and we ran forward, and looked over the bows,
+and over the sides, to leeward, but nothing was to be seen or
+heard.  What was to be done.  Call the captain, and heave the
+ship aback?  Just at this moment, in crossing the forecastle,
+one of the men saw a light below, and looking down the scuttle,
+saw the watch all out of their berths, and afoul of one poor
+fellow, dragging him out of his berth, and shaking him, to wake
+him out of a nightmare.
+
+They had been waked out of their sleep, and as much alarmed at the
+scream as we were, and were hesitating whether to come on deck,
+when the second sound, coming directly from one of the berths,
+revealed the cause of the alarm.  The fellow got a good shaking
+for the trouble he had given.  We made a joke of the matter and
+we could well laugh, for our minds were not a little relieved
+by its ridiculous termination.
+
+We were now close upon the southern tropical line, and, with
+so fine a breeze, were daily leaving the sun behind us, and drawing
+nearer to Cape Horn, for which it behoved us to make every
+preparation.  Our rigging was all examined and overhauled, and
+mended, or replaced with new, where it was necessary: new and
+strong bobstays fitted in the place of the chain ones, which were
+worn out; the spritsail yard and martingale guys and back-ropes
+set well taught; bran new fore and main braces rove; top-gallant
+sheets, and wheel-ropes, made of green hide, laid up in the form of
+rope, were stretched and fitted; and new top-sail clewlines, etc.,
+rove; new fore-topmast back-stays fitted; and other preparations
+made, in good season, that the ropes might have time to stretch
+and become limber before we got into cold weather. 
+
+Sunday, June 12th.  Lat. 26° 04' S., 116° 31' W.  We had now lost
+the regular trades, and had the winds variable, principally from
+the westward, and kept on, in a southerly course, sailing very
+nearly upon a meridian, and at the end of the week,
+
+Sunday, June 19th, were in lat. 34° 15' S., and long. 116° 38' W.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+BAD PROSPECTS--FIRST TOUCH OF CAPE HORN--ICEBERGS--TEMPERANCE SHIPS--
+LYING-UP--ICE--DIFFICULTY ON BOARD--CHANGE OF COURSE--STRAITS OF MAGELLAN
+
+
+There now began to be a decided change in the appearance of things.
+The days became shorter and shorter; the sun running lower in its
+course each day, and giving less and less heat; and the nights so
+cold as to prevent our sleeping on deck; the Magellan Clouds in
+sight, of a clear night; the skies looking cold and angry; and,
+at times, a long, heavy, ugly sea, setting in from the southwards
+told us what we were coming to.  Still, however, we had a fine,
+strong breeze, and kept on our way, under as much sail as our
+ship would bear.  Toward the middle of the week, the wind hauled
+to the southward, which brought us upon a taught bowline, made the
+ship meet, nearly head on, the heavy swell which rolled from that
+direction; and there was something not at all encouraging in the
+manner in which she met it.  Being so deep and heavy, she wanted
+the buoyancy which should have carried her over the seas, and she
+dropped heavily into them, the water washing over the decks; and
+every now and then, when an unusually large sea met her fairly
+upon the bows, she struck it with a sound as dead and heavy as
+that with which a sledge-hammer falls upon the pile, and took
+the whole of it in upon the forecastle, and rising, carried it
+aft in the scuppers, washing the rigging off the pins, and carrying
+along with it everything which was loose on deck.  She had been
+acting in this way all of our forenoon watch below; as we could
+tell by the washing of the water over our heads, and the heavy
+breaking of the seas against her bows, (with a sound as though
+she were striking against a rock,) only the thickness of the
+plank from our heads, as we lay in our berths, which are directly
+against the bows.  At eight bells, the watch was called, and we
+came on deck, one hand going aft to take the wheel, and another
+going to the galley to get the grub for dinner.  I stood on the
+forecastle, looking at the seas, which were rolling high, as far
+as the eye could reach, their tops white with foam, and the body
+of them of a deep indigo blue, reflecting the bright rays of the
+sun.  Our ship rose slowly over a few of the largest of them,
+until one immense fellow came rolling on, threatening to cover
+her, and which I was sailor enough to know, by "the feeling of
+her" under my feet, she would not rise over.  I sprang upon the
+knight-heads, and seizing hold of the fore-stay with my hands,
+drew myself upon it.  My feet were just off the stanchion, when
+she struck fairly into the middle of the sea, and it washed her
+fore and aft, burying her in the water.  As soon as she rose out
+of it, I looked aft, and everything forward of the main-mast,
+except the long-boat, which was griped and double-lashed down
+to the ring-bolts, was swept off clear.  The galley, the pig-sty,
+the hen-coop, and a large sheep-pen which had been built upon the
+forehatch, were all gone, in the twinkling of an eye--leaving the
+deck as clean as a chin new-reaped--and not a stick left, to show
+where they had stood.  In the scuppers lay the galley, bottom up,
+and a few boards floating about, the wreck of the sheep-pen,--and
+half a dozen miserable sheep floating among them, wet through,
+and not a little frightened at the sudden change that had come
+upon them.  As soon as the sea had washed by, all hands sprung
+out of the forecastle to see what had become of the ship and in
+a few moments the cook and old Bill crawled out from under the
+galley, where they had been lying in the water, nearly smothered,
+with the galley over them.  Fortunately, it rested against the
+bulwarks, or it would have broken some of their bones.  When the
+water ran off, we picked the sheep up, and put them in the long-
+boat, got the galley back in its place, and set things a little
+to rights; but, had not our ship had uncommonly high bulwarks and
+rail, everything must have been washed overboard, not excepting
+Old Bill and the cook.
+
+Bill had been standing at the galley-door, with the kid of beef in his
+hand for the forecastle mess, when, away he went, kid, beef, and all.
+He held on to the kid till the last, like a good fellow, but the beef
+was gone, and when the water had run off, we saw it lying high and dry,
+like a rock at low tide--nothing could hurt that.  We took the loss
+of our beef very easily, consoling ourselves with the recollection
+that the cabin had more to lose than we; and chuckled not a little
+at seeing the remains of the chicken-pie and pan-cakes floating in
+the scuppers.  "This will never do!" was what some said, and every
+one felt.  Here we were, not yet within a thousand miles of the
+latitude of Cape Horn, and our decks swept by a sea not one half
+so high as we must expect to find there.  Some blamed the captain
+for loading his ship so deep, when he knew what he must expect;
+while others said that the wind was always southwest, off the Cape,
+in the winter; and that, running before it, we should not mind the
+seas so much.  When we got down into the forecastle, Old Bill, who
+was somewhat of a croaker,--having met with a great many accidents
+at sea--said that if that was the way she was going to act, we might
+as well make our wills, and balance the books at once, and put on
+a clean shirt.  "'Vast there, you bloody old owl!  You're always
+hanging out blue lights!  You're frightened by the ducking you got
+in the scuppers, and can't take a joke!  What's the use in being
+always on the look-out for Davy Jones?"  "Stand by!" says another,
+"and we'll get an afternoon watch below, by this scrape;" but in
+this they were disappointed, for at two bells, all hands were
+called and set to work, getting lashings upon everything on deck;
+and the captain talked of sending down the long top-gallant masts;
+but, as the sea went down toward night, and the wind hauled abeam,
+we left them standing, and set the studding-sails. 
+
+The next day, all hands were turned-to upon unbending the old
+sails, and getting up the new ones; for a ship, unlike people
+on shore, puts on her best suit in bad weather.  The old sails
+were sent down, and three new topsails, and new fore and main
+courses, jib, and fore-topmast staysail, which were made on
+the coast, and never had been used, were bent, with a complete
+set of new earings, robands and reef-points; and reef-tackles
+were rove to the courses, and spilling-lines to the top-sails.
+These, with new braces and clew-lines, fore and aft, gave us a
+good suit of running rigging.
+
+The wind continued westerly, and the weather and sea less rough
+since the day on which we shipped the heavy sea, and we were
+making great progress under studding-sails, with our light sails
+all set, keeping a little to the eastward of south; for the captain,
+depending upon westerly winds off the Cape, had kept so far to the
+westward, that though we were within about five hundred miles of
+the latitude of Cape Horn, we were nearly seventeen hundred miles
+to the westward of it.  Through the rest of the week, we continued
+on with a fair wind, gradually, as we got more to the southward,
+keeping a more easterly course, and bringing the wind on our
+larboard quarter, until--
+
+Sunday, June 26th, when, having a fine, clear day, the captain
+got a lunar observation, as well as his meridian altitude, which
+made us in lat. 47° 50' S., long. 113° 49' W.; Cape Horn bearing,
+according to my calculation, E. S. E. 1/2 E., and distant eighteen
+hundred miles.
+
+Monday, June 27th.  During the first part of this day, the wind
+continued fair, and, as we were going before it, it did not feel
+very cold, so that we kept at work on deck, in our common clothes
+and round jackets.  Our watch had an afternoon watch below, for the
+first time since leaving San Diego, and having inquired of the third
+mate what the latitude was at noon, and made our usual guesses as
+to the time she would need, to be up with the Horn, we turned-
+in, for a nap.  We were sleeping away "at the rates of knots,"
+when three knocks on the scuttle, and "All hands ahoy!" started
+us from our berths.  What could be the matter?  It did not appear
+to be blowing hard, and looking up through the scuttle, we could
+see that it was a clear day, overhead; yet the watch were taking
+in sail.
+
+We thought there must be a sail in sight, and that we were about
+to heave-to and speak her; and were just congratulating ourselves
+upon it--for we had seen neither sail nor land since we had
+left port--when we heard the mate's voice on deck, (he turned-in
+"all standing," and was always on deck the moment he was called,)
+singing out to the men who were taking in the studding-sails, and
+asking where his watch were.  We did not wait for a second call,
+but tumbled up the ladder; and there, on the starboard bow, was a
+bank of mist, covering sea and sky, and driving directly for us.
+I had seen the same before, in my passage round in the Pilgrim,
+and knew what it meant, and that there was no time to be lost.
+We had nothing on but thin clothes, yet there was not a moment
+to spare, and at it we went.
+
+The boys of the other watch were in the tops, taking in the top-
+gallant studding-sails, and the lower and topmast studding-sails
+were coming down by the run.  It was nothing but "haul down and
+clew up," until we got all the studding-sails in, and the royals,
+flying-jib, and mizen top-gallant sail furled, and the ship kept
+off a little, to take the squall.  The fore and main top-gallant
+sails were still on her, for the "old man" did not mean to be
+frightened in broad daylight, and was determined to carry sail
+till the last minute.
+
+We all stood waiting for its coming, when the first blast showed
+us that it was not be trifled with.  Rain, sleet, snow, and wind,
+enough to take our breath from us, and make the toughest turn his
+back to windward!  The ship lay nearly over on her beam-ends; the
+spars and rigging snapped and cracked; and her top-gallant masts
+bent like whip-sticks.  "Clew up the fore and main top-gallant
+sails!" shouted the captain, and all hands sprang to the clewlines.
+The decks were standing nearly at an angle of forty-five degrees,
+and the ship going like a mad steed through the water, the whole
+forward part of her in a smother of foam.  The halyards were let
+go and the yard clewed down, and the sheets started, and in a few
+minutes the sails smothered and kept in by clewlines and buntlines.
+--"Furl 'em, sir?" asked the mate.--"Let go the topsail halyards,
+fore and aft!" shouted the captain, in answer, at the top of his voice. 
+Down came the topsail yards, the reef-tackles were manned and
+hauled out, and we climbed up to windward, and sprang into the
+weather rigging.  The violence of the wind, and the hail and sleet,
+driving nearly horizontally across the ocean, seemed actually
+to pin us down to the rigging.  It was hard work making head
+against them.  One after another, we got out upon the yards.
+And here we had work to do; for our new sails, which had hardly
+been bent long enough to get the starch out of them, were as stiff
+as boards, and the new earings and reef-points, stiffened with the
+sleet, knotted like pieces of iron wire.  Having only our round
+jackets and straw hats on, we were soon wet through, and it was
+every moment growing colder.  Our hands were soon stiffened and
+numbed, which, added to the stiffness of everything else, kept us
+a good while on the yard.  After we had got the sail hauled upon
+the yard, we had to wait a long time for the weather earing to
+be passed; but there was no fault to be found, for French John
+was at the earing, and a better sailor never laid out on a yard;
+so we leaned over the yard, and beat our hands upon the sail to
+keep them from freezing.  At length the word came--"Haul out
+to leeward,"--and we seized the reef-points and hauled the band
+taught for the lee earing.  "Taught band--Knot away," and we got
+the first reef fast, and were just going to lay down, when--"Two
+reefs--two reefs!" shouted the mate, and we had a second reef to
+take, in the same way.  When this was fast, we laid down on deck,
+manned the halyards to leeward, nearly up to our knees in water,
+set the topsail, and then laid aloft on the main topsail yard,
+and reefed that sail in the same manner; for, as I have before
+stated, we were a good deal reduced in numbers, and, to make
+it worse, the carpenter, only two days before, cut his leg with
+an axe, so that he could not go aloft.  This weakened us so that
+we could not well manage more than one topsail at a time, in such
+weather as this, and, of course, our labor was doubled.  From the
+main topsail yard, we went upon the main yard, and took a reef in
+the mainsail.  No sooner had we got on deck, than--"Lay aloft there,
+mizen-top-men, and close-reef the mizen topsail!"  This called me;
+and being nearest to the rigging, I got first aloft, and out to
+the weather earing.  English Ben was on the yard just after me,
+and took the lee earing, and the rest of our gang were soon on
+the yard, and began to fist the sail, when the mate considerately
+sent up the cook and steward, to help us.  I could now account
+for the long time it took to pass the other earings, for, to do
+my best, with a strong hand to help me at the dog's ear, I could
+not get it passed until I heard them beginning to complain in the
+bunt.  One reef after another we took in, until the sail was close-
+reefed, when we went down and hoisted away at the halyards.  In the
+mean time, the jib had been furled and the staysail set, and the
+ship, under her reduced sail, had got more upright and was under
+management; but the two top-gallant sails were still hanging in
+the buntlines, and slatting and jerking as though they would take
+the masts out of her.  We gave a look aloft, and knew that our work
+was not done yet; and, sure enough, no sooner did the mate see that
+we were on deck, than--"Lay aloft there, four of you, and furl the
+top-gallant sails!" This called me again, and two of us went aloft,
+up the fore rigging, and two more up the main, upon the top-gallant
+yards.
+
+The shrouds were now iced over, the sleet having formed a crust
+or cake round all the standing rigging, and on the weather side
+of the masts and yards.  When we got upon the yard, my hands were
+so numb that I could not have cast off the knot of the gasket to
+have saved my life.  We both lay over the yard for a few seconds,
+beating our hands upon the sail, until we started the blood into
+our fingers' ends, and at the next moment our hands were in a
+burning heat.  My companion on the yard was a lad, who came out
+in the ship a weak, puny boy, from one of the Boston schools,--
+"no larger than a spritsail sheet knot," nor "heavier than a
+paper of lamp-black," and "not strong enough to haul a shad
+off a gridiron," but who was now "as long as a spare topmast,
+strong enough to knock down an ox, and hearty enough to eat him."
+We fisted the sail together, and after six or eight minutes of hard
+hauling and pulling and beating down the sail, which was as stiff
+as sheet iron, we managed to get it furled; and snugly furled it
+must be, for we knew the mate well enough to be certain that if
+it got adrift again, we should be called up from our watch below,
+at any hour of the night, to furl it.
+
+I had been on the look-out for a moment to jump below and clap on
+a thick jacket and south-wester; but when we got on deck we found
+that eight bells had been struck, and the other watch gone below,
+so that there were two hours of dog watch for us, and a plenty of
+work to do.  It had now set in for a steady gale from the south-west;
+but we were not yet far enough to the southward to make a fair wind
+of it, for we must give Terra del Fuego a wide berth.  The decks
+were covered with snow, and there was a constant driving of sleet.
+In fact, Cape Horn had set in with good earnest.  In the midst of
+all this, and before it became dark, we had all the studding-sails
+to make up and stow away, and then to lay aloft and rig in all the
+booms, fore and aft, and coil away the tacks, sheets, and halyards.
+This was pretty tough work for four or five hands, in the face of
+a gale which almost took us off the yards, and with ropes so stiff
+with ice that it was almost impossible to bend them.  I was nearly
+half an hour out on the end of the fore yard, trying to coil away
+and stop down the topmast studding-sail tack and lower halyards.
+It was after dark when we got through, and we were not a little
+pleased to hear four bells struck, which sent us below for two
+hours, and gave us each a pot of hot tea with our cold beef and
+bread, and, what was better yet, a suit of thick, dry clothing,
+fitted for the weather, in place of our thin clothes, which were
+wet through and now frozen stiff.
+
+This sudden turn, for which we were so little prepared, was as
+unacceptable to me as to any of the rest; for I had been troubled
+for several days with a slight tooth-ache, and this cold weather,
+and wetting and freezing, were not the best things in the world
+for it.
+
+I soon found that it was getting strong hold, and running over all
+parts of my face; and before the watch was out I went aft to the
+mate, who had charge of the medicine-chest, to get something for it. 
+
+But the chest showed like the end of a long voyage, for there was
+nothing that would answer but a few drops of laudanum, which must
+be saved for any emergency; so I had only to bear the pain as well
+as I could.
+
+When we went on deck at eight bells, it had stopped snowing, and
+there were a few stars out, but the clouds were still black, and it
+was blowing a steady gale.  Just before midnight, I went aloft and
+sent down the mizen royal yard, and had the good luck to do it to
+the satisfaction of the mate, who said it was done "out of hand
+and ship-shape."  The next four hours below were but little relief
+to me, for I lay awake in my berth, the whole time, from the pain
+in my face, and heard every bell strike, and, at four o'clock,
+turned out with the watch, feeling little spirit for the hard
+duties of the day.
+
+Bad weather and hard work at sea can be borne up against very
+well, if one only has spirit and health; but there is nothing
+brings a man down, at such a time, like bodily pain and want
+of sleep.
+
+There was, however, too much to do to allow time to think;
+for the gale of yesterday, and the heavy seas we met with a
+few days before, while we had yet ten degrees more southing to
+make, had convinced the captain that we had something before us
+which was not to be trifled with, and orders were given to send
+down the long top-gallant masts.  The top-gallant and royal yards
+were accordingly struck, the flying jib-boom rigged in, and the
+top-gallant masts sent down on deck, and all lashed together by
+the side of the long-boat.
+
+The rigging was then sent down and coiled away below, and everything
+was made snug aloft.  There was not a sailor in the ship who was not
+rejoiced to see these sticks come down; for, so long as the yards
+were aloft, on the least sign of a lull, the top-gallant sails were
+loosed, and then we had to furl them again in a snow-squall, and shin
+up and down single ropes caked with ice, and send royal yards down in
+the teeth of a gale coming right from the south pole.  It was an
+interesting sight, too, to see our noble ship, dismantled of all
+her top-hamper of long tapering masts and yards, and boom pointed
+with spear-head, which ornamented her in port; and all that canvas,
+which a few days before had covered her like a cloud, from the
+truck to the water's edge, spreading far out beyond her hull on
+either side, now gone; and she, stripped, like a wrestler for
+the fight.  It corresponded, too, with the desolate character
+of her situation;--alone, as she was, battling with storms,
+wind, and ice, at this extremity of the globe, and in almost
+constant night.
+
+Friday, July 1st.  We were now nearly up to the latitude of Cape
+Horn, and having over forty degrees of easting to make, we squared
+away the yards before a strong westerly gale, shook a reef out of the
+fore-topsail, and stood on our way, east-by-south, with the prospect
+of being up with the Cape in a week or ten days.  As for myself,
+I had had no sleep for forty-eight hours; and the want of rest,
+together with constant wet and cold, had increased the swelling,
+so that my face was nearly as large as two, and I found it impossible
+to get my mouth open wide enough to eat.  In this state, the steward
+applied to the captain for some rice to boil for me, but he only
+got a--"No! d--- you! Tell him to eat salt junk and hard bread,
+like the rest of them."  For this, of course, I was much obliged
+to him, and in truth it was just what I expected.  However, I did
+not starve, for the mate, who was a man as well as a sailor, and
+had always been a good friend to me, smuggled a pan of rice into
+the galley, and told the cook to boil it for me, and not let the
+"old man" see it.  Had it been fine weather, or in port, I should
+have gone below and lain by until my face got well; but in such
+weather as this, and short-handed as we were, it was not for me
+to desert my post; so I kept on deck, and stood my watch and did
+my duty as well as I could.
+
+Saturday, July 2nd.  This day the sun rose fair, but it ran too
+low in the heavens to give any heat, or thaw out our sails and
+rigging; yet the sight of it was pleasant; and we had a steady
+"reef topsail breeze" from the westward.  The atmosphere, which had
+previously been clear and cold, for the last few hours grew damp,
+and had a disagreeable, wet chilliness in it; and the man who came
+from the wheel said he heard the captain tell "the passenger" that
+the thermometer had fallen several degrees since morning, which he
+could not account for in any other way than by supposing that there
+must be ice near us; though such a thing had never been heard of
+in this latitude, at this season of the year.  At twelve o'clock
+we went below, and had just got through dinner, when the cook put
+his head down the scuttle and told us to come on deck and see the
+finest sight that we had ever seen.  "Where away, cook?" asked
+the first man who was up.  "On the larboard bow."  And there lay,
+floating in the ocean, several miles off, an immense, irregular mass,
+its top and points covered with snow, and its center of a deep indigo
+color.
+
+This was an iceberg, and of the largest size, as one of our men said
+who had been in the Northern ocean.  As far as the eye could reach,
+the sea in every direction was of a deep blue color, the waves
+running high and fresh, and sparkling in the light, and in the
+midst lay this immense mountain-island, its cavities and valleys
+thrown into deep shade, and its points and pinnacles glittering
+in the sun.
+
+All hands were soon on deck, looking at it, and admiring in various
+ways its beauty and grandeur.  But no description can give any idea
+of the strangeness, splendor, and, really, the sublimity, of the sight. 
+
+Its great size;--for it must have been from two to three miles
+in circumference, and several hundred feet in height;--its
+slow motion, as its base rose and sank in the water, and its
+high points nodded against the clouds; the dashing of the waves
+upon it, which, breaking high with foam, lined its base with
+a white crust; and the thundering sound of the cracking of
+the mass, and the breaking and tumbling down of huge pieces;
+together with its nearness and approach, which added a slight
+element of fear,--all combined to give to it the character of
+true sublimity.  The main body of the mass was, as I have said,
+of an indigo color, its base crusted with frozen foam; and as it
+grew thin and transparent toward the edges and top, its color
+shaded off from a deep blue to the whiteness of snow.
+
+It seemed to be drifting slowly toward the north, so that we kept
+away and avoided it.  It was in sight all the afternoon; and when we
+got to leeward of it, the wind died away, so that we lay-to quite
+near it for a greater part of the night.  Unfortunately, there was
+no moon, but it was a clear night, and we could plainly mark the
+long, regular heaving of the stupendous mass, as its edges moved
+slowly against the stars.  Several times in our watch loud cracks
+were heard, which sounded as though they must have run through the
+whole length of the iceberg, and several pieces fell down with a
+thundering crash, plunging heavily into the sea.  Toward morning,
+a strong breeze sprang up, and we filled away, and left it astern,
+and at daylight it was out of sight.  The next day, which was
+
+Sunday, July 3d, the breeze continued strong, the air exceedingly
+chilly, and the thermometer low.  In the course of the day we saw
+several icebergs, of different sizes, but none so near as the
+one which we saw the day before.  Some of them, as well as we
+could judge, at the distance at which we were, must have been
+as large as that, if not larger.  At noon we were in latitude
+55° 12' south, and supposed longitude 89° 5' west.  Toward night
+the wind hauled to the southward, and headed us off our course
+a little, and blew a tremendous gale; but this we did not mind,
+as there was no rain nor snow, and we were already under close
+sail.
+
+Monday, July 4th.  This was "independence day" in Boston.
+What firing of guns, and ringing of bells, and rejoicings of
+all sorts, in every part of our country!  The ladies (who have
+not gone down to Nahant, for a breath of cool air, and sight of
+the ocean) walking the streets with parasols over their heads,
+and the dandies in their white pantaloons and silk stockings!
+What quantities of ice-cream have been eaten, and what quantities
+of ice brought into the city from a distance, and sold out by the
+lump and the pound!  The smallest of the islands which we saw
+today would have made the fortune of poor Jack, if he had had it
+in Boston; and I dare say he would have had no objection to being
+there with it.  This, to be sure, was no place to keep the fourth
+of July.  To keep ourselves warm, and the ship out of the ice,
+was as much as we could do.  Yet no one forgot the day; and many
+were the wishes, and conjectures, and comparisons, both serious and
+ludicrous, which were made among all hands.  The sun shone bright
+as long as it was up, only that a scud of black clouds was ever
+and anon driving across it.  At noon we were in lat. 54° 27' S.,
+and long. 85° 5' W., having made a good deal of easting, but having
+lost in our latitude by the heading of the wind.  Between daylight
+and dark--that is, between nine o'clock and three--we saw thirty-
+four ice islands, of various sizes; some no bigger than the hull
+of our vessel, and others apparently nearly as large as the one
+that we first saw; though, as we went on, the islands became
+smaller and more numerous; and, at sundown of this day, a man at
+the mast-head saw large fields of floating ice called "field-ice"
+at the south-east.  This kind of ice is much more dangerous than
+the large islands, for those can be seen at a distance, and kept
+away from; but the field-ice, floating in great quantities, and
+covering the ocean for miles and miles, in pieces of every size-
+-large, flat, and broken cakes, with here and there an island
+rising twenty and thirty feet, and as large as the ship's hull;--
+this, it is very difficult to sheer clear of.  A constant look-out
+was necessary; for any of these pieces, coming with the heave
+of the sea, were large enough to have knocked a hole in the ship,
+and that would have been the end of us; for no boat (even if we
+could have got one out) could have lived in such a sea; and no man
+could have lived in a boat in such weather.  To make our condition
+still worse, the wind came out due east, just after sundown, and it
+blew a gale dead ahead, with hail and sleet, and a thick fog, so that
+we could not see half the length of the ship.  Our chief reliance,
+the prevailing westerly gales, was thus cut off; and here we were,
+nearly seven hundred miles to the westward of the Cape, with a gale
+dead from the eastward, and the weather so thick that we could not
+see the ice with which we were surrounded, until it was directly
+under our bows.
+
+At four, P. M. (it was then quite dark) all hands were called, and sent
+aloft in a violent squall of hail and rain, to take in sail.  We had
+now all got on our "Cape Horn rig"--thick boots, south-westers coming
+down over our neck and ears, thick trowsers and jackets, and some with
+oil-cloth suits over all.  Mittens, too, we wore on deck, but it would
+not do to go aloft with them on, for it was impossible to work with
+them, and, being wet and stiff, they might let a man slip overboard,
+for all the hold he could get upon a rope; so, we were obliged to
+work with bare hands, which, as well as our faces, were often cut
+with the hail-stones, which fell thick and large.  Our ship was
+now all cased with ice,--hull, spars, and standing rigging;--and
+the running rigging so stiff that we could hardly bend it so as
+to belay it, or, still worse, take a knot with it; and the sails
+nearly as stiff as sheet iron.  One at a time, (for it was a long
+piece of work and required many hands,) we furled the courses,
+mizen topsail, and fore-topmast staysail, and close-reefed the
+fore and main topsails, and hove the ship to under the fore,
+with the main hauled up by the clewlines and buntlines, and ready
+to be sheeted home, if we found it necessary to make sail to get
+to windward of an ice island.  A regular look-out was then set,
+and kept by each watch in turn, until the morning.  It was a tedious
+and anxious night.  It blew hard the whole time, and there was an
+almost constant driving of either rain, hail, or snow.  In addition
+to this, it was "as thick as muck," and the ice was all about us.
+The captain was on deck nearly the whole night, and kept the
+cook in the galley, with a roaring fire, to make coffee for him,
+which he took every few hours, and once or twice gave a little to
+his officers; but not a drop of anything was there for the crew.
+The captain, who sleeps all the daytime, and comes and goes at
+night as he chooses, can have his brandy and water in the cabin,
+and his hot coffee at the galley; while Jack, who has to stand
+through everything, and work in wet and cold, can have nothing
+to wet his lips or warm his stomach.
+
+This was a "temperance ship," and, like too many such ships, the
+temperance was all in the forecastle.  The sailor, who only takes
+his one glass as it is dealt out to him, is in danger of being drunk;
+while the captain, who has all under his hand, and can drink as much
+as he chooses, and upon whose self-possession and cool judgment the
+lives of all depend, may be trusted with any amount, to drink at
+his will.  Sailors will never be convinced that rum is a dangerous
+thing, by taking it away from them, and giving it to the officers;
+nor that, that temperance is their friend, which takes from them
+what they have always had, and gives them nothing in the place of
+it.  By seeing it allowed to their officers, they will not be
+convinced that it is taken from them for their good; and by
+receiving nothing in its place, they will not believe that
+it is done in kindness.  On the contrary, many of them look
+upon the change as a new instrument of tyranny.  Not that
+they prefer rum. I never knew a sailor, in my life, who would
+not prefer a pot of hot coffee or chocolate, in a cold night,
+to all the rum afloat. They all say that rum only warms them for
+a time; yet, if they can get nothing better, they will miss what
+they have lost. The momentary warmth and glow from drinking it;
+the break and change which is made in a long, dreary watch by
+the mere calling all hands aft and serving of it out; and the
+simply having some event to look forward to, and to talk about;
+give it an importance and a use which no one can appreciate who
+has not stood his watch before the mast. On my passage round Cape
+Horn before, the vessel that I was in was not under temperance
+articles, and grog was served out every middle and morning watch,
+and after every reefing of topsails; and though I had never drank
+rum before, and never intend to again, I took my allowance then
+at the capstan, as the rest did, merely for the momentary warmth
+it gave the system, and the change in our feelings and aspect of
+our duties on the watch.  At the same time, as I have stated,
+there was not a man on board who would not have pitched the rum
+to the dogs, (I have heard them say so, a dozen times) for a
+pot of coffee or chocolate; or even for our common beverage--
+"water bewitched, and tea begrudged," as it was.(1)
+
+---------------
+1.  The proportions of the ingredients of the tea that was made for
+us (and ours, as I have before stated, was a favorable specimen of
+American merchantmen) were, a pint of tea, and a pint and a half
+of molasses, to about three gallons of water.
+
+These are all boiled down together in the "coppers," and before
+serving it out, the mess is stirred up with a stick, so as to give
+each man his fair share of sweetening and tea-leaves.  The tea
+for the cabin is, of course, made in the usual way, in a tea-pot,
+and drank with sugar.
+---------------
+
+The temperance reform is the best thing that ever was undertaken
+for the sailor; but when the grog is taken from him, he ought to
+have something in its place.  As it is now, in most vessels, it is a
+mere saving to the owners; and this accounts for the sudden increase
+of temperance ships, which surprised even the best friends of the
+cause.  If every merchant, when he struck grog from the list of
+the expenses of his ship, had been obliged to substitute as much
+coffee, or chocolate, as would give each man a pot-full when he
+came off the topsail yard, on a stormy night;--I fear Jack might
+have gone to ruin on the old road.(2)  But this is not doubling
+
+---------------
+(2) I do not wish these remarks, so far as they relate to the
+saving of expense in the outfit, to be applied to the owners
+of our ship, for she was supplied with an abundance of stores,
+of the best kind that are given to seamen;, though the dispensing
+of them is necessarily left to the captain, Indeed, so high was
+the reputation of "the employ" among men and officers, for the
+character and outfit of their vessels, and for their liberality
+in conducting their voyages, that when it was known that they had
+a ship fitting out for a long voyage, and that hands were to be
+shipped at a certain time,--a half hour before the time, as one of
+the crew told me, numbers of sailors were steering down the wharf,
+hopping over the barrels, like flocks of sheep.
+---------------
+
+Cape Horn.  Eight hours of the night, our watch was on deck, and
+during the whole of that time we kept a bright look-out: one man
+on each bow, another in the bunt of the fore yard, the third mate
+on the scuttle, one on each quarter, and a man always standing by
+the wheel.  The chief mate was everywhere, and commanded the ship
+when the captain was below.
+
+When a large piece of ice was seen in our way, or drifting near us,
+the word was passed along, and the ship's head turned one way and
+another; and sometimes the yards squared or braced up.  There was
+little else to do than to look out; and we had the sharpest eyes in
+the ship on the forecastle.  The only variety was the monotonous
+voice of the look-out forward--"Another island!"--"Ice ahead!"--
+"Ice on the lee bow!"--"Hard up the helm!"--"Keep her off a
+little!"--"Stead-y!"
+
+In the meantime, the wet and cold had brought my face into such
+a state that I could neither eat nor sleep; and though I stood it
+out all night, yet, when it became light, I was in such a state,
+that all hands told me I must go below, and lie-by for a day or
+two, or I should be laid up for a long time, and perhaps have the
+lock-jaw.
+
+When the watch was changed I went into the steerage, and took off
+my hat and comforter, and showed my face to the mate, who told me
+to go below at once, and stay in my berth until the swelling went
+down, and gave the cook orders to make a poultice for me, and said
+he would speak to the captain.
+
+I went below and turned-in, covering myself over with blankets
+and jackets, and lay in my berth nearly twenty-four hours, half
+asleep and half awake, stupid, from the dull pain.  I heard the
+watch called, and the men going up and down, and sometimes a
+noise on deck, and a cry of "ice," but I gave little attention
+to anything.  At the end of twenty-four hours the pain went down,
+and I had a long sleep, which brought me back to my proper state;
+yet my face was so swollen and tender, that I was obliged to keep
+to my berth for two or three days longer.  During the two days I
+had been below, the weather was much the same that it had been,
+head winds, and snow and rain; or, if the wind came fair, too foggy,
+and the ice too thick, to run.  At the end of the third day the ice
+was very thick; a complete fog-bank covered the ship.  It blew a
+tremendous gale from the eastward, with sleet and snow, and there
+was every promise of a dangerous and fatiguing night.  At dark,
+the captain called all hands aft, and told them that not a man was
+to leave the deck that night; that the ship was in the greatest
+danger; any cake of ice might knock a hole in her, or she might
+run on an island and go to pieces.  No one could tell whether she
+would be a ship the next morning.  The look-outs were then set,
+and every man was put in his station.  When I heard what was the
+state of things, I began to put on my clothes to stand it out
+with the rest of them, when the mate came below, and looking at
+my face, ordered me back to my berth, saying that if we went down,
+we should all go down together, but if I went on deck I might lay
+myself up for life.  This was the first word I had heard from aft;
+for the captain had done nothing, nor inquired how I was, since I
+went below.
+
+In obedience to the mate's orders, I went back to my berth; but a
+more miserable night I never wish to spend.  I never felt the curse
+of sickness so keenly in my life.  If I could only have been on deck
+with the rest, where something was to be done, and seen, and heard;
+where there were fellow-beings for companions in duty and danger--but
+to be cooped up alone in a black hole, in equal danger, but without the
+power to do, was the hardest trial.  Several times, in the course of
+the night, I got up, determined to go on deck; but the silence which
+showed that there was nothing doing, and the knowledge that I might
+make myself seriously ill, for nothing, kept me back.  It was not
+easy to sleep, lying, as I did, with my head directly against the
+bows, which might be dashed in by an island of ice, brought down
+by the very next sea that struck her.  This was the only time I
+had been ill since I left Boston, and it was the worst time it
+could have happened.  I felt almost willing to bear the plagues
+of Egypt for the rest of the voyage, if I could but be well and
+strong for that one night.  Yet it was a dreadful night for those
+on deck.
+
+A watch of eighteen hours, with wet, and cold, and constant anxiety,
+nearly wore them out; and when they came below at nine o'clock for
+breakfast, they almost dropped asleep on their chests, and some
+of them were so stiff that they could with difficulty sit down.
+Not a drop of anything had been given them during the whole time,
+(though the captain, as on the night that I was on deck, had his
+coffee every four hours,) except that the mate stole a potful of
+coffee for two men to drink behind the galley, while he kept a
+look-out for the captain.  Every man had his station, and was not
+allowed to leave it; and nothing happened to break the monotony
+of the night, except once setting the main topsails to run clear
+of a large island to leeward, which they were drifting fast upon.
+Some of the boys got so sleepy and stupefied, that they actually
+fell asleep at their posts; and the young third mate, whose station
+was the exposed one of standing on the fore scuttle, was so stiff,
+when he was relieved, that he could not bend his knees to get down.
+By a constant look-out, and a quick shifting of the helm, as the
+islands and pieces came in sight, the ship went clear of everything
+but a few small pieces, though daylight showed the ocean covered for
+miles.  At daybreak it fell a dead calm, and with the sun, the fog
+cleared a little, and a breeze sprung up from the westward, which soon
+grew into a gale.  We had now a fair wind, daylight, and comparatively
+clear weather; yet, to the surprise of every one, the ship continued
+hove-to.  Why does not he run?  What is the captain about? was asked
+by every one; and from questions, it soon grew into complaints and
+murmurings.  When the daylight was so short, it was too bad to
+lose it, and a fair wind, too, which every one had been praying
+for.  As hour followed hour, and the captain showed no sign of
+making sail, the crew became impatient, and there was a good deal
+of talking and consultation together, on the forecastle.  They had
+been beaten out with the exposure and hardship, and impatient to
+get out of it, and this unaccountable delay was more than they
+could bear in quietness, in their excited and restless state.
+Some said that the captain was frightened,--completely cowed,
+by the dangers and difficulties that surrounded us, and was afraid
+to make sail; while others said that in his anxiety and suspense
+he had made a free use of brandy and opium, and was unfit for
+his duty.  The carpenter, who was an intelligent man, and a
+thorough seaman, and had great influence with the crew,
+came down into the forecastle, and tried to induce the crew to
+go aft and ask the captain why he did not run, or request him,
+in the name of all hands, to make sail.  This appeared to be a
+very reasonable request, and the crew agreed that if he did not
+make sail before noon, they would go aft.  Noon came, and no sail
+was made.  A consultation was held again, and it was proposed to
+take the ship from the captain and give the command of her to the
+mate, who had been heard to say that, if he could have his way,
+the ship would have been half the distance to the Cape before
+night,--ice or no ice.  And so irritated and impatient had the
+crew become, that even this proposition, which was open mutiny,
+punishable with state prison, was entertained, and the carpenter
+went to his berth, leaving it tacitly understood that something
+serious would be done, if things remained as they were many hours
+longer.  When the carpenter left, we talked it all over, and I gave
+my advice strongly against it.  Another of the men, too, who had
+known something of the kind attempted in another ship by a crew
+who were dissatisfied with their captain, and which was followed
+with serious consequences, was opposed to it.  S-----, who soon
+came down, joined us, and we determined to have nothing to do
+with it.  By these means, they were soon induced to give it up,
+for the present, though they said they would not lie where they
+were much longer without knowing the reason.
+
+The affair remained in this state until four o'clock, when an
+order came forward for all hands to come aft upon the quarter-
+deck.  In about ten minutes they came forward again, and the
+whole affair had been blown.  The carpenter, very prematurely,
+and without any authority from the crew, had sounded the mate
+as to whether he would take command of the ship, and intimated
+an intention to displace the captain; and the mate, as in duty
+bound, had told the whole to the captain, who immediately sent
+for all hands aft.  Instead of violent measures, or, at least,
+an outbreak of quarter-deck bravado, threats, and abuse, which
+they had every reason to expect, a sense of common danger and
+common suffering seemed to have tamed his spirit, and begotten
+something like a humane fellow-feeling; for he received the crew
+in a manner quiet, and even almost kind.  He told them what he
+had heard, and said that he did not believe that they would try
+to do any such thing as was intimated; that they had always been
+good men,--obedient, and knew their duty, and he had no fault to
+find with them; and asked them what they had to complain of--said
+that no one could say that he was slow to carry sail, (which was
+true enough;) and that, as soon as he thought it was safe and
+proper, he should make sail.  He added a few words about their
+duty in their present situation, and sent them forward, saying
+that he should take no further notice of the matter; but, at the
+same time, told the carpenter to recollect whose power he was in,
+and that if he heard another word from him he would have cause to
+remember him to the day of his death.
+
+This language of the captain had a very good effect upon the crew,
+and they returned quietly to their duty. 
+
+For two days more the wind blew from the southward and eastward;
+or in the short intervals when it was fair, the ice was too thick
+to run; yet the weather was not so dreadfully bad, and the crew had
+watch and watch.  I still remained in my berth, fast recovering,
+yet still not well enough to go safely on deck.  And I should
+have been perfectly useless; for, from having eaten nothing for
+nearly a week, except a little rice, which I forced into my mouth
+the last day or two, I was as weak as an infant.  To be sick in a
+forecastle is miserable indeed.  It is the worst part of a dog's
+life; especially in bad weather.  The forecastle, shut up tight
+to keep out the water and cold air;--the watch either on deck,
+or asleep in their berths;--no one to speak to;--the pale light of
+the single lamp, swinging to and fro from the beam, so dim that
+one can scarcely see, much less read by it;--the water dropping
+from the beams and carlines, and running down the sides; and the
+forecastle so wet, and dark, and cheerless, and so lumbered up
+with chests and wet clothes, that sitting up is worse than lying
+in the berth!  These are some of the evils.  Fortunately, I needed
+no help from any one, and no medicine; and if I had needed help,
+I don't know where I should have found it.  Sailors are willing
+enough; but it is true, as is often said--No one ships for nurse
+on board a vessel.  Our merchant ships are always under-manned,
+and if one man is lost by sickness, they cannot spare another
+to take care of him.  A sailor is always presumed to be well,
+and if he's sick, he's a poor dog.  One has to stand his wheel,
+and another his lookout, and the sooner he gets on deck again,
+the better.
+
+Accordingly, as soon as I could possibly go back to my duty,
+I put on my thick clothes and boots and south-wester, and made
+my appearance on deck.  Though I had been but a few days below,
+yet everything looked strangely enough.  The ship was cased in
+ice,--decks, sides, masts, yards, and rigging.  Two close-reefed
+top-sails were all the sail she had on, and every sail and rope
+was frozen so stiff in its place, that it seemed as though it
+would be impossible to start anything.  Reduced, too, to her top-
+masts, she had altogether a most forlorn and crippled appearance.
+The sun had come up brightly; the snow was swept off the decks,
+and ashes thrown upon them, so that we could walk, for they had
+been as slippery as glass.
+
+It was, of course, too cold to carry on any ship's work, and we had
+only to walk the deck and keep ourselves warm.  The wind was still
+ahead, and the whole ocean, to the eastward, covered with islands
+and field-ice.  At four bells the order was given to square away
+the yards; and the man who came from the helm said that the captain
+had kept her off to N. N. E.  What could this mean?  Some said that
+he was going to put into Valparaiso, and winter, and others that
+he was going to run out of the ice and cross the Pacific, and go
+home round the Cape of Good Hope.  Soon, however, it leaked out,
+and we found that we were running for the straits of Magellan.
+The news soon spread through the ship, and all tongues were at
+work, talking about it.  No one on board had been through the
+straits, but I had in my chest an account of the passage of the
+ship A. J. Donelson, of New York, through those straits, a few
+years before.
+
+The account was given by the captain, and the representation was
+as favorable as possible.  It was soon read by every one on board,
+and various opinions pronounced.  The determination of our captain
+had at least this good effect; it gave every one something to
+think and talk about, made a break in our life, and diverted our
+minds from the monotonous dreariness of the prospect before us.
+Having made a fair wind of it, we were going off at a good rate,
+and leaving the thickest of the ice behind us.  This, at least,
+was something.
+
+Having been long enough below to get my hands well warmed and
+softened, the first handling of the ropes was rather tough; but a
+few days hardened them, and as soon as I got my mouth open wide
+enough to take in a piece of salt beef and hard bread, I was all
+right again.
+
+Sunday, July 10th.  Lat. 54° 10', long. 79° 07'.  This was our
+position at noon.  The sun was out bright; the ice was all left
+behind, and things had quite a cheering appearance.  We brought
+our wet pea-jackets and trowsers on deck, and hung them up in
+the rigging, that the breeze and the few hours of sun might dry
+them a little; and, by the permission of the cook, the galley
+was nearly filled with stockings and mittens, hung round to be
+dried.  Boots, too, were brought up; and having got a little tar
+and slush from below, we gave them a thick coat.  After dinner,
+all hands were turned-to, to get the anchors over the bows,
+bend on the chains, etc. The fish-tackle was got up, fish-davit
+rigged out, and after two or three hours of hard and cold work,
+both the anchors were ready for instant use, a couple of kedges
+got up, a hawser coiled away upon the fore-hatch, and the deep-sea-
+lead-line overhauled and got ready.  Our spirits returned with having
+something to do; and when the tackle was manned to bowse the anchor
+home, notwithstanding the desolation of the scene, we struck up
+"Cheerily ho!" in full chorus.  This pleased the mate, who rubbed
+his hands and cried out--"That's right, my boys; never say die!
+That sounds like the old crew!" and the captain came up, on hearing
+the song, and said to the passenger, within hearing of the man at
+the wheel,--"That sounds like a lively crew.  They'll have their
+song so long as there're enough left for a chorus!"
+
+This preparation of the cable and anchors was for the passage
+of the straits; for, being very crooked, and with a variety of
+currents, it is necessary to come frequently to anchor.  This was
+not, by any means, a pleasant prospect, for, of all the work that
+a sailor is called upon to do in cold weather, there is none so
+bad as working the ground-tackle.  The heavy chain cables to be
+hauled and pulled about the decks with bare hands; wet hawsers,
+slip-ropes, and buoy-ropes to be hauled aboard, dripping in water,
+which is running up your sleeves, and freezing; clearing hawse
+under the bows; getting under weigh and coming-to, at all hours
+of the night and day, and a constant look-out for rocks and sands
+and turns of tides;--these are some of the disagreeables of such
+a navigation to a common sailor.  Fair or foul, he wants to have
+nothing to do with the ground-tackle between port and port.  One of
+our hands, too, had unluckily fallen upon a half of an old newspaper
+which contained an account of the passage, through the straits, of a
+Boston brig, called, I think, the Peruvian, in which she lost every
+cable and anchor she had, got aground twice, and arrived at
+Valparaiso in distress.  This was set off against the account of
+the A. J. Donelson, and led us to look forward with less confidence
+to the passage, especially as no one on board had ever been through,
+and the captain had no very perfect charts.  However, we were spared
+any further experience on the point; for the next day, when we must
+have been near the Cape of Pillars, which is the south-west point
+of the mouth of the straits, a gale set in from the eastward, with a
+heavy fog, so that we could not see half of the ship's length ahead.
+This, of course, put an end to the project, for the present; for a
+thick fog and a gale blowing dead ahead are not the most favorable
+circumstances for the passage of difficult and dangerous straits.
+This weather, too, seemed likely to last for some time, and we
+could not think of beating about the mouth of the straits for a
+week or two, waiting for a favorable opportunity; so we braced up
+on the larboard tack, put the ship's head due south, and struck
+her off for Cape Horn again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+ICE AGAIN--A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON--CAPE HORN--"LAND HO!"--HEADING FOR HOME
+
+
+In our first attempt to double the Cape, when we came up to the
+latitude of it, we were nearly seventeen hundred miles to the
+westward, but, in running for the straits of Magellan, we stood so
+far to the eastward, that we made our second attempt at a distance
+of not more than four or five hundred miles; and we had great hopes,
+by this means, to run clear of the ice; thinking that the easterly
+gales, which had prevailed for a long time, would have driven it
+to the westward.  With the wind about two points free, the yards
+braced in a little, and two close-reefed topsails and a reefed
+foresail on the ship, we made great way toward the southward and,
+almost every watch, when we came on deck, the air seemed to grow
+colder, and the sea to run higher.  Still, we saw no ice, and had
+great hopes of going clear of it altogether, when, one afternoon,
+about three o'clock, while we were taking a siesta during our
+watch below, "All hands!" was called in a loud and fearful voice.
+"Tumble up here, men!--tumble up!--don't stop for your clothes--
+before we're upon it!"  We sprang out of our berths and hurried
+upon deck.
+
+The loud, sharp voice of the captain was heard giving orders,
+as though for life or death, and we ran aft to the braces,
+not waiting to look ahead, for not a moment was to be lost.
+The helm was hard up, the after yards shaking, and the ship
+in the act of wearing.
+
+Slowly, with stiff ropes and iced rigging, we swung the yards round,
+everything coming hard, and with a creaking and rending sound, like
+pulling up a plank which had been frozen into the ice.  The ship
+wore round fairly, the yards were steadied, and we stood off on the
+other tack, leaving behind us, directly under our larboard quarter,
+a large ice island, peering out of the mist, and reaching high above
+our tops, while astern; and on either side of the island, large tracts
+of field-ice were dimly seen, heaving and rolling in the sea.  We were
+now safe, and standing to the northward; but, in a few minutes more,
+had it not been for the sharp look-out of the watch, we should have
+been fairly upon the ice, and left our ship's old bones adrift in
+the Southern ocean.  After standing to the northward a few hours,
+we wore ship, and the wind having hauled, we stood to the southward
+and eastward.  All night long, a bright lookout was kept from every
+part of the deck; and whenever ice was seen on the one bow or the
+other, the helm was shifted and the yards braced, and by quick
+working of the ship she was kept clear.  The accustomed cry of
+"Ice ahead!"--"Ice on the lee bow!"--"Another island!" in the
+same tones, and with the same orders following them, seemed to
+bring us directly back to our old position of the week before.
+
+During our watch on deck, which was from twelve to four, the wind
+came out ahead, with a pelting storm of hail and sleet, and we
+lay hove-to, under a close-reefed main topsail, the whole watch.
+During the next watch it fell calm, with a drenching rain, until
+daybreak, when the wind came out to the westward, and the weather
+cleared up, and showed us the whole ocean, in the course which we
+should have steered, had it not been for the head wind and calm,
+completely blocked up with ice.  Here then our progress was stopped,
+and we wore ship, and once more stood to the northward and eastward;
+not for the straits of Magellan, but to make another attempt to
+double the Cape, still farther to the eastward; for the captain
+was determined to get round if perseverance could do it; and the
+third time, he said, never failed.
+
+With a fair wind we soon ran clear of the field-ice, and by noon
+had only the stray islands floating far and near upon the ocean. 
+
+The sun was out bright, the sea of a deep blue, fringed with the
+white foam of the waves which ran high before a strong south-wester;
+our solitary ship tore on through the water, as though glad to be
+out of her confinement; and the ice islands lay scattered upon the
+ocean here and there, of various sizes and shapes, reflecting the
+bright rays of the sun, and drifting slowly northward before the
+gale.  It was a contrast to much that we had lately seen, and a
+spectacle not only of beauty, but of life; for it required but
+little fancy to imagine these islands to be animate masses which
+had broken loose from the "thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice,"
+and were working their way, by wind and current, some alone,
+and some in fleets, to milder climes.  No pencil has ever yet
+given anything like the true effect of an iceberg.  In a picture,
+they are huge, uncouth masses, stuck in the sea, while their chief
+beauty and grandeur,--their slow, stately motion; the whirling
+of the snow about their summits, and the fearful groaning and
+cracking of their parts,--the picture cannot give.  This is the
+large iceberg; while the small and distant islands, floating on
+the smooth sea, in the light of a clear day, look like little
+floating fairy isles of sapphire.
+
+From a north-east course we gradually hauled to the eastward, and
+after sailing about two hundred miles, which brought us as near to
+the western coast of Terra del Fuego as was safe, and having lost
+sight of the ice altogether,--for the third time we put the ship's
+head to the southward, to try the passage of the Cape. The weather
+continued clear and cold, with a strong gale from the westward,
+and we were fast getting up with the latitude of the Cape, with a
+prospect of soon being round.  One fine afternoon, a man who had
+gone into the fore-top to shift the rolling tackles, sung out, at
+the top of his voice, and with evident glee,--"Sail ho!"  Neither
+land nor sail had we seen since leaving San Diego; and any one who
+has traversed the length of a whole ocean alone, can imagine what
+an excitement such an announcement produced on board.  "Sail ho!"
+shouted the cook, jumping out of his galley; "Sail ho!" shouted
+a man, throwing back the slide of the scuttle, to the watch below,
+who were soon out of their berths and on deck; and "Sail ho!"
+shouted the captain down the companion-way to the passenger in
+the cabin.  Besides the pleasure of seeing a ship and human beings
+in so desolate a place, it was important for us to speak a vessel,
+to learn whether there was ice to the eastward, and to ascertain the
+longitude; for we had no chronometer, and had been drifting about
+so long that we had nearly lost our reckoning, and opportunities
+for lunar observations are not frequent or sure in such a place as
+Cape Horn.  For these various reasons, the excitement in our little
+community was running high, and conjectures were made, and everything
+thought of for which the captain would hail, when the man aloft sung
+out--"Another sail, large on the weather bow!"
+
+This was a little odd, but so much the better, and did not shake
+our faith in their being sails.  At length the man in the top
+hailed, and said he believed it was land, after all.  "Land in
+your eye!" said the mate, who was looking through a telescope;
+"they are ice islands, if I can see a hole through a ladder;" and a
+few moments showed the mate to be right and all our expectations
+fled; and instead of what we most wished to see, we had what we
+most dreaded, and what we hoped we had seen the last of.  We soon,
+however, left these astern, having passed within about two miles
+of them; and at sundown the horizon was clear in all directions.
+
+Having a fine wind, we were soon up with and passed the latitude
+of the Cape, and having stood far enough to the southward to give
+it a wide berth, we began to stand to the eastward, with a good
+prospect of being round and steering to the northward on the
+other side, in a very few days.
+
+But ill luck seemed to have lighted upon us.  Not four hours had
+we been standing on in this course, before it fell dead calm;
+and in half an hour it clouded up; a few straggling blasts,
+with spits of snow and sleet, came from the eastward; and in
+an hour more, we lay hove-to under a close-reefed main topsail,
+drifting bodily off to leeward before the fiercest storm that we
+had yet felt, blowing dead ahead, from the eastward.  It seemed
+as though the genius of the place had been roused at finding that
+we had nearly slipped through his fingers, and had come down upon
+us with tenfold fury.  The sailors said that every blast, as it
+shook the shrouds, and whistled through the rigging, said to the
+old ship, "No, you don't!"--"No, you don't!"
+
+For eight days we lay drifting about in this manner.  Sometimes,--
+generally towards noon,--it fell calm; once or twice a round copper
+ball showed itself for a few moments in the place where the sun ought
+to have been; and a puff or two came from the westward, giving some
+hope that a fair wind had come at last.  During the first two days,
+we made sail for these puffs, shaking the reefs out of the topsails
+and boarding the tacks of the courses; but finding that it only made
+work for us when the gale set in again, it was soon given up, and we
+lay-to under our close-reefs.
+
+We had less snow and hail than when we were farther to the westward,
+but we had an abundance of what is worse to a sailor in cold
+weather--drenching rain.  Snow is blinding, and very bad when
+coming upon a coast, but, for genuine discomfort, give me rain
+with freezing weather.  A snow-storm is exciting, and it does not
+wet through the clothes (which is important to a sailor); but a
+constant rain there is no escaping from.  It wets to the skin,
+and makes all protection vain.  We had long ago run through all
+our dry clothes, and as sailors have no other way of drying them
+than by the sun, we had nothing to do but to put on those which
+were the least wet.
+
+At the end of each watch, when we came below, we took off our clothes
+and wrung them out; two taking hold of a pair of trowsers,--one
+at each end,--and jackets in the same way.  Stockings, mittens,
+and all, were wrung out also and then hung up to drain and chafe
+dry against the bulk-heads.  Then, feeling of all our clothes,
+we picked out those which were the least wet, and put them on,
+so as to be ready for a call, and turned-in, covered ourselves
+up with blankets, and slept until three knocks on the scuttle
+and the dismal sound of "All starbowlines ahoy!  Eight bells,
+there below!  Do you hear the news?" drawled out from on deck,
+and the sulky answer of "Aye, aye!" from below, sent us up again.
+
+On deck, all was as dark as a pocket, and either a dead calm,
+with the rain pouring steadily down, or, more generally, a violent
+gale dead ahead, with rain pelting horizontally, and occasional
+variations of hail and sleet;--decks afloat with water swashing
+from side to side, and constantly wet feet; for boots could not
+be wrung out like drawers, and no composition could stand the
+constant soaking.  In fact, wet and cold feet are inevitable
+in such weather, and are not the least of those little items
+which go to make up the grand total of the discomforts of a winter
+passage round the Cape.  Few words were spoken between the watches
+as they shifted, the wheel was relieved, the mate took his place
+on the quarter-deck, the look-outs in the bows; and each man had
+his narrow space to walk fore and aft in, or, rather, to swing
+himself forward and back in, from one belaying pin to another,--
+for the decks were too slippery with ice and water to allow of
+much walking.  To make a walk, which is absolutely necessary to
+pass away the time, one of us hit upon the expedient of sanding
+the deck; and afterwards, whenever the rain was not so violent
+as to wash it off, the weatherside of the quarter-deck and a part
+of the waist and forecastle were sprinkled with the sand which we
+had on board for holystoning; and thus we made a good promenade,
+where we walked fore and aft, two and two, hour after hour, in our
+long, dull, and comfortless watches.  The bells seemed to be an
+hour or two apart, instead of half an hour, and an age to elapse
+before the welcome sound of eight bells.  The sole object was to
+make the time pass on.  Any change was sought for, which would
+break the monotony of the time; and even the two hours' trick at
+the wheel, which came round to each of us, in turn, once in every
+other watch, was looked upon as a relief.  Even the never-failing
+resource of long yarns, which eke out many a watch, seemed to have
+failed us now; for we had been so long together that we had heard
+each other's stories told over and over again, till we had them
+by heart; each one knew the whole history of each of the others,
+and we were fairly and literally talked out.  Singing and joking,
+we were in no humor for, and, in fact, any sound of mirth or laughter
+would have struck strangely upon our ears, and would not have been
+tolerated, any more than whistling, or a wind instrument.  The last
+resort, that of speculating upon the future, seemed now to fail us,
+for our discouraging situation, and the danger we were really in,
+(as we expected every day to find ourselves drifted back among the
+ice) "clapped a stopper" upon all that.  From saying--"when we get
+home"--we began insensibly to alter it to--"if we get home"--and at
+last the subject was dropped by a tacit consent.
+
+In this state of things, a new light was struck out, and a new
+field opened, by a change in the watch.  One of our watch was
+laid up for two or three days by a bad hand, (for in cold weather
+the least cut or bruise ripens into a sore,) and his place was
+supplied by the carpenter.  This was a windfall, and there was
+quite a contest, who should have the carpenter to walk with him.
+As "Chips" was a man of some little education, and he and I had
+had a good deal of intercourse with each other, he fell in with
+me in my walk.  He was a Fin, but spoke English very well, and
+gave me long accounts of his country;--the customs, the trade,
+the towns, what little he knew of the government, (I found he was
+no friend of Russia), his voyages, his first arrival in America,
+his marriage and courtship;--he had married a countrywoman of his,
+a dress-maker, whom he met with in Boston.  I had very little to
+tell him of my quiet, sedentary life at home; and, in spite of
+our best efforts, which had protracted these yarns through five
+or six watches, we fairly talked one another out, and I turned
+him over to another man in the watch, and put myself upon my
+own resources.
+
+I commenced a deliberate system of time-killing, which united
+some profit with a cheering up of the heavy hours.  As soon
+as I came on deck, and took my place and regular walk, I began
+with repeating over to myself a string of matters which I had
+in my memory, in regular order.  First, the multiplication table
+and the tables of weights and measures; then the states of the
+union, with their capitals; the counties of England, with their
+shire towns; the kings of England in their order; and a large
+part of the peerage, which I committed from an almanac that we
+had on board; and then the Kanaka numerals.  This carried me
+through my facts, and, being repeated deliberately, with long
+intervals, often eked out the two first bells.  Then came the
+ten commandments; the thirty-ninth chapter of Job, and a few
+other passages from Scripture.  The next in the order, that I
+never varied from, came Cowper's Castaway, which was a great
+favorite with me; the solemn measure and gloomy character of
+which, as well as the incident that it was founded upon, made it
+well suited to a lonely watch at sea.  Then his lines to Mary,
+his address to the jackdaw, and a short extract from Table Talk;
+(I abounded in Cowper, for I happened to have a volume of his
+poems in my chest;) "Ille et nefasto" from Horace, and Goethe's
+Erl King.  After I had got through these, I allowed myself a more
+general range among everything that I could remember, both in prose
+and verse.  In this way, with an occasional break by relieving the
+wheel, heaving the log, and going to the scuttle-butt for a drink
+of water, the longest watch was passed away; and I was so regular
+in my silent recitations, that if there was no interruption by
+ship's duty, I could tell very nearly the number of bells by my
+progress.
+
+Our watches below were no more varied than the watch on deck. 
+
+All washing, sewing, and reading was given up; and we did nothing
+but eat, sleep, and stand our watch, leading what might be called a
+Cape Horn life.  The forecastle was too uncomfortable to sit up in;
+and whenever we were below, we were in our berths.  To prevent the
+rain, and the sea-water which broke over the bows, from washing down,
+we were obliged to keep the scuttle closed, so that the forecastle
+was nearly air-tight.  In this little, wet, leaky hole, we were all
+quartered, in an atmosphere so bad that our lamp, which swung in
+the middle from the beams, sometimes actually burned blue, with a
+large circle of foul air about it.  Still I was never in better
+health than after three weeks of this life.  I gained a great
+deal of flesh, and we all ate like horses.  At every watch, when we
+came below, before turning-in, the bread barge and beef kid were
+overhauled.  Each man drank his quart of hot tea night and morning;
+and glad enough we were to get it, for no nectar and ambrosia were
+sweeter to the lazy immortals, than was a pot of hot tea, a hard
+biscuit, and a slice of cold salt beef, to us after a watch on
+deck.  To be sure, we were mere animals and had this life lasted
+a year instead of a month we should have been little better than
+the ropes in the ship.  Not a razor, nor a brush, nor a drop
+of water, except the rain and the spray, had come near us all
+the time; for we were on an allowance of fresh water; and who
+would strip and wash himself in salt water on deck, in the snow
+and ice, with the thermometer at zero?
+
+After about eight days of constant easterly gales, the wind
+hauled occasionally a little to the southward, and blew hard,
+which, as we were well to the southward, allowed us to brace
+in a little and stand on, under all the sail we could carry.
+These turns lasted but a short while, and sooner or later it set
+again from the old quarter; yet each time we made something,
+and were gradually edging along to the eastward.  One night,
+after one of these shifts of the wind, and when all hands had been
+up a great part of the time, our watch was left on deck, with the
+mainsail hanging in the buntlines, ready to be set if necessary.
+It came on to blow worse and worse, with hail and snow beating
+like so many furies upon the ship, it being as dark and thick as
+night could make it.  The mainsail was blowing and slatting with
+a noise like thunder, when the captain came on deck, and ordered
+it to be furled.  The mate was about to call all hands, when the
+captain stopped him, and said that the men would be beaten out if
+they were called up so often; that as our watch must stay on deck,
+it might as well be doing that as anything else.
+
+Accordingly, we went upon the yard; and never shall I forget
+that piece of work.  Our watch had been so reduced by sickness,
+and by some having been left in California, that, with one man
+at the wheel, we had only the third mate and three beside myself,
+to go aloft; so that at most, we could only attempt to furl one
+yard-arm at a time.  We manned the weather yard-arm, and set to
+work to make a furl of it.  Our lower masts being short, and our
+yards very square, the sail had a head of nearly fifty feet,
+and a short leach, made still shorter by the deep reef which
+was in it, which brought the clew away out on the quarters of
+the yard, and made a bunt nearly as square as the mizen royal-
+yard.  Beside this difficulty, the yard over which we lay was
+cased with ice, the gaskets and rope of the foot and leach of
+the sail as stiff and hard as a piece of suction-hose, and the
+sail itself about as pliable as though it had been made of sheets
+of sheathing copper.  It blew a perfect hurricane, with alternate
+blasts of snow, hail, and rain.  We had to fist the sail with
+bare hands.  No one could trust himself to mittens, for if he
+slipped, he was a gone man.  All the boats were hoisted in on
+deck, and there was nothing to be lowered for him.  We had need
+of every finger God had given us.  Several times we got the sail
+upon the yard, but it blew away again before we could secure it.
+It required men to lie over the yard to pass each turn of the
+gaskets, and when they were passed, it was almost impossible to
+knot them so that they would hold.  Frequently we were obliged to
+leave off altogether and take to beating our hands upon the sail,
+to keep them from freezing.
+
+After some time,--which seemed forever,--we got the weather side
+stowed after a fashion, and went over to leeward for another trial. 
+
+This was still worse, for the body of the sail had been blown over
+to leeward, and as the yard was a-cock-bill by the lying over of
+the vessel, we had to light it all up to windward.  When the yard-
+arms were furled, the bunt was all adrift again, which made more
+work for us.  We got all secure at last, but we had been nearly
+an hour and a half upon the yard, and it seemed an age.  It just
+struck five bells when we went up, and eight were struck soon after
+we came down.  This may seem slow work, but considering the state
+of everything, and that we had only five men to a sail with just
+half as many square yards of canvas in it as the mainsail of the
+Independence, sixty-gun ship, which musters seven hundred men at
+her quarters, it is not wonderful that we were no quicker about it.
+We were glad enough to get on deck, and still more, to go below.
+The oldest sailor in the watch said, as he went down,--"I shall
+never forget that main yard;--it beats all my going a fishing.
+Fun is fun, but furling one yard-arm of a course, at a time,
+off Cape Horn, is no better than man-killing."
+
+During the greater part of the next two days, the wind was pretty
+steady from the southward.  We had evidently made great progress,
+and had good hope of being soon up with the Cape, if we were not
+there already.  We could put but little confidence in our reckoning,
+as there had been no opportunities for an observation, and we had
+drifted too much to allow of our dead reckoning being anywhere
+near the mark.  If it would clear off enough to give a chance for
+an observation, or if we could make land, we should know where we
+were; and upon these, and the chances of falling in with a sail
+from the eastward, we depended almost entirely.
+
+Friday, July 22d.  This day we had a steady gale from the southward,
+and stood on under close sail, with the yards eased a little by the
+weather braces, the clouds lifting a little, and showing signs of
+breaking away.  In the afternoon, I was below with Mr. H-----,
+the third mate, and two others, filling the bread locker in the
+steerage from the casks, when a bright gleam of sunshine broke
+out and shone down the companion-way and through the skylight,
+lighting up everything below, and sending a warm glow through the
+heart of every one.  It was a sight we had not seen for weeks,--an
+omen, a god-send.  Even the roughest and hardest face acknowledged
+its influence.  Just at that moment we heard a loud shout from all
+parts of the deck, and the mate called out down the companion-way to
+the captain, who was sitting in the cabin.  What he said, we could
+not distinguish, but the captain kicked over his chair, and was on
+deck at one jump.  We could not tell what it was; and, anxious as
+we were to know, the discipline of the ship would not allow of our
+leaving our places.  Yet, as we were not called, we knew there was
+no danger.  We hurried to get through with our job, when, seeing the
+steward's black face peering out of the pantry, Mr. H----- hailed
+him, to know what was the matter.  "Lan' o, to be sure, sir!  No
+you hear 'em sing out, 'Lan' o?'  De cap'em say 'im Cape Horn!"
+
+This gave us a new start, and we were soon through our work,
+and on deck; and there lay the land, fair upon the larboard
+beam, and slowly edging away upon the quarter.  All hands were
+busy looking at it--the captain and mates from the quarter-deck,
+the cook from his galley, and the sailors from the forecastle;
+and even Mr. N., the passenger, who had kept in his shell for
+nearly a month, and hardly been seen by anybody, and who we had
+almost forgotten was on board, came out like a butterfly, and was
+hopping round as bright as a bird.
+
+The land was the island of Staten Land, and, just to the eastward
+of Cape Horn; and a more desolate-looking spot I never wish to set
+eyes upon;--bare, broken, and girt with rocks and ice, with here
+and there, between the rocks and broken hillocks, a little stunted
+vegetation of shrubs.  It was a place well suited to stand at the
+junction of the two oceans, beyond the reach of human cultivation,
+and encounter the blasts and snows of a perpetual winter.  Yet,
+dismal as it was, it was a pleasant sight to us; not only as being
+the first land we had seen, but because it told us that we had
+passed the Cape,--were in the Atlantic,--and that, with twenty-
+four hours of this breeze, might bid defiance to the Southern
+Ocean.  It told us, too, our latitude and longitude better than
+any observation; and the captain now knew where we were, as well
+as if we were off the end of Long wharf.
+
+In the general joy, Mr. N. said he should like to go ashore upon
+the island and examine a spot which probably no human being had
+ever set foot upon; but the captain intimated that he would see the
+island--specimens and all,--in--another place, before he would get
+out a boat or delay the ship one moment for him. 
+
+We left the land gradually astern; and at sundown had the
+Atlantic Ocean clear before us.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+CRACKING ON--PROGRESS HOMEWARD--A PLEASANT SUNDAY--A FINE SIGHT--
+BY-PLAY
+
+It is usual, in voyages round the Cape from the Pacific, to keep
+to the eastward of the Falkland Islands; but as it had now set in
+a strong, steady, and clear south-wester, with every prospect of
+its lasting, and we had had enough of high latitudes, the captain
+determined to stand immediately to the northward, running inside
+the Falkland Islands.  Accordingly, when the wheel was relieved at
+eight o'clock, the order was given to keep her due north, and all
+hands were turned up to square away the yards and make sail.
+In a moment, the news ran through the ship that the captain was
+keeping her off, with her nose straight for Boston, and Cape Horn
+over her taffrail.  It was a moment of enthusiasm.  Every one was
+on the alert, and even the two sick men turned out to lend a hand
+at the halyards.  The wind was now due south-west, and blowing
+a gale to which a vessel close hauled could have shown no more
+than a single close-reefed sail; but as we were going before it,
+we could carry on.
+
+Accordingly, hands were sent aloft, and a reef shaken out of the
+top-sails, and the reefed foresail set.  When we came to masthead
+the topsail yards, with all hands at the halyards, we struck up
+"Cheerily, men," with a chorus which might have been heard half-way
+to Staten Land.  Under her increased sail, the ship drove on through
+the water.  Yet she could bear it well; and the captain sang out from
+the quarter-deck--"Another reef out of that fore-topsail, and give
+it to her!"  Two hands sprang aloft; the frozen reef-points and
+earings were cast adrift, the halyards manned, and the sail gave
+out her increased canvas to the gale.  All hands were kept on
+deck to watch the effect of the change.  It was as much as she
+could well carry, and with a heavy sea astern, it took two men
+at the wheel to steer her.  She flung the foam from her bows;
+the spray breaking aft as far as the gangway.  She was going at
+a prodigious rate.
+
+Still, everything held.  Preventer braces were reeved and hauled
+taught; tackles got upon the backstays; and each thing done to
+keep all snug and strong.  The captain walked the deck at a rapid
+stride, looked aloft at the sails, and then to windward; the mate
+stood in the gangway, rubbing his hands, and talking aloud to the
+ship--"Hurrah, old bucket! the Boston girls have got hold of the
+tow-rope!" and the like; and we were on the forecastle, looking
+to see how the spars stood it, and guessing the rate at which
+she was going,--when the captain called out--"Mr. Brown, get up
+the topmast studding-sail!  What she can't carry she may drag!"
+The mate looked a moment; but he would let no one be before him
+in daring.
+
+He sprang forward--"Hurrah, men! rig out the topmast studding-sail
+boom!  Lay aloft, and I'll send the rigging up to you!"--We sprang
+aloft into the top; lowered a girt-line down, by which we hauled
+up the rigging; rove the tacks and halyards; ran out the boom and
+lashed it fast, and sent down the lower halyards, as a preventer.
+It was a clear starlight night, cold and blowing; but everybody
+worked with a will.  Some, indeed, looked as though they thought
+the "old man" was mad, but no one said a word.  We had had a new
+topmast studding-sail made with a reef in it,--a thing hardly
+ever heard of, and which the sailors had ridiculed a good deal,
+saying that when it was time to reef a studding-sail, it was time
+to take it in.  But we found a use for it now; for, there being
+a reef in the topsail, the studding-sail could not be set without
+one in it also.  To be sure, a studding-sail with reefed topsails
+was rather a new thing; yet there was some reason in it, for if
+we carried that away, we should lose only a sail and a boom;
+but a whole topsail might have carried away the mast and all.
+
+While we were aloft, the sail had been got out, bent to the yard,
+reefed, and ready for hoisting.  Waiting for a good opportunity,
+the halyards were manned and the yard hoisted fairly up to the
+block; but when the mate came to shake the catspaw out of the
+downhaul, and we began to boom-end the sail, it shook the ship
+to her centre.  The boom buckled up and bent like a whip-stick,
+and we looked every moment to see something go; but, being of
+the short, tough upland spruce, it bent like whalebone, and nothing
+could break it.  The carpenter said it was the best stick he had
+ever seen.  The strength of all hands soon brought the tack to
+the boom-end, and the sheet was trimmed down, and the preventer
+and the weather brace hauled taught to take off the strain.
+Every rope-yarn seemed stretched to the utmost, and every thread
+of canvas; and with this sail added to her, the ship sprang through
+the water like a thing possessed.  The sail being nearly all forward,
+it lifted her out of the water, and she seemed actually to jump from
+sea to sea.  From the time her keel was laid, she had never been so
+driven; and had it been life or death with every one of us, she could
+not have borne another stitch of canvas.
+
+Finding that she would bear the sail, the hands were sent below,
+and our watch remained on deck.  Two men at the wheel had as much
+as they could do to keep her within three points of her course,
+for she steered as wild as a young colt.  The mate walked the deck,
+looking at the sails, and then over the side to see the foam fly
+by her, slapping his hands upon his thighs and talking to the
+ship--"Hurrah, you jade, you've got the scent!--you know where
+you're going!"  And when she leaped over the seas, and almost
+out of the water, and trembled to her very keel, the spars
+and masts snapping and creaking,--"There she goes!--There she
+goes,--handsomely!--as long as she cracks she holds!"--while we
+stood with the rigging laid down fair for letting go, and ready
+to take in sail and clear away, if anything went.  At four bells
+we hove the log, and she was going eleven knots fairly; and had it
+not been for the sea from aft which sent the ship home, and threw
+her continually off her course, the log would have shown her to
+have been going much faster.  I went to the wheel with a young
+fellow from the Kennebec, who was a good helmsman; and for two
+hours we had our hands full.  A few minutes showed us that our
+monkey-jackets must come off; and, cold as it was, we stood in
+our shirt-sleeves, in a perspiration; and were glad enough to have
+it eight bells, and the wheel relieved.  We turned-in and slept
+as well as we could, though the sea made a constant roar under
+her bows, and washed over the forecastle like a small cataract.
+
+At four o'clock, we were called again.  The same sail was still on
+the vessel, and the gale, if there was any change, had increased
+a little.  No attempt was made to take the studding-sail in;
+and, indeed, it was too late now.  If we had started anything
+toward taking it in, either tack or halyards, it would have blown
+to pieces, and carried something away with it.  The only way now was
+to let everything stand, and if the gale went down, well and good;
+if not, something must go--the weakest stick or rope first--and
+then we could get it in.  For more than an hour she was driven on
+at such a rate that she seemed actually to crowd the sea into a
+heap before her; and the water poured over the spritsail yard as
+it would over a dam.  Toward daybreak the gale abated a little,
+and she was just beginning to go more easily along, relieved of
+the pressure, when Mr. Brown, determined to give her no respite,
+and depending upon the wind's subsiding as the sun rose, told us
+to get along the lower studding-sail.  This was an immense sail,
+and held wind enough to last a Dutchman a week,--hove-to.  It was
+soon ready, the boom topped up, preventer guys rove, and the idlers
+called up to man the halyards; yet such was still the force of the
+gale, that we were nearly an hour setting the sail; carried away the
+outhaul in doing it, and came very near snapping off the swinging
+boom.  No sooner was it set than the ship tore on again like one
+that was mad, and began to steer as wild as a hawk.  The men at
+the wheel were puffing and blowing at their work, and the helm was
+going hard up and hard down, constantly.  Add to this, the gale
+did not lessen as the day came on, but the sun rose in clouds.
+A sudden lurch threw the man from the weather wheel across the deck
+and against the side.  The mate sprang to the wheel, and the man,
+regaining his feet, seized the spokes, and they hove the wheel up
+just in time to save her from broaching to; though nearly half
+the studding-sail went under water; and as she came to, the boom
+stood up at an angle of forty five degrees.  She had evidently
+more on her than she could bear; yet it was in vain to try to
+take it in--the clewline was not strong enough; and they were
+thinking of cutting away, when another wide yaw and a come-to,
+snapped the guys, and the swinging boom came in, with a crash,
+against the lower rigging.  The outhaul block gave way, and the
+topmast studding-sail boom bent in a manner which I never before
+supposed a stick could bend.  I had my eye on it when the guys
+parted, and it made one spring and buckled up so as to form nearly
+a half circle, and sprang out again to its shape.
+
+The clewline gave way at the first pull; the cleat to which the
+halyards were belayed was wrenched off, and the sail blew round
+the spritsail yards and head guys, which gave us a bad job to
+get it in.
+
+A half hour served to clear all away, and she was suffered to drive
+on with her topmast studding-sail set, it being as much as she could
+stagger under. 
+
+During all this day and the next night, we went on under the same
+sail, the gale blowing with undiminished force; two men at the wheel
+all the time; watch and watch, and nothing to do but to steer and
+look out for the ship, and be blown along;--until the noon of the
+next day--
+
+Sunday, July 24th, when we were in latitude 50° 27' S., longitude
+62° 13' W., having made four degrees of latitude in the last
+twenty-four hours.  Being now to northward of the Falkland Islands,
+the ship was kept off, north-east, for the equator; and with her
+head for the equator, and Cape Horn over her taffrail, she went
+gloriously on; every heave of the sea leaving the Cape astern,
+and every hour bringing us nearer to home, and to warm weather.
+Many a time, when blocked up in the ice, with everything dismal
+and discouraging about us, had we said,--if we were only fairly
+round, and standing north on the other side, we should ask for
+no more:--and now we had it all, with a clear sea, and as much
+wind as a sailor could pray for.  If the best part of the voyage
+is the last part, surely we had all now that we could wish.
+Every one was in the highest spirits, and the ship seemed as
+glad as any of us at getting out of her confinement.  At each
+change of the watch, those coming on deck asked those going
+below--"How does she go along?" and got for answer, the rate,
+and the customary addition--"Aye! and the Boston girls have had hold
+of the tow-rope all the watch, and can't haul half the slack in!"
+Each day the sun rose higher in the horizon, and the nights grew
+shorter; and at coming on deck each morning, there was a sensible
+change in the temperature.  The ice, too, began to melt from off
+the rigging and spars, and, except a little which remained in the
+tops and round the hounds of the lower masts, was soon gone.  As we
+left the gale behind us, the reefs were shaken out of the topsails,
+and sail made as fast as she could bear it; and every time all hands
+were sent to the halyards, a song was called for, and we hoisted
+away with a will.
+
+Sail after sail was added, as we drew into fine weather; and in
+one week after leaving Cape Horn, the long topgallant masts were
+got up, topgallant and royal yards crossed, and the ship restored
+to her fair proportions.
+
+The Southern Cross we saw no more after the first night; the
+Magellan Clouds settled lower and lower in the horizon; and so
+great was our change of latitude each succeeding night, that we
+sank some constellation in the south, and raised another in the
+northern horizon.
+
+Sunday, July 31st.  At noon we were in lat. 36° 41' S., long.
+38° 08' W.; having traversed the distance of two thousand miles,
+allowing for changes of course, in nine days.  A thousand miles
+in four days and a half!--This is equal to steam.
+
+Soon after eight o'clock, the appearance of the ship gave evidence
+that this was the first Sunday we had yet had in fine weather.
+As the sun came up clear, with the promise of a fair, warm day,
+and, as usual on Sunday, there was no work going on, all hands
+turned-to upon clearing out the forecastle.  The wet and soiled
+clothes which had accumulated there during the past month, were
+brought up on deck; the chests moved; brooms, buckets of water,
+swabs, scrubbing-brushes, and scrapers carried down, and applied,
+until the forecastle floor was as white as chalk, and everything
+neat and in order.  The bedding from the berths was then spread on
+deck, and dried, and aired; the deck-tub filled with water; and a
+grand washing begun of all the clothes which were brought up.
+Shirts, frocks, drawers, trowsers, jackets, stockings, of every
+shape and color, wet and dirty--many of them mouldy from having
+been lying a long time wet in a foul corner--these were all washed
+and scrubbed out, and finally towed overboard for half an hour;
+and then made fast in the rigging to dry.  Wet boots and shoes
+were spread out to dry in sunny places on deck; and the whole
+ship looked like a back yard on a washing day.  After we had
+done with our clothes, we began upon our own persons.  A little
+fresh water, which we had saved from our allowance, was put in
+buckets, and with soap and towels, we had what sailors call
+a fresh-water wash.  The same bucket, to be sure, had to go
+through several hands, and was spoken for by one after another,
+but as we rinsed off in salt water, pure from the ocean, and the
+fresh was used only to start the accumulated grime and blackness
+of five weeks, it was held of little consequence.
+
+We soaped down and scrubbed one another with towels and pieces
+of canvas, stripping to it; and then, getting into the head,
+threw buckets of water upon each other.  After this, came shaving,
+and combing, and brushing; and when, having spent the first part of
+the day in this way, we sat down on the forecastle, in the afternoon,
+with clean duck trowsers, and shirts on, washed, shaved, and combed,
+and looking a dozen shades lighter for it, reading, sewing, and
+talking at our ease, with a clear sky and warm sun over our heads,
+a steady breeze over the larboard quarter, studding-sails out alow
+and aloft, and all the flying kites aboard;--we felt that we had
+got back into the pleasantest part of a sailor's life.  At sundown
+the clothes were all taken down from the rigging--clean and dry--and
+stowed neatly away in our chests; and our southwesters, thick boots,
+guernsey frocks, and other accompaniments of bad weather, put out
+of the way, we hoped, for the rest of the voyage, as we expected
+to come upon the coast early in the autumn.
+
+Notwithstanding all that has been said about the beauty of a
+ship under full sail, there are very few who have ever seen
+a ship, literally, under all her sail.  A ship coming in or
+going out of port, with her ordinary sails, and perhaps two of
+three studding-sails, is commonly said to be under full sail;
+but a ship never has all her sail upon her, except when she has
+a light, steady breeze, very nearly, but not quite, dead aft,
+and so regular that it can be trusted, and is likely to last
+for some time.  Then, with all her sails, light and heavy, and
+studding-sails, on each side, alow and aloft, she is the most
+glorious moving object in the world.  Such a sight, very few,
+even some who have been at sea a great deal, have ever beheld;
+for from the deck of your own vessel you cannot see her, as you
+would a separate object.
+
+One night, while we were in these tropics, I went out to the end
+of the flying-jib-boom, upon some duty, and, having finished it,
+turned round, and lay over the boom for a long time, admiring the
+beauty of the sight before me.  Being so far out from the deck,
+I could look at the ship, as at a separate vessel;--and there rose
+up from the water, supported only by the small black hull, a pyramid
+of canvas, spreading out far beyond the hull, and towering up almost,
+as it seemed in the indistinct night air, to the clouds.  The sea
+was as still as an inland lake; the light trade-wind was gently and
+steadily breathing from astern; the dark blue sky was studded with
+the tropical stars; there was no sound but the rippling of the water
+under the stem; and the sails were spread out, wide and high;--the
+two lower studding-sails stretching, on each side, far beyond the deck;
+the topmast studding-sails, like wings to the topsails; the top-gallant
+studding-sails spreading fearlessly out above them; still higher,
+the two royal studding-sails, looking like two kites flying from
+the same string; and, highest of all, the little skysail, the apex
+of the pyramid, seeming actually to touch the stars, and to be
+out of reach of human hand.  So quiet, too, was the sea, and so
+steady the breeze, that if these sails had been sculptured marble,
+they could not have been more motionless.  Not a ripple upon the
+surface of the canvas; not even a quivering of the extreme edges
+of the sail--so perfectly were they distended by the breeze.
+I was so lost in the sight, that I forgot the presence of the
+man who came out with me, until he said, (for he, too, rough old
+man-of-war's-man as he was, had been gazing at the show,) half to
+himself, still looking at the marble sails--"How quietly they do
+their work!"
+
+The fine weather brought work with it; as the ship was to be put in
+order for coming into port.  This may give a landsman some notion
+of what is done on board ship.--All the first part of a passage is
+spent in getting a ship ready for sea, and the last part in getting
+her ready for port.  She is, as sailors say, like a lady's watch,
+always out of repair.  The new, strong sails, which we had up off
+Cape Horn, were to be sent down, and the old set, which were still
+serviceable in fine weather, to be bent in their place; all the
+rigging to be set up, fore and aft; the masts stayed; the standing
+rigging to be tarred down; lower and topmast rigging rattled down,
+fore and aft; the ship scraped, inside and out, and painted;
+decks varnished; new and neat knots, seizings and coverings
+to be fitted; and every part put in order, to look well to the
+owner's eye, on coming into Boston.  This, of course, was a long
+matter; and all hands were kept on deck at work for the whole of
+each day, during the rest of the voyage.  Sailors call this hard
+usage; but the ship must be in crack order, and "we're homeward
+bound" was the answer to everything.
+
+We went on for several days, employed in this way, nothing remarkable
+occurring; and, at the latter part of the week, fell in with the
+south-east trades, blowing about east-south-east, which brought
+them nearly two points abaft our beam.  These blew strong and
+steady, so that we hardly started a rope, until we were beyond
+their latitude.  The first day of "all hands," one of those little
+incidents occurred, which are nothing in themselves, but are great
+matters in the eyes of a ship's company, as they serve to break the
+monotony of a voyage, and afford conversation to the crew for days
+afterwards.  These small matters, too, are often interesting, as they
+show the customs and state of feeling on shipboard.
+
+In merchant vessels, the captain gives his orders as to the ship's
+work, to the mate, in a general way, and leaves the execution of
+them, with the particular ordering, to him.  This has become so fixed
+a custom, that it is like a law, and is never infringed upon by a wise
+master, unless his mate is no seaman; in which case, the captain must
+often oversee things for himself.  This, however, could not be said
+of our chief mate; and he was very jealous of any encroachment upon
+the borders of his authority.
+
+On Monday morning, the captain told him to stay the fore-topmast
+plumb.  He accordingly came forward, turned all hands to, with
+tackles on the stays and back-stays, coming up with the seizings,
+hauling here, belaying there, and full of business, standing between
+the knightheads to sight the mast,--when the captain came forward,
+and also began to give orders.  This made confusion, and the mate,
+finding that he was all aback, left his place and went aft, saying to
+the captain--
+
+"If you come forward, sir, I'll go aft.  One is enough on the forecastle." 
+
+This produced a reply, and another fierce answer; and the words flew,
+fists were doubled up, and things looked threateningly. 
+
+"I'm master of this ship." 
+
+"Yes, sir, and I'm mate of her, and know my place!  My place is
+forward, and yours is aft!" 
+
+"My place is where I choose!  I command the whole ship; and you
+are mate only so long as I choose!" 
+
+"Say the word, Capt. T., and I'm done!  I can do a man's work
+aboard!  I didn't come through the cabin windows!  If I'm not
+mate, I can be man," etc., etc.
+
+This was all fun for us, who stood by, winking at each other, and
+enjoying the contest between the higher powers.  The captain took
+the mate aft; and they had a long talk, which ended in the mate's
+returning to his duty.  The captain had broken through a custom,
+which is a part of the common-law of a ship, and without reason;
+for he knew that his mate was a sailor, and needed no help from him;
+and the mate was excusable for being angry.  Yet he was wrong, and
+the captain right.  Whatever the captain does is right, ipso facto,
+and any opposition to it is wrong, on board ship; and every officer
+and man knows this when he signs the ship's articles.
+
+It is a part of the contract.  Yet there has grown up in merchant
+vessels a series of customs, which have become a well understood
+system, and have almost the force of prescriptive law.  To be sure,
+all power is in the captain, and the officers hold their authority
+only during his will; and the men are liable to be called upon for
+any service; yet, by breaking in upon these usages, many difficulties
+have occurred on board ship, and even come into courts of justice,
+which are perfectly unintelligible to any one not acquainted with the
+universal nature and force of these customs.  Many a provocation has
+been offered, and a system of petty oppression pursued towards men,
+the force and meaning of which would appear as nothing to strangers,
+and doubtless do appear so to many "'long-shore" juries and judges.
+
+The next little diversion, was a battle on the forecastle one
+afternoon, between the mate and the steward.  They had been on
+bad terms the whole voyage; and had threatened a rupture several
+times.  This afternoon, the mate asked him for a tumbler of water,
+and he refused to get it for him, saying that he waited upon
+nobody but the captain: and here he had the custom on his side.
+But in answering, he left off "the handle to the mate's name."
+This enraged the mate, who called him a "black soger;" and at it
+they went, clenching, striking, and rolling over and over; while
+we stood by, looking on, and enjoying the fun.  The darky tried
+to butt him, but the mate got him down, and held him, the steward
+singing out, "Let me go, Mr. Brown, or there'll be blood spilt!"
+In the midst of this, the captain came on deck, separated them,
+took the steward aft, and gave him half a dozen with a rope's end.
+
+The steward tried to justify himself; but he had been heard to talk
+of spilling blood, and that was enough to earn him his flogging;
+and the captain did not choose to inquire any further.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+NARROW ESCAPES--THE EQUATOR--TROPICAL SQUALLS--A THUNDER STORM
+
+
+The same day, I met with one of those narrow escapes, which are
+so often happening in a sailor's life.  I had been aloft nearly
+all the afternoon, at work, standing for as much as an hour on
+the fore top-gallant yard, which was hoisted up, and hung only by
+the tie; when, having got through my work, I balled up my yarns,
+took my serving-board in my hand, laid hold deliberately of the
+top-gallant rigging, took one foot from the yard, and was just
+lifting the other, when the tie parted, and down the yard fell.
+I was safe, by my hold upon the rigging, but it made my heart beat
+quick.  Had the tie parted one instant sooner, or had I stood an
+instant longer on the yard, I should inevitably have been thrown
+violently from the height of ninety or a hundred feet, overboard;
+or, what is worse, upon the deck.  However, "a miss is as good
+as a mile;" a saying which sailors very often have occasion to
+use.  An escape is always a joke on board ship.  A man would be
+ridiculed who should make a serious matter of it.  A sailor knows
+too well that his life hangs upon a thread, to wish to be always
+reminded of it; so, if a man has an escape, he keeps it to himself,
+or makes a joke of it.  I have often known a man's life to be saved
+by an instant of time, or by the merest chance,--the swinging of
+a rope,--and no notice taken of it.  One of our boys, when off
+Cape Horn, reefing topsails of a dark night, and when there were
+no boats to be lowered away, and where, if a man fell overboard he
+must be left behind,--lost his hold of the reef-point, slipped from
+the foot-rope, and would have been in the water in a moment, when
+the man who was next to him on the yard caught him by the collar
+of his jacket, and hauled him up upon the yard, with--"Hold on,
+another time, you young monkey, and be d----d to you!"--and that
+was all that was heard about it.
+
+Sunday, August 7th.  Lat. 25° 59' S., long. 27° 0' W.  Spoke the
+English bark Mary-Catherine, from Bahia, bound to Calcutta.
+This was the first sail we had fallen in with, and the first
+time we had seen a human form or heard the human voice, except of
+our own number, for nearly a hundred days.  The very yo-ho-ing of
+the sailors at the ropes sounded sociably upon the ear.  She was
+an old, damaged-looking craft, with a high poop and top-gallant
+forecastle, and sawed off square, stem and stern, like a true
+English "tea-wagon," and with a run like a sugar-box.  She had
+studding-sails out alow and aloft, with a light but steady breeze,
+and her captain said he could not get more than four knots out of
+her and thought he should have a long passage.  We were going six
+on an easy bowline.
+
+The next day, about three P. M., passed a large corvette-built
+ship, close upon the wind, with royals and skysails set fore
+and aft, under English colors.  She was standing south-by-east,
+probably bound round Cape Horn.  She had men in her tops, and black
+mast-heads; heavily sparred, with sails cut to a t, and other marks
+of a man-of-war.  She sailed well, and presented a fine appearance;
+the proud, aristocratic-looking banner of St. George, the cross in
+a blood-red field, waving from the mizen.  We probably were as fine
+a sight, with our studding-sails spread far out beyond the ship
+on either side, and rising in a pyramid to royal studding-sails
+and sky-sails, burying the hull in canvas, and looking like what
+the whale-men on the Banks, under their stump top-gallant masts,
+call "a Cape Horn-er under a cloud of sail."
+
+Friday, August 12th.  At daylight made the island of Trinidad,
+situated in lat. 20° 28' S., long. 29° 08' W. At twelve M.,
+it bore N. W. 1/2 N., distant twenty-seven miles.  It was a
+beautiful day, the sea hardly ruffled by the light trades,
+and the island looking like a small blue mound rising from
+a field of glass.
+
+Such a fair and peaceful-looking spot is said to have been, for a
+long time, the resort of a band of pirates, who ravaged the tropical
+seas.
+
+Thursday, August 18th.  At three P. M., made the island of Fernando
+Naronha, lying in lat. 3° 55' S., long. 32° 35' W.; and between
+twelve o'clock Friday night and one o'clock Saturday morning,
+crossed the equator, for the fourth time since leaving Boston,
+in long. 35° W.; having been twenty-seven days from Staten
+Land--a distance, by the courses we had made, of more than
+four thousand miles.
+
+We were now to the northward of the line, and every day added to
+our latitude.  The Magellan Clouds, the last sign of South latitude,
+were sunk in the horizon, and the north star, the Great Bear,
+and the familiar signs of northern latitudes, were rising in
+the heavens.
+
+Next to seeing land, there is no sight which makes one realize
+more that he is drawing near home, than to see the same heavens,
+under which he was born, shining at night over his head.  The
+weather was extremely hot, with the usual tropical alternations
+of a scorching sun and squalls of rain; yet not a word was said
+in complaint of the heat, for we all remembered that only three or
+four weeks before we would have given nearly our all to have been
+where we now were.  We had plenty of water, too, which we caught by
+spreading an awning, with shot thrown in to make hollows.  These
+rain squalls came up in the manner usual between the tropics.--A
+clear sky; burning, vertical sun; work going lazily on, and men
+about decks with nothing but duck trowsers, checked shirts, and
+straw hats; the ship moving as lazily through the water; the man
+at the helm resting against the wheel, with his hat drawn over
+his eyes; the captain below, taking an afternoon nap; the passenger
+leaning over the taffrail, watching a dolphin following slowly in
+our wake; the sailmaker mending an old topsail on the lee side of
+the quarter-deck; the carpenter working at his bench, in the waist;
+the boys making sinnet; the spun-yarn winch whizzing round and round,
+and the men walking slowly fore and aft with their yarns.--A
+cloud rises to windward, looking a little black; the sky-sails are
+brailed down; the captain puts his head out of the companion-way,
+looks at the cloud, comes up, and begins to walk the deck.--The
+cloud spreads and comes on;--the tub of yarns, the sail, and other
+matters, are thrown below, and the sky-light and booby-hatch put
+on, and the slide drawn over the forecastle.--"Stand by the royal
+halyards;"--the man at the wheel keeps a good weather helm, so as
+not to be taken aback.  The squall strikes her.  If it is light,
+the royal yards are clewed down, and the ship keeps on her way;
+but if the squall takes strong hold, the royals are clewed up,
+fore and aft; light hands lay aloft and furl them; top-gallant
+yards clewed down, flying-jib hauled down, and the ship kept off
+before it,--the man at the helm laying out his strength to heave
+the wheel up to windward.  At the same time a drenching rain,
+which soaks one through in an instant.  Yet no one puts on a
+jacket or cap; for if it is only warm, a sailor does not mind
+a ducking; and the sun will soon be out again.  As soon as the
+force of the squall has passed, though to a common eye the ship
+would seem to be in the midst of it,--"Keep her up to her course,
+again!"--"Keep her up, sir," (answer);--"Hoist away the top-gallant
+yards!"--"Run up the flying jib!"--"Lay aloft, you boys, and loose
+the royals!"--and all sail is on her again before she is fairly
+out of the squall; and she is going on in her course.  The sun
+comes out once more, hotter than ever, dries up the decks and
+the sailors' clothes; the hatches are taken off; the sail got up
+and spread on the quarter-deck; spun-yarn winch set a whirling
+again; rigging coiled up; captain goes below; and every sign of
+an interruption is removed.
+
+These scenes, with occasional dead calms, lasting for hours, and
+sometimes for days, are fair specimens of the Atlantic tropics.
+The nights were fine; and as we had all hands all day, the watch
+were allowed to sleep on deck at night, except the man at the
+wheel, and one look-out on the forecastle.  This was not so much
+expressly allowed, as winked at.  We could do it if we did not
+ask leave.  If the look-out was caught napping, the whole watch
+was kept awake.
+
+We made the most of this permission, and stowed ourselves away
+upon the rigging, under the weather rail, on the spars, under the
+windlass, and in all the snug corners; and frequently slept out
+the watch, unless we had a wheel or a look-out.  And we were glad
+enough to get this rest; for under the "all hands" system, out of
+every other thirty-six hours, we had only four below; and even
+an hour's sleep was a gain not to be neglected.  One would have
+thought so, to have seen our watch, some nights, sleeping through
+a heavy rain.  And often have we come on deck, and finding a
+dead calm and a light, steady rain, and determined not to lose
+our sleep, have laid a coil of rigging down so as to keep us out
+of the water which was washing about decks, and stowed ourselves
+away upon it, covering a jacket over us, and slept as soundly as
+a Dutchman between two feather beds.
+
+For a week or ten days after crossing the line, we had the usual
+variety of calms, squalls, head winds, and fair winds;--at one
+time braced sharp upon the wind, with a taught bowline, and in
+an hour after, slipping quietly along, with a light breeze over
+the taffrail, and studding-sails out on both sides;--until we fell
+in with the north-east trade-winds; which we did on the afternoon of
+
+Sunday, August 28th, in lat. 12° N. The trade-wind clouds had been
+in sight for a day or two previously, and we expected to take them
+every hour.  The light southerly breeze, which had been blowing
+languidly during the first part of the day, died away toward noon,
+and in its place came puffs from the north-east, which caused us
+to take our studding-sails in and brace up; and in a couple of
+hours more, we were bowling gloriously along, dashing the spray
+far ahead and to leeward, with the cool, steady north-east trades,
+freshening up the sea, and giving us as much as we could carry
+our royals to.  These winds blew strong and steady, keeping us
+generally upon a bowline, as our course was about north-north-west;
+and sometimes, as they veered a little to the eastward, giving us
+a chance at a main top-gallant studding-sail; and sending us well
+to the northward, until--
+
+Sunday, Sept. 4th, when they left us, in lat. 22° N., long. 51° W.,
+directly under the tropic of Cancer. 
+
+For several days we lay "humbugging about" in the Horse latitudes,
+with all sorts of winds and weather, and occasionally, as we were in
+the latitude of the West Indies--a thunder storm.  It was hurricane
+month, too, and we were just in the track of the tremendous hurricane
+of 1830, which swept the North Atlantic, destroying almost everything
+before it.  The first night after the tradewinds left us, while we
+were in the latitude of the island of Cuba, we had a specimen of
+a true tropical thunder storm.  A light breeze had been blowing
+directly from aft during the first part of the night which gradually
+died away, and before midnight it was dead calm, and a heavy black
+cloud had shrouded the whole sky.  When our watch came on deck at
+twelve o'clock, it was as black as Erebus; the studding-sails were
+all taken in, and the royals furled; not a breath was stirring;
+the sails hung heavy and motionless from the yards; and the
+perfect stillness, and the darkness, which was almost palpable,
+were truly appalling.  Not a word was spoken, but every one stood
+as though waiting for something to happen.  In a few minutes the
+mate came forward; and in a low tone, which was almost a whisper,
+told us to haul down the jib.  The fore and mizen top-gallant sails
+were taken in, in the same silent manner; and we lay motionless upon
+the water, with an uneasy expectation, which, from the long suspense,
+became actually painful.  We could hear the captain walking the deck,
+but it was too dark to see anything more than one's hand before the
+face.  Soon the mate came forward again, and gave an order, in a
+low tone, to clew up the main top-gallant sail; and so infectious
+was the awe and silence, that the clewlines and buntlines were
+hauled up without any of the customary singing out at the ropes.
+An English lad and myself went up to furl it; and we had just got
+the bunt up, when the mate called out to us, something, we did
+not hear what,--but supposing it to be an order to bear-a-hand,
+we hurried, and made all fast, and came down, feeling our way among
+the rigging.  When we got down we found all hands looking aloft,
+and there, directly over where we had been standing, upon the main
+top-gallant-mast-head, was a ball of light, which the sailors name
+a corposant (corpus sancti), and which the mate had called out to
+us to look at.  They were all watching it carefully, for sailors
+have a notion that if the corposant rises in the rigging, it is
+a sign of fair weather, but if it comes lower down, there will
+be a storm.  Unfortunately, as an omen, it came down, and showed
+itself on the top-gallant yard-arm.  We were off the yard in good
+season, for it is held a fatal sign to have the pale light of the
+corposant thrown upon one's face.  As it was, the English lad did
+not feel comfortably at having had it so near him, and directly
+over his head.  In a few minutes it disappeared, and showed itself
+again on the fore top-gallant yard; and after playing about for
+some time, disappeared again; when the man on the forecastle
+pointed to it upon the flying-jib-boom-end.  But our attention
+was drawn from watching this, by the falling of some drops of
+rain and by a perceptible increase of the darkness, which seemed
+suddenly to add a new shade of blackness to the night.  In a few
+minutes, low, grumbling thunder was heard, and some random flashes
+of lightning came from the south-west.  Every sail was taken in
+but the topsails, still, no squall appeared to be coming.  A few
+puffs lifted the topsails, but they fell again to the mast, and all
+was as still as ever.  A moment more, and a terrific flash and peal
+broke simultaneously upon us, and a cloud appeared to open directly
+over our heads and let down the water in one body, like a falling
+ocean.  We stood motionless, and almost stupefied; yet nothing had
+been struck.  Peal after peal rattled over our heads, with a sound
+which seemed actually to stop the breath in the body, and the
+"speedy gleams" kept the whole ocean in a glare of light.
+The violent fall of rain lasted but a few minutes, and was
+succeeded by occasional drops and showers; but the lightning
+continued incessant for several hours, breaking the midnight
+darkness with irregular and blinding flashes.  During all which
+time there was not a breath stirring, and we lay motionless, like a
+mark to be shot at, probably the only object on the surface of the
+ocean for miles and miles.  We stood hour after hour, until our
+watch was out, and we were relieved, at four o'clock.  During all
+this time, hardly a word was spoken; no bells were struck, and the
+wheel was silently relieved.  The rain fell at intervals in heavy
+showers, and we stood drenched through and blinded by the flashes,
+which broke the Egyptian darkness with a brightness which seemed
+almost malignant; while the thunder rolled in peals, the concussion
+of which appeared to shake the very ocean.  A ship is not often
+injured by lightning, for the electricity is separated by the
+great number of points she presents, and the quantity of iron
+which she has scattered in various parts.  The electric fluid
+ran over our anchors, top-sail sheets and ties; yet no harm was
+done to us.  We went below at four o'clock, leaving things in the
+same state.  It is not easy to sleep, when the very next flash may
+tear the ship in two, or set her on fire; or where the deathlike
+calm may be broken by the blast of a hurricane, taking the masts
+out of the ship.  But a man is no sailor if he cannot sleep when
+he turns-in, and turn out when he's called.  And when, at seven
+bells, the customary "All the larboard watch, ahoy?" brought us
+on deck, it was a fine, clear, sunny morning, the ship going
+leisurely along, with a good breeze and all sail set.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+A DOUBLE-REEF-TOP-SAIL BREEZE--SCURVY--A FRIEND IN NEED--PREPARING
+FOR PORT--THE GULF STREAM
+
+
+From the latitude of the West Indies, until we got inside the Bermudas,
+where we took the westerly and south-westerly winds, which blow
+steadily off the coast of the United States early in the autumn,
+we had every variety of weather, and two or three moderate gales,
+or, as sailors call them, double-reef-topsail breezes, which came
+on in the usual manner, and of which one is a specimen of all.--A
+fine afternoon; all hands at work, some in the rigging, and others
+on deck; a stiff breeze, and ship close upon the wind, and skysails
+brailed down.--Latter part of the afternoon, breeze increases, ship
+lies over to it, and clouds look windy.  Spray begins to fly over
+the forecastle, and wets the yarns the boys are knotting;--ball
+them up and put them below.--Mate knocks off work and clears up
+decks earlier than usual, and orders a man who has been employed
+aloft to send the royal halyards over to windward, as he comes
+down.  Breast backstays hauled taught, and tackle got upon the
+martingale back-rope.--One of the boys furls the mizen royal.--Cook
+thinks there is going to be "nasty work," and has supper ready
+early.--Mate gives orders to get supper by the watch, instead of
+all hands, as usual.--While eating supper, hear the watch on deck
+taking in the royals.--Coming on deck, find it is blowing harder,
+and an ugly head sea is running.--Instead of having all hands on the
+forecastle in the dog watch, smoking, singing, and telling yarns,
+one watch goes below and turns-in, saying that it's going to be an
+ugly night, and two hours' sleep is not to be lost.
+
+Clouds look black and wild; wind rising, and ship working hard
+against a heavy sea, which breaks over the forecastle, and washes
+aft through the scuppers.  Still, no more sail is taken in, for the
+captain is a driver, and, like all drivers, very partial to his
+top-gallant sails.  A top-gallant sail, too, makes the difference
+between a breeze and a gale.  When a top-gallant sail is on a ship,
+it is only a breeze, though I have seen ours set over a reefed
+topsail, when half the bowsprit was under water, and it was up
+to a man's knees in the scuppers.  At eight bells, nothing is said
+about reefing the topsails, and the watch go below, with orders to
+"stand by for a call."  We turn-in, growling at the "old man" for
+not reefing the topsails when the watch was changed, but putting
+it off so as to call all hands, and break up a whole watch below.
+Turn-in "all standing," and keep ourselves awake, saying there is
+no use in going asleep to be waked up again.--Wind whistles on
+deck, and ship works hard, groaning and creaking, and pitching
+into a heavy head sea, which strikes against the bows, with a
+noise like knocking upon a rock.--The dim lamp in the forecastle
+swings to and fro, and things "fetch away" and go over to
+leeward.--"Doesn't that booby of a second mate ever mean to
+take in his top-gallant sails?--He'll have the sticks out of
+her soon," says old Bill, who was always growling, and, like
+most old sailors, did not like to see a ship abused.--By-and-by
+an order is given--"Aye, aye, sir!" from the forecastle;--rigging
+is heaved down on deck;--the noise of a sail is heard fluttering
+aloft, and the short, quick cry which sailors make when hauling
+upon clewlines.--"Here comes his fore-top-gallant sail in!"--We
+are wide awake, and know all that's going on as well as if we were
+on deck.--A well-known voice is heard from the mast-head singing out
+the officer of the watch to haul taught the weather brace.--"Hallo!
+There's S----- aloft to furl the sail!"--Next thing, rigging is
+heaved down directly over our heads, and a long-drawn cry and a
+rattling of hanks announce that the flying-jib has come in.--The
+second mate holds on to the main top-gallant sail until a heavy
+sea is shipped, and washes over the forecastle as though the
+whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise further aft shows
+that that sail, too, is taking in.  After this, the ship is
+more easy for a time; two bells are struck, and we try to get a
+little sleep.  By-and-by, bang, bang, bang, on the scuttle--"All
+ha-a-ands, a ho-o-y!"--We spring out of our berths, clap on a
+monkey-jacket and southwester, and tumble up the ladder.--Mate
+up before us, and on the forecastle, singing out like a roaring
+bull; the captain singing out on the quarter-deck, and the second
+mate yelling, like a hyena, in the waist.  The ship is lying over
+half upon her beam-ends; lee scuppers under water, and forecastle
+all in a smother of foam.--Rigging all let go, and washing about
+decks; topsail yards down upon the caps, and sails flapping and
+beating against the masts; and starboard watch hauling out the
+reef-tackles of the main topsail.  Our watch haul out the fore,
+and lay aloft and put two reefs into it, and reef the foresail,
+and race with the starboard watch, to see which will mast-head its
+topsail first.  All hands tally-on to the main tack, and while some
+are furling the jib, and hoisting the staysail, we mizen-topmen
+double-reef the mizen topsail and hoist it up.  All being made fast
+--"Go below, the watch!" and we turn-in to sleep out the rest of the
+time, which is perhaps an hour and a half.  During all the middle,
+and for the first part of the morning watch, it blows as hard as
+ever, but toward daybreak it moderates considerably, and we shake
+a reef out of each topsail, and set the top-gallant sails over
+them and when the watch come up, at seven bells, for breakfast,
+shake the other reefs out, turn all hands to upon the halyards,
+get the watch-tackle upon the top-gallant sheets and halyards,
+set the flying-jib, and crack on to her again.
+
+Our captain had been married only a few weeks before he left Boston;
+and, after an absence of over two years, it may be supposed he was
+not slow in carrying sail.  The mate, too, was not to be beaten by
+anybody; and the second mate, though he was afraid to press sail,
+was afraid as death of the captain, and being between two fears,
+sometimes carried on longer than any of them.  We snapped off three
+flying-jib booms in twenty-four hours, as fast as they could be
+fitted and rigged out; sprung the spritsail yard; and made nothing
+of studding-sail booms.  Beside the natural desire to get home,
+we had another reason for urging the ship on.  The scurvy had begun
+to show itself on board.  One man had it so badly as to be disabled
+and off duty, and the English lad, Ben, was in a dreadful state,
+and was daily growing worse.  His legs swelled and pained him so
+that he could not walk; his flesh lost its elasticity, so that if
+it was pressed in, it would not return to its shape; and his gums
+swelled until he could not open his mouth.  His breath, too, became
+very offensive; he lost all strength and spirit; could eat nothing;
+grew worse every day; and, in fact, unless something was done for
+him, would be a dead man in a week, at the rate at which he was
+sinking.  The medicines were all, or nearly all, gone; and if we had
+had a chest-full, they would have been of no use; for nothing but
+fresh provisions and terra firma has any effect upon the scurvy.
+This disease is not so common now as formerly; and is attributed
+generally to salt provisions, want of cleanliness, the free
+use of grease and fat (which is the reason of its prevalence
+among whalemen,) and, last of all, to laziness.  It never could
+have been from the latter cause on board our ship; nor from the
+second, for we were a very cleanly crew, kept our forecastle in
+neat order, and were more particular about washing and changing
+clothes than many better-dressed people on shore.  It was probably
+from having none but salt provisions, and possibly from our having
+run very rapidly into hot weather, after having been so long in
+the extremest cold.
+
+Depending upon the westerly winds, which prevail off the coast in
+the autumn, the captain stood well to the westward, to run inside
+of the Bermudas, and in the hope of falling in with some vessel
+bound to the West Indies or the Southern States.  The scurvy had
+spread no farther among the crew, but there was danger that it
+might; and these cases were bad ones.
+
+Sunday, Sept. 11th.  Lat. 30° 04' N., long. 63° 23' W.; the Bermudas
+bearing north-north-west, distant one hundred and fifty miles.
+The next morning, about ten o'clock, "Sail ho!" was cried on deck;
+and all hands turned up to see the stranger.  As she drew nearer,
+she proved to be an ordinary-looking hermaphrodite brig, standing
+south-south-east; and probably bound out, from the Northern States,
+to the West Indies; and was just the thing we wished to see.
+She hove-to for us, seeing that we wished to speak her; and we
+ran down to her; boom-ended our studding-sails; backed our main
+topsail, and hailed her--"Brig, ahoy!"--"Hallo!"--"Where are you
+from, pray?"--"From New York, bound to Curaçoa."--"Have you any
+fresh provisions to spare?"--"Aye, aye! plenty of them!"  We
+lowered away the quarter-boat, instantly; and the captain and
+four hands sprang in, and were soon dancing over the water,
+and alongside the brig.  In about half an hour, they returned
+with half a boat-load of potatoes and onions, and each vessel
+filled away, and kept on her course.  She proved to be the brig
+Solon, of Plymouth, from the Connecticut river, and last from New
+York, bound to the Spanish Main, with a cargo of fresh provisions,
+mules, tin bake-pans, and other notions.  The onions were genuine
+and fresh; and the mate of the brig told the men in the boat, as he
+passed the bunches over the side, that the girls had strung them
+on purpose for us the day he sailed.  We had supposed, on board,
+that a new president had been chosen, the last winter, and, just
+as we filled away, the captain hailed and asked who was president
+of the United States.  They answered, Andrew Jackson; but thinking
+that the old General could not have been elected for a third time,
+we hailed again, and they answered--Jack Downing; and left us to
+correct the mistake at our leisure.
+
+It was just dinner-time when we filled away; and the steward,
+taking a few bunches of onions for the cabin, gave the rest to us,
+with a bottle of vinegar.  We carried them forward, stowed them
+away in the forecastle, refusing to have them cooked, and ate
+them raw, with our beef and bread.  And a glorious treat they
+were.  The freshness and crispness of the raw onion, with the
+earthy taste, give it a great relish to one who has been a long
+time on salt provisions.
+
+We were perfectly ravenous after them.  It was like a scent
+of blood to a hound.  We ate them at every meal, by the dozen;
+and filled our pockets with them, to eat in our watch on deck;
+and the bunches, rising in the form of a cone, from the largest
+at the bottom, to the smallest, no larger than a strawberry,
+at the top, soon disappeared.
+
+The chief use, however, of the fresh provisions, was for the men
+with the scurvy.  One of them was able to eat, and he soon brought
+himself to, by gnawing upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time,
+was hardly able to open his mouth; and the cook took the potatoes raw,
+pounded them in a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink.  This
+he swallowed, by the tea-spoonful at a time, and rinsed it about
+his gums and throat.  The strong earthy taste and smell of this
+extract of the raw potato at first produced a shuddering through
+his whole frame, and after drinking it, an acute pain, which ran
+through all parts of his body; but knowing, by this, that it was
+taking strong hold, he persevered, drinking a spoonful every hour
+or so, and holding it a long time in his mouth; until, by the
+effect of this drink, and of his own restored hope, (for he had
+nearly given up, in despair) he became so well as to be able to
+move about, and open his mouth enough to eat the raw potatoes and
+onions pounded into a soft pulp.  This course soon restored his
+appetite and strength; and in ten days after we spoke the Solon,
+so rapid was his recovery, that, from lying helpless and almost
+hopeless in his berth, he was at the mast-head, furling a royal.
+
+With a fine south-west wind, we passed inside of the Bermudas;
+and notwithstanding the old couplet, which was quoted again and
+again by those who thought we should have one more touch of a
+storm before our voyage was up,--
+
+"If the Bermudas let you pass,
+You must beware of Hatteras--"
+
+we were to the northward of Hatteras, with good weather, and beginning
+to count, not the days, but the hours, to the time when we should be
+at anchor in Boston harbor.
+
+Our ship was in fine order, all hands having been hard at work
+upon her from daylight to dark, every day but Sunday, from the
+time we got into warm weather on this side the Cape. 
+
+It is a common notion with landsmen that a ship is in her finest
+condition when she leaves port to enter upon her voyage; and that
+she comes home, after a long absence,
+
+"With over-weathered ribs and ragged sails;
+Lean, rent and beggared by the strumpet wind." 
+
+But so far from that, unless a ship meets with some accident, or
+comes upon the coast in the dead of winter, when work cannot be
+done upon the rigging, she is in her finest order at the end of
+the voyage.  When she sails from port, her rigging is generally
+slack; the masts need staying; the decks and sides are black and
+dirty from taking in cargo; riggers' seizings and overhand knots
+in place of nice seamanlike work; and everything, to a sailor's
+eye, adrift.
+
+But on the passage home, the fine weather between the tropics is
+spent in putting the ship into the neatest order.  No merchant vessel
+looks better than an Indiaman, or a Cape Horn-er, after a long voyage;
+and many captains and mates will stake their reputation for seamanship
+upon the appearance of their ship when she hauls into the dock.
+All our standing rigging, fore and aft, was set up and tarred;
+the masts stayed; the lower and top-mast rigging rattled down,
+(or up, as the fashion now is;) and so careful were our officers
+to keep the rattlins taught and straight, that we were obliged
+to go aloft upon the ropes and shearpoles with which the rigging
+was swifted in; and these were used as jury rattlins until we got
+close upon the coast.  After this, the ship was scraped, inside and
+out, decks, masts, booms and all; a stage being rigged outside,
+upon which we scraped her down to the water-line; pounding the
+rust off the chains, bolts and fastenings.  Then, taking two days
+of calm under the line, we painted her on the outside, giving her
+open ports in her streak, and finishing off the nice work upon the
+stern, where sat Neptune in his car, holding his trident, drawn
+by sea-horses; and re-touched the gilding and coloring of the
+cornucopia which ornamented her billet-head.  The inside was then
+painted, from the skysail truck to the waterways--the yards black;
+mast-heads and tops, white; monkey-rail, black, white, and yellow;
+bulwarks, green; plank-shear, white; waterways, lead color, etc.,
+etc. The anchors and ring-bolts, and other iron work, were blackened
+with coal-tar; and the steward kept at work, polishing the brass
+of the wheel, bell, capstan, etc.  The cabin, too, was scraped,
+varnished, and painted; and the forecastle scraped and scrubbed;
+there being no need of paint and varnish for Jack's quarters.
+The decks were then scraped and varnished, and everything useless
+thrown overboard; among which the empty tar barrels were set on
+fire and thrown overboard, on a dark night, and left blazing
+astern, lighting up the ocean for miles.  Add to all this labor,
+the neat work upon the rigging;--the knots, flemish-eyes, splices,
+seizings, coverings, pointings, and graftings, which show a ship in
+crack order.  The last preparation, and which looked still more
+like coming into port, was getting the anchors over the bows,
+bending the cables, rowsing the hawsers up from between decks,
+and overhauling the deep-sea-lead-line.
+
+Thursday, September 15th.  This morning the temperature and
+peculiar appearance of the water, the quantities of gulf-weed
+floating about, and a bank of clouds lying directly before
+us, showed that we were on the border of the Gulf Stream.
+This remarkable current, running north-east, nearly across
+the ocean, is almost constantly shrouded in clouds, and is the
+region of storms and heavy seas.  Vessels often run from a clear
+sky and light wind, with all sail, at once into a heavy sea and
+cloudy sky, with double-reefed topsails.  A sailor told me that
+on a passage from Gibraltar to Boston, his vessel neared the
+Gulf Stream with a light breeze, clear sky, and studding-sails
+out, alow and aloft; while, before it, was a long line of heavy,
+black clouds, lying like a bank upon the water, and a vessel coming
+out of it, under double-reefed topsails, and with royal yards sent
+down.  As they drew near, they began to take in sail after sail,
+until they were reduced to the same condition; and, after twelve
+or fourteen hours of rolling and pitching in a heavy sea, before a
+smart gale, they ran out of the bank on the other side, and were in
+fine weather again, and under their royals and skysails.  As we drew
+into it, the sky became cloudy, the sea high, and everything had the
+appearance of the going off, or the coming on, of a storm.  It was
+blowing no more than a stiff breeze; yet the wind, being north-east,
+which is directly against the course of the current, made an ugly,
+chopping sea, which heaved and pitched the vessel about, so that
+we were obliged to send down the royal yards, and to take in our
+light sails.  At noon, the thermometer, which had been repeatedly
+lowered into the water, showed the temperature to be seventy;
+which was considerably above that of the air,--as is always
+the case in the centre of the Stream.  A lad who had been at
+work at the royal mast-head, came down upon the deck, and took
+a turn round the long-boat; and looking very pale, said he was
+so sick that he could stay aloft no longer, but was ashamed to
+acknowledge it to the officer.  He went up again, but soon gave
+out and came down, and leaned over the rail, "as sick as a lady
+passenger."
+
+He had been to sea several years, and had, he said, never been
+sick before.  He was made so by the irregular, pitching motion
+of the vessel, increased by the height to which he had been above
+the hull, which is like the fulcrum of the lever.  An old sailor,
+who was at work on the top-gallant yard, said he felt disagreeably
+all the time, and was glad, when his job was done, to get down
+into the top, or upon the deck.  Another hand was sent to the
+royal mast-head, who staid nearly an hour, but gave up.  The work
+must be done, and the mate sent me.  I did very well for some time,
+but began at length to feel very unpleasantly, though I had never
+been sick since the first two days from Boston, and had been in all
+sorts of weather and situations.  Still, I kept my place, and did
+not come down, until I had got through my work, which was more
+than two hours.  The ship certainly never acted so badly before.
+She was pitched and jerked about in all manner of ways; the sails
+seeming to have no steadying power over her.  The tapering points
+of the masts made various curves and angles against the sky overhead,
+and sometimes, in one sweep of an instant, described an arc of more
+than forty-five degrees, bringing up with a sudden jerk which made
+it necessary to hold on with both hands, and then sweeping off,
+in another long, irregular curve.  I was not positively sick,
+and came down with a look of indifference, yet was not unwilling
+to get upon the comparative terra firma of the deck.  A few hours
+more carried us through, and when we saw the sun go down, upon our
+larboard beam, in the direction of the continent of North America,
+we had left the bank of dark, stormy clouds astern, in the twilight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+SOUNDINGS--SIGHTS FROM HOME--BOSTON HARBOR--LEAVING THE SHIP
+
+
+Friday, Sept. 16th.  Lat. 38° N., long. 69° 00' W.  A fine south-west
+wind; every hour carrying us nearer in toward land.  All hands on deck
+at the dog watch, and nothing talked about, but our getting in; where
+we should make the land; whether we should arrive before Sunday;
+going to church; how Boston would look; friends; wages paid;--and
+the like.  Every one was in the best of spirits; and, the voyage
+being nearly at an end, the strictness of discipline was relaxed;
+for it was not necessary to order in a cross tone, what every one
+was ready to do with a will.
+
+The little differences and quarrels which a long voyage breeds
+on board a ship, were forgotten, and every one was friendly;
+and two men, who had been on the eve of a battle half the voyage,
+were laying out a plan together for a cruise on shore.  When the
+mate came forward, he talked to the men, and said we should be
+on George's Bank before to-morrow noon; and joked with the boys,
+promising to go and see them, and to take them down to Marblehead
+in a coach.
+
+Saturday, 17th.  The wind was light all day, which kept us back
+somewhat; but a fine breeze springing up at nightfall, we were
+running fast in toward the land.  At six o'clock we expected to
+have the ship hove-to for soundings, as a thick fog, coming up
+showed we were near them; but no order was given, and we kept
+on our way.  Eight o'clock came, and the watch went below,
+and, for the whole of the first hour, the ship was tearing on,
+with studding-sails out, alow and aloft, and the night as dark
+as a pocket.  At two bells the captain came on deck, and said a
+word to the mate, when the studding sails were hauled into the
+tops, or boom-ended, the after yards backed, the deep-sea-lead
+carried forward, and everything got ready for sounding.  A man
+on the spritsail yard with the lead, another on the cathead with
+a handful of the line coiled up, another in the fore chains,
+another in the waist, and another in the main chains, each with
+a quantity of the line coiled away in his hand.  "All ready there,
+forward?"--"Aye, aye, sir!"--"He-e-e-ave!"--"Watch! ho! watch!"
+sings out the man on the spritsail yard, and the heavy lead drops
+into the water.  "Watch! ho! watch!" bawls the man on the cat-head,
+as the last fake of the coil drops from his hand, and "Watch! ho!
+watch!" is shouted by each one as the line falls from his hold;
+until it comes to the mate, who tends the lead, and has the line
+in coils on the quarter-deck.  Eighty fathoms, and no bottom!  A
+depth as great as the height of St. Peter's!  The line is snatched
+in a block upon the swifter, and three or four men haul it in and
+coil it away.  The after yards are braced full, the studding-sails
+hauled out again, and in a few minutes more the ship had her
+whole way upon her.  At four bells, backed again, hove the lead,
+and--soundings! at sixty fathoms!  Hurrah for Yankee land!  Hand
+over hand, we hauled the lead in, and the captain, taking it to
+the light, found black mud on the bottom.
+
+Studding-sails taken in; after yards filled, and ship kept on under
+easy sail all night; the wind dying away. 
+
+The soundings on the American coast are so regular that a navigator
+knows as well where he has made land, by the soundings, as he
+would by seeing the land.  Black mud is the soundings of Block
+Island.  As you go toward Nantucket, it changes to a dark sand;
+then, sand and white shells; and on George's Banks, white sand;
+and so on.  Being off Block Island, our course was due east, to
+Nantucket Shoals, and the South Channel; but the wind died away
+and left us becalmed in a thick fog, in which we lay the whole
+of Sunday.  At noon of
+
+Sunday, 18th, Block Island bore, by calculation, N. W. 1/4 W.
+fifteen miles; but the fog was so thick all day that we could see
+nothing. 
+
+Having got through the ship's duty, and washed and shaved, we went
+below, and had a fine time overhauling our chests, laying aside the
+clothes we meant to go ashore in and throwing overboard all that were
+worn out and good for nothing.  Away went the woollen caps in which
+we had carried hides upon our heads, for sixteen months, on the
+coast of California; the duck frocks, for tarring down rigging;
+and the worn-out and darned mittens and patched woollen trowsers
+which had stood the tug of Cape Horn.
+
+We hove them overboard with a good will; for there is nothing
+like being quit of the very last appendages and remnants of
+our evil fortune.  We got our chests all ready for going ashore,
+ate the last "duff" we expected to have on board the ship Alert;
+and talked as confidently about matters on shore as though our
+anchor were on the bottom.
+
+"Who'll go to church with me a week from to-day?" 
+
+"I will," says Jack; who said aye to everything. 
+
+"Go away, salt water!" says Tom.  "As soon as I get both legs
+ashore, I'm going to shoe my heels, and button my ears behind me,
+and start off into the bush, a straight course, and not stop till
+I'm out of the sight of salt water!"
+
+"Oh! belay that!  Spin that yarn where nobody knows your filling!
+If you get once moored, stem and stern, in old B-----'s grog-shop,
+with a coal fire ahead and the bar under your lee, you won't see
+daylight for three weeks!"
+
+"No!" says Tom, "I'm going to knock off grog, and go and board
+at the Home, and see if they won't ship me for a deacon!" 
+
+"And I," says Bill, "am going to buy a quadrant and ship for
+navigator of a Hingham packet!" 
+
+These and the like jokes served to pass the time while we were
+lying waiting for a breeze to clear up the fog and send us on our
+way. 
+
+Toward night a moderate breeze sprang up; the fog however continuing
+as thick as before; and we kept on to the eastward.  About the middle
+of the first watch, a man on the forecastle sang out, in a tone which
+showed that there was not a moment to be lost,--"Hard up the helm!"
+and a great ship loomed up out of the fog, coming directly down
+upon us.  She luffed at the same moment, and we just passed one
+another; our spanker boom grazing over her quarter.  The officer
+of the deck had only time to hail, and she answered, as she went
+into the fog again, something about Bristol--probably, a whaleman
+from Bristol, Rhode Island, bound out.  The fog continued through the
+night, with a very light breeze, before which we ran to the eastward,
+literally feeling our way along.  The lead was heaved every two hours,
+and the gradual change from black mud to sand, showed that we were
+approaching Nantucket South Shoals.  On Monday morning, the increased
+depth and deep blue color of the water, and the mixture of shells and
+white sand which we brought up, upon sounding, showed that we were
+in the channel, and nearing George's; accordingly, the ship's head
+was put directly to the northward, and we stood on, with perfect
+confidence in the soundings, though we had not taken an observation
+for two days, nor seen land; and the difference of an eighth of
+a mile out of the way might put us ashore.  Throughout the day a
+provokingly light wind prevailed, and at eight o'clock, a small
+fishing schooner, which we passed, told us we were nearly abreast
+of Chatham lights.
+
+Just before midnight, a light land-breeze sprang up, which carried
+us well along; and at four o'clock, thinking ourselves to the
+northward of Race Point, we hauled upon the wind and stood
+into the bay, west-north-west, for Boston light, and commenced
+firing guns for a pilot.  Our watch went below at four o'clock,
+but could not sleep, for the watch on deck were banging away at
+the guns every few minutes.  And, indeed, we cared very little
+about it, for we were in Boston Bay; and if fortune favored us,
+we could all "sleep in" the next night, with nobody to call the
+watch every four hours.
+
+We turned out, of our own will, at daybreak, to get a sight of land. 
+
+In the grey of the morning, one or two small fishing smacks peered
+out of the mist; and when the broad day broke upon us, there lay the
+low sand-hills of Cape Cod, over our larboard quarter, and before us,
+the wide waters of Massachusetts Bay, with here and there a sail
+gliding over its smooth surface.  As we drew in toward the mouth
+of the harbor, as toward a focus, the vessels began to multiply
+until the bay seemed actually alive with sails gliding about in
+every direction; some on the wind, and others before it, as they
+were bound to or from the emporium of trade and centre of the bay.
+It was a stirring sight for us, who had been months on the ocean
+without seeing anything but two solitary sails; and over two years
+without seeing more than the three or four traders on an almost
+desolate coast.  There were the little coasters, bound to and
+from the various towns along the south shore, down in the bight
+of the bay, and to the eastward; here and there a square-rigged
+vessel standing out to seaward; and, far in the distance,
+beyond Cape Ann, was the smoke of a steamer, stretching along in
+a narrow, black cloud upon the water.  Every sight was full of
+beauty and interest.  We were coming back to our homes; and the
+signs of civilization, and prosperity, and happiness, from which
+we had been so long banished, were multiplying about us.  The high
+land of Cape Ann and the rocks and shore of Cohasset were full in
+sight, the lighthouses, standing like sentries in white before
+the harbors, and even the smoke from the chimney on the plains
+of Hingham was seen rising slowly in the morning air.  One of
+our boys was the son of a bucket-maker; and his face lighted
+up as he saw the tops of the well-known hills which surround his
+native place.  About ten o'clock a little boat came bobbing over
+the water, and put a pilot on board, and sheered off in pursuit
+of other vessels bound in.
+
+Being now within the scope of the telegraph stations, our signals
+were run up at the fore, and in half an hour afterwards, the owner
+on 'change, or in his counting-room, knew that his ship was below;
+and the landlords, runners, and sharks in Ann street learned that
+there was a rich prize for them down in the bay: a ship from round
+the Horn, with a crew to be paid off with two years' wages.
+
+The wind continuing very light, all hands were sent aloft to
+strip off the chafing gear; and battens, parcellings, roundings,
+hoops, mats, and leathers, came flying from aloft, and left the
+rigging neat and clean, stripped of all its sea bandaging.  The
+last touch was put to the vessel by painting the skysail poles;
+and I was sent up to the fore, with a bucket of white paint and
+a brush, and touched her off, from the truck to the eyes of the
+royal rigging.  At noon, we lay becalmed off the lower light-house;
+and it being about slack water, we made little progress.  A firing
+was heard in the direction of Hingham, and the pilot said there
+was a review there.
+
+The Hingham boy got wind of this, and said if the ship had been
+twelve hours sooner, he should have been down among the soldiers,
+and in the booths, and having a grand time.  As it was, we had
+little prospect of getting in before night.  About two o'clock a
+breeze sprang up ahead, from the westward, and we began beating
+up against it.  A full-rigged brig was beating in at the same
+time, and we passed one another, in our tacks, sometimes one
+and sometimes the other, working to windward, as the wind and
+tide favored or opposed.  It was my trick at the wheel from two
+till four; and I stood my last helm, making between nine hundred
+and a thousand hours which I had spent at the helms of our two
+vessels.  The tide beginning to set against us, we made slow work;
+and the afternoon was nearly spent, before we got abreast of the
+inner light.  In the meantime, several vessels were coming down,
+outward bound; among which, a fine, large ship, with yards squared,
+fair wind and fair tide, passed us like a race-horse, the men
+running out upon her yards to rig out the studding-sail booms.
+Toward sundown the wind came off in flaws, sometimes blowing
+very stiff, so that the pilot took in the royals, and then it
+died away; when, in order to get us in before the tide became
+too strong, the royals were set again.  As this kept us running
+up and down the rigging all the time, one hand was sent aloft at
+each mast-head, to stand-by to loose and furl the sails, at the
+moment of the order.  I took my place at the fore, and loosed
+and furled the royal five times between Rainsford Island and the
+Castle.  At one tack we ran so near to Rainsford Island, that,
+looking down from the royal yard, the island, with its hospital
+buildings, nice gravelled walks, and green plats, seemed to lie
+directly under our yard-arms.  So close is the channel to some of
+these islands, that we ran the end of our flying-jib-boom over
+one of the out-works of the fortifications on George's Island;
+and had an opportunity of seeing the advantages of that point as
+a fortified place; for, in working up the channel, we presented
+a fair stem and stern, for raking, from the batteries, three or
+four times.  One gun might have knocked us to pieces.
+
+We had all set our hearts upon getting up to town before night
+and going ashore, but the tide beginning to run strong against us,
+and the wind, what there was of it, being ahead, we made but little
+by weather-bowing the tide, and the pilot gave orders to cock-bill
+the anchor and overhaul the chain.  Making two long stretches,
+which brought us into the roads, under the lee of the castle,
+he clewed up the topsails, and let go the anchor; and for the
+first time since leaving San Diego,--one hundred and thirty-five
+days--our anchor was upon bottom.  In half an hour more, we were
+lying snugly, with all sails furled, safe in Boston harbor;
+our long voyage ended; the well-known scene about us; the dome
+of the State House fading in the western sky; the lights of the
+city starting into sight, as the darkness came on; and at nine
+o'clock the clangor of the bells, ringing their accustomed peals;
+among which the Boston boys tried to distinguish the well-known
+tone of the Old South.
+
+We had just done furling the sails, when a beautiful little
+pleasure-boat luffed up into the wind, under our quarter, and the
+junior partner of the firm to which our ship belonged, jumped on
+board.  I saw him from the mizen topsail yard, and knew him well. 
+
+He shook the captain by the hand, and went down into the cabin,
+and in a few moments came up and inquired of the mate for me. 
+
+The last time I had seen him, I was in the uniform of an undergraduate
+of Harvard College, and now, to his astonishment, there came down
+from aloft a "rough alley" looking fellow, with duck trowsers and
+red shirt, long hair, and face burnt as black as an Indian's.
+He shook me by the hand, congratulated me upon my return and my
+appearance of health and strength, and said my friends were all
+well.  I thanked him for telling me what I should not have dared
+to ask; and if--
+
+"the first bringer of unwelcome news
+Hath but a losing office; and his tongue
+Sounds ever after like a sullen bell--"
+
+certainly I shall ever remember this man and his words with
+pleasure. 
+
+The captain went up to town in the boat with Mr. H-----, and left
+us to pass another night on board ship, and to come up with the
+morning's tide under command of the pilot. 
+
+So much did we feel ourselves to be already at home, in anticipation,
+that our plain supper of hard bread and salt beef was barely touched;
+and many on board, to whom this was the first voyage, could scarcely
+sleep.  As for myself, by one of those anomalous changes of feeling
+of which we are all the subjects, I found that I was in a state
+of indifference, for which I could by no means account.  A year
+before, while carrying hides on the coast, the assurance that in a
+twelvemonth we should see Boston, made me half wild; but now that I
+was actually there, and in sight of home, the emotions which I had
+so long anticipated feeling, I did not find, and in their place
+was a state of very nearly entire apathy.  Something of the same
+experience was related to me by a sailor whose first voyage was
+one of five years upon the North-west Coast.  He had left home,
+a lad, and after several years of very hard and trying experience,
+found himself homeward bound; and such was the excitement of his
+feelings that, during the whole passage, he could talk and think
+of nothing else but his arrival, and how and when he should jump
+from the vessel and take his way directly home.  Yet when the vessel
+was made fast to the wharf and the crew dismissed, he seemed suddenly
+to lose all feeling about the matter.  He told me that he went below
+and changed his dress; took some water from the scuttle-butt and
+washed himself leisurely; overhauled his chest, and put his clothes
+all in order; took his pipe from its place, filled it, and sitting
+down upon his chest, smoked it slowly for the last time.  Here he
+looked round upon the forecastle in which he had spent so many
+years, and being alone and his shipmates scattered, he began to
+feel actually unhappy.  Home became almost a dream; and it was not
+until his brother (who had heard of the ship's arrival) came down
+into the forecastle and told him of things at home, and who were
+waiting there to see him, that he could realize where he was, and
+feel interest enough to put him in motion toward that place for
+which he had longed, and of which he had dreamed, for years.
+There is probably so much of excitement in prolonged expectation,
+that the quiet realizing of it produces a momentary stagnation of
+feeling as well as of effort.  It was a good deal so with me.  The
+activity of preparation, the rapid progress of the ship, the first
+making land, the coming up the harbor, and old scenes breaking upon
+the view, produced a mental as well as bodily activity, from which
+the change to a perfect stillness, when both expectation and the
+necessity of labor failed, left a calmness, almost of indifference,
+from which I must be roused by some new excitement.  And the next
+morning, when all hands were called, and we were busily at work,
+clearing the decks, and getting everything in readiness for going up
+to the wharves,--loading the guns for a salute, loosing the sails,
+and manning the windlass--mind and body seemed to wake together.
+
+About ten o'clock, a sea-breeze sprang up, and the pilot gave orders
+to get the ship under weigh.  All hands manned the windlass, and the
+long-drawn "Yo, heave, ho!" which we had last heard dying away
+among the desolate hills of San Diego, soon brought the anchor to
+the bows; and, with a fair wind and tide, a bright sunny morning,
+royals and sky-sails set, ensign, streamer, signals, and pennant,
+flying, and with our guns firing, we came swiftly and handsomely
+up to the city.  Off the end of the wharf, we rounded-to and let
+go our anchor; and no sooner was it on the bottom, than the decks
+were filled with people: custom-house officers; Topliff's agent,
+to inquire for news; others, inquiring for friends on board, or
+left upon the coast; dealers in grease, besieging the galley to
+make a bargain with the cook for his slush; "loafers" in general;
+and last and chief, boarding-house runners, to secure their men.
+
+Nothing can exceed the obliging disposition of these runners,
+and the interest they take in a sailor returned from a long voyage
+with a plenty of money.  Two or three of them, at different times,
+took me by the hand; remembered me perfectly; were quite sure I
+had boarded with them before I sailed; were delighted to see me
+back; gave me their cards; had a hand-cart waiting on the wharf,
+on purpose to take my things up: would lend me a hand to get my
+chest ashore; bring a bottle of grog on board if we did not haul
+in immediately,--and the like.  In fact, we could hardly get clear
+of them, to go aloft and furl the sails.  Sail after sail, for the
+hundredth time, in fair weather and in foul, we furled now for
+the last time together, and came down and took the warp ashore,
+manned the capstan, and with a chorus which waked up half the
+North End, and rang among the buildings in the dock, we hauled
+her in to the wharf.  Here, too, the landlords and runners were
+active and ready, taking a bar to the capstan, lending a hand at
+the ropes, laughing and talking and telling the news.  The city
+bells were just ringing one when the last turn was made fast,
+and the crew dismissed; and in five minutes more, not a soul
+was left on board the good ship Alert, but the old ship-keeper,
+who had come down from the counting-house to take charge of her.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUDING CHAPTER
+
+
+
+I trust that they who have followed me to the end of my narrative,
+will not refuse to carry their attention a little farther, to the
+concluding remarks which I here present to them.
+
+This chapter is written after the lapse of a considerable time since
+the end of my voyage, and after a return to my former pursuits;
+and in it I design to offer those views of what may be done for
+seamen, and of what is already doing, which I have deduced from
+my experiences, and from the attention which I have since gladly
+given to the subject.
+
+The romantic interest which many take in the sea, and in those
+who live upon it, may be of use in exciting their attention to
+this subject, though I cannot but feel sure that all who have
+followed me in my narrative must be convinced that the sailor has
+no romance in his every-day life to sustain him, but that it is
+very much the same plain, matter-of-fact drudgery and hardship,
+which would be experienced on shore.  If I have not produced
+this conviction, I have failed in persuading others of what my
+own experience has most fully impressed upon myself.
+
+There is a witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the
+mere sight of a ship, and the sailor's dress, especially to a young
+mind, which has done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, than
+all the press-gangs of Europe.  I have known a young man with such
+a passion for the sea, that the very creaking of a block stirred up
+his imagination so that he could hardly keep his feet on dry ground;
+and many are the boys, in every seaport, who are drawn away, as by an
+almost irresistible attraction, from their work and schools, and hang
+about the decks and yards of vessels, with a fondness which, it is
+plain, will have its way.  No sooner, however, has the young sailor
+begun his new life in earnest, than all this fine drapery falls off,
+and he learns that it is but work and hardship, after all.  This is
+the true light in which a sailor's life is to be viewed; and if
+in our books, and anniversary speeches, we would leave out much
+that is said about "blue water," "blue jackets," "open hearts,"
+"seeing God's hand on the deep," and so forth, and take this up
+like any other practical subject, I am quite sure we should do full
+as much for those we wish to benefit.  The question is, what can
+be done for sailors, as they are,--men to be fed, and clothed,
+and lodged, for whom laws must be made and executed, and who are
+to be instructed in useful knowledge, and, above all, to be brought
+under religious influence and restraint?  It is upon these topics
+that I wish to make a few observations.
+
+In the first place, I have no fancies about equality on board ship,
+It is a thing out of the question, and certainly, in the present
+state of mankind, not to be desired.  I never knew a sailor who
+found fault with the orders and ranks of the service; and if I
+expected to pass the rest of my life before the mast, I would not
+wish to have the power of the captain diminished an iota.  It is
+absolutely necessary that there should be one head and one voice,
+to control everything, and be responsible for everything.  There are
+emergencies which require the instant exercise of extreme power.
+These emergencies do not allow of consultation; and they who would
+be the captain's constituted advisers might be the very men over
+whom he would be called upon to exert his authority.  It has been
+found necessary to vest in every government, even the most democratic,
+some extraordinary, and, at first sight, alarming powers; trusting in
+public opinion, and subsequent accountability to modify the exercise
+of them.  These are provided to meet exigencies, which all hope
+may never occur, but which yet by possibility may occur, and if
+they should, and there were no power to meet them instantly,
+there would be an end put to the government at once.  So it is with
+the authority of the shipmaster.  It will not answer to say that he
+shall never do this and that thing, because it does not seem always
+necessary and advisable that it should be done.  He has great cares
+and responsibilities; is answerable for everything; and is subject
+to emergencies which perhaps no other man exercising authority
+among civilized people is subject to.  Let him, then, have powers
+commensurate with his utmost possible need; only let him be held
+strictly responsible for the exercise of them.  Any other course
+would be injustice, as well as bad policy. 
+
+In the treatment of those under his authority, the captain
+is amenable to the common law, like any other person.  He is
+liable at common law for murder, assault and battery, and other
+offences; and in addition to this, there is a special statute of
+the United States which makes a captain or other officer liable
+to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, and to
+a fine not exceeding a thousand dollars, for inflicting any
+cruel punishment upon, withholding food from, or in any other
+way maltreating a seaman.  This is the state of the law on the
+subject; while the relation in which the parties stand, and the
+peculiar necessities, excuses, and provocations arising from
+that relation, are merely circumstances to be considered in each
+case.  As to the restraints upon the master's exercise of power,
+the laws themselves seem, on the whole, to be sufficient.  I do
+not see that we are in need, at present, of more legislation on
+the subject.  The difficulty lies rather in the administration
+of the laws; and this is certainly a matter that deserves great
+consideration, and one of no little embarrassment.
+
+In the first place, the courts have said that public policy requires
+the power of the master and officers should be sustained.  Many lives
+and a great amount of property are constantly in their hands, for which
+they are strictly responsible.  To preserve these, and to deal justly
+by the captain, and not lay upon him a really fearful responsibility,
+and then tie up his hands, it is essential that discipline should
+be supported.  In the second place, there is always great allowance
+to be made for false swearing and exaggeration by seamen, and for
+combinations among them against their officers; and it is to be
+remembered that the latter have often no one to testify on their
+side.  These are weighty and true statements, and should not be lost
+sight of by the friends of seamen.  On the other hand, sailors make
+many complaints, some of which are well founded.
+
+On the subject of testimony, seamen labor under a difficulty full as
+great as that of the captain.  It is a well-known fact, that they are
+usually much better treated when there are passengers on board. 
+
+The presence of passengers is a restraint upon the captain,
+not only from his regard to their feelings and to the estimation
+in which they may hold him, but because he knows they will be
+influential witnesses against him if he is brought to trial.
+Though officers may sometimes be inclined to show themselves off
+before passengers, by freaks of office and authority, yet cruelty
+they would hardly dare to be guilty of.  It is on long and distant
+voyages, where there is no restraint upon the captain, and none
+but the crew to testify against him, that sailors need most the
+protection of the law.  On such voyages as these, there are many
+cases of outrageous cruelty on record, enough to make one heartsick,
+and almost disgusted with the sight of man; and many, many more,
+which have never come to light, and never will be known, until the
+sea shall give up its dead.  Many of these have led to mutiny and
+piracy,--stripe for stripe, and blood for blood.  If on voyages of
+this description the testimony of seamen is not to be received in
+favor of one another, or too great a deduction is made on account
+of their being seamen, their case is without remedy; and the captain,
+knowing this, will be strengthened in that disposition to tyrannize
+which the possession of absolute power, without the restraints of
+friends and public opinion, is too apt to engender.
+
+It is to be considered, also, that the sailor comes into court
+under very different circumstances from the master.  He is thrown
+among landlords, and sharks of all descriptions; is often led to
+drink freely; and comes upon the stand unaided, and under a certain
+cloud of suspicion as to his character and veracity.  The captain,
+on the other hand, is backed by the owners and insurers, and has
+an air of greater respectability; though, after all, he may have
+but a little better education than the sailor, and sometimes,
+(especially among those engaged in certain voyages that I could
+mention) a very hackneyed conscience.
+
+These are the considerations most commonly brought up on the
+subject of seamen's evidence; and I think it cannot but be obvious
+to every one that here, positive legislation would be of no manner
+of use.  There can be no rule of law regulating the weight to be
+given to seamen's evidence.  It must rest in the mind of the judge
+and jury; and no enactment or positive rule of court could vary the
+result a hair, in any one case.  The effect of a sailor's testimony
+in deciding a case must depend altogether upon the reputation of
+the class to which he belongs, and upon the impression he himself
+produces in court by his deportment, and by those infallible marks
+of character which always tell upon a jury.
+
+In fine, after all the well-meant and specious projects that have
+been brought forward, we seem driven back to the belief, that the
+best means of securing a fair administration of the laws made for
+the protection of seamen, and certainly the only means which can
+create any important change for the better, is the gradual one of
+raising the intellectual and religious character of the sailor,
+so that as an individual and as one of a class, he may, in the
+first instance, command the respect of his officers, and if any
+difficulty should happen, may upon the stand carry that weight
+which an intelligent and respectable man of the lower class almost
+always does with a jury.  I know there are many men who, when a
+few cases of great hardship occur, and it is evident that there
+is an evil somewhere, think that some arrangement must be made,
+some law passed, or some society got up, to set all right at once.
+On this subject there can be no call for any such movement; on the
+contrary, I fully believe that any public and strong action would
+do harm, and that we must be satisfied to labor in the less easy
+and less exciting task of gradual improvement, and abide the issue
+of things working slowly together for good.
+
+Equally injudicious would be any interference with the economy
+of the ship.  The lodging, food, hours of sleep, etc., are all
+matters which, though capable of many changes for the better,
+must yet be left to regulate themselves.  And I am confident that
+there will be, and that there is now a gradual improvement in all
+such particulars.  The forecastles of most of our ships are small,
+black, and wet holes, which few landsmen would believe held a crew
+of ten or twelve men on a voyage of months or years; and often,
+indeed in most cases, the provisions are not good enough to make
+a meal anything more than a necessary part of a day's duty;(1)
+
+---------------
+1. I am not sure that I have stated, in the course of my narrative,
+the manner in which sailors eat, on board ship.  There are neither
+tables, knives, forks, nor plates, in a forecastle; but the kid
+(a wooden tub, with iron hoops) is placed on the floor and the
+crew sit round it, and each man cuts for himself with the common
+jack-knife or sheath-knife, that he carries about him.  They drink
+their tea out of tin pots, holding little less than a quart each.
+
+These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed,
+may be considered matters of choice.  Sailors, in our merchantmen,
+furnish their own eating utensils, as they do many of the instruments
+which they use in the ship's work, such as knives, palms and needles,
+marline-spikes, rubbers, etc. And considering their mode of life
+in other respects, the little time they would have for laying and
+clearing away a table with its apparatus, and the room it would take
+up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of their meals,
+consisting generally of only one piece of meat,--it is certainly
+a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually kept
+perfectly clean, a neat and simple one.  I had supposed these
+things to be generally known, until I heard, a few months ago,
+a lawyer of repute, who has had a good deal to do with marine
+cases, ask a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had "got up
+from table" when a certain thing happened.
+---------------
+
+and on the score of sleep, I fully believe that the lives of
+merchant seamen are shortened by the want of it.  I do not refer
+to those occasions when it is necessarily broken in upon; but,
+for months, during fine weather, in many merchantmen, all hands
+are kept, throughout the day, and, then, there are eight hours on
+deck for one watch each night.  Thus it is usually the case that
+at the end of a voyage, where there has been the finest weather,
+and no disaster, the crew have a wearied and worn-out appearance.
+They never sleep longer than four hours at a time, and are seldom
+called without being really in need of more rest.  There is no one
+thing that a sailor thinks more of as a luxury of life on shore,
+than a whole night's sleep.  Still, all these things must be left
+to be gradually modified by circumstances.
+
+Whenever hard cases occur, they should be made known, and masters
+and owners should be held answerable, and will, no doubt, in time,
+be influenced in their arrangements and discipline by the increased
+consideration in which sailors are held by the public.
+
+It is perfectly proper that the men should live in a different
+part of the vessel from the officers; and if the forecastle is made
+large and comfortable, there is no reason why the crew should not
+live there as well as in any other part.  In fact, sailors prefer
+the forecastle.  It is their accustomed place, and in it they are
+out of the sight and hearing of their officers.
+
+As to their food and sleep, there are laws, with heavy penalties,
+requiring a certain amount of stores to be on board, and safely
+stowed; and, for depriving the crew unnecessarily of food or
+sleep, the captain is liable at common law, as well as under
+the statute before referred to.  Farther than this, it would
+not be safe to go.
+
+The captain must be the judge when it is necessary to keep his
+crew from their sleep; and sometimes a retrenching, not of the
+necessaries, but of some of the little niceties of their meals,
+as, for instance, duff on Sunday, may be a mode of punishment,
+though I think generally an injudicious one.
+
+I could not do justice to this subject without noticing one part
+of the discipline of a ship, which has been very much discussed
+of late, and has brought out strong expressions of indignation from
+many,--I mean the infliction of corporal punishment.  Those who have
+followed me in my narrative will remember that I was witness to an
+act of great cruelty inflicted upon my own shipmates; and indeed
+I can sincerely say that the simple mention of the word flogging,
+brings up in me feelings which I can hardly control.  Yet, when the
+proposition is made to abolish it entirely and at once; to prohibit
+the captain from ever, under any circumstances, inflicting corporal
+punishment; I am obliged to pause, and, I must say, to doubt
+exceedingly the expediency of making any positive enactment which
+shall have that effect.  If the design of those who are writing
+on this subject is merely to draw public attention to it, and to
+discourage the practice of flogging, and bring it into disrepute,
+it is well; and, indeed, whatever may be the end they have in view,
+the mere agitation of the question will have that effect, and,
+so far, must do good.  Yet I should not wish to take the command
+of a ship to-morrow, running my chance of a crew, as most masters
+must, and know, and have my crew know, that I could not, under any
+circumstances, inflict even moderate chastisement.  I should trust
+that I might never have to resort to it; and, indeed, I scarcely
+know what risk I would not run, and to what inconvenience I would
+not subject myself, rather than do so.  Yet not to have the power of
+holding it up in terrorem, and indeed of protecting myself, and all
+under my charge, by it, if some extreme case should arise, would be
+a situation I should not wish to be placed in myself, or to take
+the responsibility of placing another in.
+
+Indeed, the difficulties into which masters and officers are
+liable to be thrown, are not sufficiently considered by many
+whose sympathies are easily excited by stories, frequent enough,
+and true enough of outrageous abuse of this power.  It is to
+be remembered that more than three-fourths of the seamen in our
+merchant vessels are foreigners.  They are from all parts of the
+world.  A great many from the north of Europe, beside Frenchmen,
+Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, men from all parts of the
+Mediterranean, together with Lascars, Negroes, and, perhaps worst
+of all, the off-casts of British men-of-war, and men from our own
+country who have gone to sea because they could not be permitted
+to live on land.
+
+As things now are, many masters are obliged to sail without knowing
+anything of their crews, until they get out at sea.  There may be
+pirates or mutineers among them; and one bad man will often infect
+all the rest; and it is almost certain that some of them will be
+ignorant foreigners, hardly understanding a word of our language,
+accustomed all their lives to no influence but force, and perhaps
+nearly as familiar with the use of the knife as with that of the
+marline-spike.  No prudent master, however peaceably inclined,
+would go to sea without his pistols and handcuffs.  Even with
+such a crew as I have supposed, kindness and moderation would be
+the best policy, and the duty of every conscientious man; and the
+administering of corporal punishment might be dangerous, and of
+doubtful use.  But the question is not, what a captain ought
+generally to do, but whether it shall be put out of the power of
+every captain, under any circumstances, to make use of, even
+moderate, chastisement.  As the law now stands, a parent may
+correct moderately his child, and the master his apprentice;
+and the case of the shipmaster has been placed upon the same
+principle.  The statutes, and the common law as expounded in the
+decisions of courts, and in the books of commentators, are express
+and unanimous to this point, that the captain may inflict moderate
+corporal chastisement, for a reasonable cause.  If the punishment
+is excessive, or the cause not sufficient to justify it, he is
+answerable; and the jury are to determine, by their verdict in
+each case, whether, under all the circumstances, the punishment
+was moderate, and for a justifiable cause.
+
+This seems to me to be as good a position as the whole subject
+can be left in.  I mean to say, that no positive enactment, going
+beyond this, is needed, or would be a benefit either to masters
+or men, in the present state of things.  This again would seem to
+be a case which should be left to the gradual working of its own
+cure.  As seamen improve, punishment will become less necessary;
+and as the character of officers is raised, they will be less
+ready to inflict it; and, still more, the infliction of it upon
+intelligent and respectable men, will be an enormity which will
+not be tolerated by public opinion, and by juries, who are the
+pulse of the body politic.  No one can have a greater abhorrence
+of the infliction of such punishment than I have, and a stronger
+conviction that severity is bad policy with a crew; yet I would
+ask every reasonable man whether he had not better trust to the
+practice becoming unnecessary and disreputable; to the measure
+of moderate chastisement and a justifiable cause being better
+understood, and thus, the act becoming dangerous, and in course
+of time to be regarded as an unheard-of barbarity--than to take
+the responsibility of prohibiting it, at once, in all cases,
+and in what ever degree, by positive enactment?
+
+There is, however, one point connected with the administration of
+justice to seamen, to which I wish seriously to call the attention
+of those interested in their behalf, and, if possible, also of
+some of those concerned in that administration.  This is, the
+practice which prevails of making strong appeals to the jury in
+mitigation of damages, or to the judge, after a verdict has been
+rendered against a captain or officer, for a lenient sentence,
+on the grounds of their previous good character, and of their
+being poor, and having friends and families depending upon them
+for support.  These appeals have been allowed a weight which is
+almost incredible, and which, I think, works a greater hardship
+upon seamen than any one other thing in the laws, or the execution
+of them.  Notwithstanding every advantage the captain has over the
+seaman in point of evidence, friends, money, and able counsel,
+it becomes apparent that he must fail in his defence.  An appeal
+is then made to the jury, if it is a civil action, or to the judge
+for a mitigated sentence, if it is a criminal prosecution, on the two
+grounds I have mentioned.  The same form is usually gone through in
+every case.  In the first place, as to the previous good character of
+the party.  Witnesses are brought from the town in which he resides,
+to testify to his good character, and to his unexceptionable conduct
+when on shore.  They say that he is a good father, or husband, or son,
+or neighbor, and that they never saw in him any signs of a cruel
+or tyrannical disposition.  I have even known evidence admitted
+to show the character he bore when a boy at school.  The owners
+of the vessel, and other merchants, and perhaps the president of
+the insurance company, are then introduced; and they testify to
+his correct deportment, express their confidence in his honesty,
+and say that they have never seen anything in his conduct to
+justify a suspicion of his being capable of cruelty or tyranny.
+This evidence is then put together, and great stress is laid upon
+the extreme respectability of those who give it.  They are the
+companions and neighbors of the captain, it is said,--men who know
+him in his business and domestic relations, and who knew him in
+his early youth.  They are also men of the highest standing in the
+community, and who, as the captain's employers, must be supposed
+to know his character.  This testimony is then contrasted with
+that of some half dozen obscure sailors, who, the counsel will
+not forget to add, are exasperated against the captain because
+he has found it necessary to punish them moderately, and who
+have combined against him, and if they have not fabricated a
+story entirely, have at least so exaggerated it, that little
+confidence can be placed in it.
+
+The next thing to be done is to show to the court and jury that the
+captain is a poor man, and has a wife and family, or other friends,
+depending upon him for support; that if he is fined, it will only be
+taking bread from the mouths of the innocent and helpless, and laying
+a burden upon them which their whole lives will not be able to work
+off; and that if he is imprisoned, the confinement, to be sure,
+he will have to bear, but the distress consequent upon the cutting
+him off from his labor and means of earning his wages, will fall
+upon a poor wife and helpless children, or upon an infirm parent.
+These two topics, well put, and urged home earnestly, seldom fail
+of their effect.
+
+In deprecation of this mode of proceeding, and in behalf of men
+who I believe are every day wronged by it, I would urge a few
+considerations which seem to me to be conclusive. 
+
+First, as to the evidence of the good character the captain sustains
+on shore.  It is to be remembered that masters of vessels have usually
+been brought up in a forecastle; and upon all men, and especially upon
+those taken from lower situations, the conferring of absolute power is
+too apt to work a great change.  There are many captains whom I know
+to be cruel and tyrannical men at sea, who yet, among their friends,
+and in their families, have never lost the reputation they bore in
+childhood.  In fact, the sea-captain is seldom at home, and when
+he is, his stay is short, and during the continuance of it he is
+surrounded by friends who treat him with kindness and consideration,
+and he has everything to please, and at the same time to restrain
+him.  He would be a brute indeed, if, after an absence of months
+or years, during his short stay, so short that the novelty and
+excitement of it has hardly time to wear off, and the attentions
+he receives as a visitor and stranger hardly time to slacken,--if,
+under such circumstances, a townsman or neighbor would be justified
+in testifying against his correct and peaceable deportment.  With
+the owners of the vessel, also, to which he is attached, and among
+merchants and insurers generally, he is a very different man from what
+he may be at sea, when his own master, and the master of everybody
+and everything about him.  He knows that upon such men, and their
+good opinion of him, he depends for his bread.  So far from their
+testimony being of any value in determining what his conduct would
+be at sea, one would expect that the master who would abuse and
+impose upon a man under his power, would be the most compliant
+and deferential to his employers at home.
+
+As to the appeal made in the captain's behalf on the ground of
+his being poor and having persons depending upon his labor for
+support, the main and fatal objection to it is, that it will
+cover every case of the kind, and exempt nearly the whole body
+of masters and officers from the punishment the law has provided
+for them.  There are very few, if any masters or other officers of
+merchantmen in our country, who are not poor men, and having either
+parents, wives, children, or other relatives, depending mainly or
+wholly upon their exertions for support in life.  Few others follow
+the sea for subsistence.  Now if this appeal is to have weight with
+courts in diminishing the penalty the law would otherwise inflict,
+is not the whole class under a privilege which will, in a degree,
+protect it in wrong-doing?  It is not a thing that happens now and
+then.  It is the invariable appeal, the last resort, of counsel,
+when everything else has failed.  I have known cases of the most
+flagrant nature, where after every effort has been made for the
+captain, and yet a verdict rendered against him, and all other
+hope failed, this appeal has been urged, and with such success
+that the punishment has been reduced to something little more
+than nominal, the court not seeming to consider that it might be
+made in almost every such case that could come before them.  It is
+a little singular, too, that it seems to be confined to cases
+of shipmasters and officers.  No one ever heard of a sentence,
+for an offence committed on shore, being reduced by the court
+on the ground of the prisoner's poverty, and the relation in
+which he may stand to third persons.  On the contrary, it had
+been thought that the certainty that disgrace and suffering will
+be brought upon others as well as himself, is one of the chief
+restraints upon the criminally disposed.  Besides, this course
+works a peculiar hardship in the case of the sailor.  For if
+poverty is the point in question, the sailor is the poorer of the
+two; and if there is a man on earth who depends upon whole limbs
+and an unbroken spirit for support, it is the sailor.  He, too,
+has friends to whom his hard earnings may be a relief, and whose
+hearts will bleed at any cruelty or indignity practised upon him.
+Yet I never knew this side of the case to be once adverted to in
+these arguments addressed to the leniency of the court, which are
+now so much in vogue; and certainly they are never allowed a moment's
+consideration when a sailor is on trial for revolt, or for an injury
+done to an officer.  Notwithstanding the many difficulties which
+lie in a seaman's way in a court of justice, presuming that they
+will be modified in time, there would be little to complain of,
+were it not for these two appeals.
+
+It is no cause of complaint that the testimony of seamen against
+their officers is viewed with suspicion, and that great allowance is
+made for combinations and exaggeration.  On the contrary, it is the
+judge's duty to charge the jury on these points strongly.  But there
+is reason for objection, when, after a strict cross-examination of
+witnesses, after the arguments of counsel, and the judge's charge,
+a verdict is found against the master, that the court should allow
+the practice of hearing appeals to its lenity, supported solely by
+evidence of the captain's good conduct when on shore, (especially
+where the case is one in which no evidence but that of sailors could
+have been brought against the accused), and then, on this ground,
+and on the invariable claims of the wife and family, be induced
+to cut down essentially the penalty imposed by a statute made
+expressly for masters and officers of merchantmen, and for no
+one else.
+
+There are many particulars connected with the manning of vessels,
+the provisions given to crews, and the treatment of them while at
+sea, upon which there might be a good deal said; but as I have,
+for the most part, remarked upon them as they came up in the course
+of my narrative, I will offer nothing further now, except on the
+single point of the manner of shipping men.  This, it is well
+known, is usually left entirely to the shipping-masters, and is
+a cause of a great deal of difficulty, which might be remedied
+by the captain, or owner, if he has any knowledge of seamen,
+attending to it personally.  One of the members of the firm to
+which our ship belonged, Mr. S-----, had been himself a master of
+a vessel, and generally selected the crew from a number sent down
+to him from the shipping-office.  In this way he almost always
+had healthy, serviceable, and respectable men; for any one who
+has seen much of sailors can tell pretty well at first sight,
+by a man's dress, countenance, and deportment, what he would
+be on board ship.  This same gentleman was also in the habit of
+seeing the crew together, and speaking to them previously to their
+sailing.  On the day before our ship sailed, while the crew were
+getting their chests and clothes on board, he went down into the
+forecastle and spoke to them about the voyage, the clothing they
+would need, the provision he had made for them, and saw that they
+had a lamp and a few other conveniences.  If owners or masters
+would more generally take the same pains, they would often save
+their crews a good deal of inconvenience, beside creating a sense
+of satisfaction and gratitude, which makes a voyage begin under
+good auspices, and goes far toward keeping up a better state of
+feeling throughout its continuance.
+
+It only remains for me now to speak of the associated public efforts
+which have been making of late years for the good of seamen: a far
+more agreeable task than that of finding fault, even where fault
+there is.  The exertions of the general association, called the
+American Seamen's Friend Society, and of the other smaller
+societies throughout the Union, have been a true blessing
+to the seaman; and bid fair, in course of time, to change the
+whole nature of the circumstances in which he is placed, and give
+him a new name, as well as a new character.  These associations
+have taken hold in the right way, and aimed both at making the
+sailor's life more comfortable and creditable, and at giving him
+spiritual instruction.  Connected with these efforts, the spread of
+temperance among seamen, by means of societies, called, in their own
+nautical language, Windward-Anchor Societies, and the distribution
+of books; the establishment of Sailors' Homes, where they can be
+comfortably and cheaply boarded, live quietly and decently, and be
+in the way of religious services, reading and conversation; also the
+institution of Savings Banks for Seamen; the distribution of tracts
+and Bibles;--are all means which are silently doing a great work for
+this class of men.  These societies make the religious instruction
+of seamen their prominent object.  If this is gained, there is no
+fear but that all other things necessary will be added unto them.
+A sailor never becomes interested in religion, without immediately
+learning to read, if he did not know how before; and regular habits,
+forehandedness (if I may use the word) in worldly affairs, and hours
+reclaimed from indolence and vice, which follow in the wake of the
+converted man, make it sure that he will instruct himself in the
+knowledge necessary and suitable to his calling.  The religious
+change is the great object.  If this is secured, there is no fear
+but that knowledge of things of the world will come in fast enough.
+With the sailor, as with all other men in fact, the cultivation of the
+intellect, and the spread of what is commonly called useful knowledge,
+while religious instruction is neglected, is little else than changing
+an ignorant sinner into an intelligent and powerful one.  That sailor
+upon whom, of all others, the preaching of the Cross is least likely
+to have effect, is the one whose understanding has been cultivated,
+while his heart has been left to its own devices.  I fully believe that
+those efforts which have their end in the intellectual cultivation of
+the sailor; in giving him scientific knowledge; putting it in his
+power to read everything, without securing, first of all, a right
+heart which shall guide him in judgment; in giving him political
+information, and interesting him in newspapers;--an end in the
+furtherance of which he is exhibited at ladies' fairs and public
+meetings, and complimented for his gallantry and generosity,--are
+all doing a harm which the labors of many faithful men cannot undo.
+
+The establishment of Bethels in most of our own seaports, and in
+many foreign ports frequented by our vessels, where the gospel is
+regularly preached and the opening of "Sailors' Homes," which I have
+before mentioned, where there are usually religious services and other
+good influences, are doing a vast deal in this cause.  But it is to be
+remembered that the sailor's home is on the deep.  Nearly all his life
+must be spent on board ship; and to secure a religious influence there,
+should be the great object.  The distribution of Bibles and tracts
+into cabins and forecastles, will do much toward this.  There is
+nothing which will gain a sailor's attention sooner, and interest
+him more deeply, than a tract, especially one which contains a
+story.  It is difficult to engage their attention in mere essays
+and arguments, but the simplest and shortest story, in which home
+is spoken of, kind friends, a praying mother or sister, a sudden
+death, and the like, often touches the heart of the roughest and
+most abandoned.  The Bible is to the sailor a sacred book.  It may
+lie in the bottom of his chest, voyage after voyage; but he never
+treats it with positive disrespect.  I never knew but one sailor
+who doubted its being the inspired word of God; and he was one
+who had received an uncommonly good education, except that he had
+been brought up without any early religious influence.  The most
+abandoned man of our crew, one Sunday morning, asked one of the
+boys to lend him his Bible.  The boy said he would, but was afraid
+he would make sport of it.  "No!" said the man, "I don't make sport
+of God Almighty."  This is a feeling general among sailors, and is
+a good foundation for religious influence.
+
+A still greater gain is made whenever, by means of a captain who
+is interested in the eternal welfare of those under his command,
+there can be secured the performance of regular religious exercises,
+and the exertion, on the side of religion, of that mighty influence which
+a captain possesses for good, or for evil.  There are occurrences at sea
+which he may turn to great account,--a sudden death, the apprehension
+of danger, or the escape from it, and the like; and all the calls
+for gratitude and faith.  Besides, this state of thing alters the
+whole current of feeling between the crew and their commander.
+His authority assumes more of the parental character; and kinder
+feelings exist.  Godwin, though an infidel, in one of his novels,
+describing the relation in which a tutor stood to his pupil, says
+that the conviction the tutor was under, that he and his ward were
+both alike awaiting a state of eternal happiness or misery, and that
+they must appear together before the same judgment-seat, operated so
+upon his naturally morose disposition, as to produce a feeling of
+kindness and tenderness toward his ward, which nothing else could
+have caused.  Such must be the effect upon the relation of master
+and common seaman.
+
+There are now many vessels sailing under such auspices, in which
+great good is done.  Yet I never happened to fall in with one of
+them.  I did not hear a prayer made, a chapter read in public,
+nor see anything approaching to a religious service, for two
+years and a quarter.  There were, in the course of the voyage,
+many incidents which made, for the time, serious impressions upon
+our minds, and which might have been turned to our good; but there
+being no one to use the opportunity, and no services, the regular
+return of which might have kept something of the feeling alive
+in us, the advantage of them was lost, to some, perhaps, forever.
+
+The good which a single religious captain may do can hardly be
+calculated.  In the first place, as I have said, a kinder state
+of feeling exists on board the ship.  There is no profanity allowed;
+and the men are not called by any opprobrious names, which is a great
+thing with sailors.  The Sabbath is observed.  This gives the men a
+day of rest, even if they pass it in no other way.  Such a captain,
+too, will not allow a sailor on board his ship to remain unable to
+read his Bible and the books given to him; and will usually instruct
+those who need it, in writing, arithmetic, and navigation; since he
+has a good deal of time on his hands, which he can easily employ in
+such a manner.  He will also have regular religious services; and,
+in fact, by the power of his example, and, where it can judiciously
+be done, by the exercise of his authority, will give a character
+to the ship and all on board.  In foreign ports, a ship is known
+by her captain; for, there being no general rules in the merchant
+service, each master may adopt a plan of his own.  It is to be
+remembered, too, that there are, in most ships, boys of a tender
+age, whose characters for life are forming, as well as old men,
+whose lives must be drawing toward a close.  The greater part of
+sailors die at sea; and when they find their end approaching,
+if it does not, as is often the case, come without warning,
+they cannot, as on shore, send for a clergyman, or some religious
+friend, to speak to them of that hope in a Saviour, which they
+have neglected, if not despised, through life; but if the little
+hull does not contain such an one within its compass, they must
+be left without human aid in their great extremity.  When such
+commanders and such ships, as I have just described, shall become
+more numerous, the hope of the friends of seamen will be greatly
+strengthened; and it is encouraging to remember that the efforts
+among common sailors will soon raise up such a class; for those of
+them who are brought under these influences will inevitably be the
+ones to succeed to the places of trust and authority.  If there is
+on earth an instance where a little leaven may leaven the whole
+lump, it is that of the religious shipmaster.
+
+It is to the progress of this work among seamen that we must look
+with the greatest confidence for the remedying of those numerous
+minor evils and abuses that we so often hear of.  It will raise
+the character of sailors, both as individuals and as a class.
+It will give weight to their testimony in courts of justice,
+secure better usage to them on board ship, and add comforts to
+their lives on shore and at sea.  There are some laws that can
+be passed to remove temptation from their way and to help them
+in their progress; and some changes in the jurisdiction of the
+lower courts, to prevent delays, may, and probably will, be made.
+But, generally speaking, more especially in things which concern
+the discipline of ships, we had better labor in this great work,
+and view with caution the proposal of new laws and arbitrary
+regulations, remembering that most of those concerned in the
+making of them must necessarily be little qualified to judge
+of their operation.
+
+Without any formal dedication of my narrative to that body of men,
+of whose common life it is intended to be a picture, I have yet
+borne them constantly in mind during its preparation.  I cannot
+but trust that those of them, into whose hands it may chance to
+fall, will find in it that which shall render any professions of
+sympathy and good wishes on my part unnecessary.  And I will take
+the liberty, on parting with my reader, who has gone down with us
+to the ocean, and "laid his hand upon its mane," to commend to his
+kind wishes, and to the benefit of his efforts, that class of men
+with whom, for a time, my lot was cast.  I wish the rather to do
+this, since I feel that whatever attention this book may gain,
+and whatever favor it may find, I shall owe almost entirely to
+that interest in the sea, and those who follow it, which is so
+easily excited in us all.
+
+
+
+
+TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AFTER
+
+
+
+It was in the winter of 1835-6 that the ship Alert, in the prosecution
+of her voyage for hides on the remote and almost unknown coast
+of California, floated into the vast solitude of the Bay of San
+Francisco.  All around was the stillness of nature.  One vessel,
+a Russian, lay at anchor there, but during our whole stay not a
+sail came or went.  Our trade was with remote Missions, which sent
+hides to us in launches manned by their Indians.  Our anchorage was
+between a small island, called Yerba Buena, and a gravel beach
+in a little bight or cove of the same name, formed by two small
+projecting points.  Beyond, to the westward of the landing-place,
+were dreary sand-hills, with little grass to be seen, and few trees,
+and beyond them higher hills, steep and barren, their sides gullied
+by the rains.  Some five or six miles beyond the landing-place,
+to the right, was a ruinous Presidio, and some three or four miles
+to the left was the Mission of Dolores, as ruinous as the Presidio,
+almost deserted, with but few Indians attached to it, and but little
+property in cattle.  Over a region far beyond our sight there were
+no other human habitations, except that an enterprising Yankee,
+years in advance of his time, had put up, on the rising ground
+above the landing, a shanty of rough boards, where he carried on
+a very small retail trade between the hide ships and the Indians.
+Vast banks of fog, invading us from the North Pacific, drove in
+through the entrance, and covered the whole bay; and when they
+disappeared, we saw a few well-wooded islands, the sand-hills on
+the west, the grassy and wooded slopes on the east, and the vast
+stretch of the bay to the southward, where we were told lay the
+Missions of Santa Clara and San José, and still longer stretches to
+the northward and northeastward, where we understood smaller bays
+spread out, and large rivers poured in their tributes of waters.
+There were no settlements on these bays or rivers, and the few
+ranchos and Missions were remote and widely separated.  Not only
+the neighborhood of our anchorage, but the entire region of the
+great bay, was a solitude.  On the whole coast of California there
+was not a lighthouse, a beacon, or a buoy, and the charts were
+made up from old and disconnected surveys by British, Russian,
+and Mexican voyagers.  Birds of prey and passage swooped and
+dived about us, wild beasts ranged through the oak groves, and as
+we slowly floated out of the harbor with the tide, herds of deer
+came to the water's edge, on the northerly side of the entrance,
+to gaze at the strange spectacle.
+
+On the evening of Saturday, the 13th of August, 1859, the superb
+steamship Golden Gate, gay with crowds of passengers, and lighting
+the sea for miles around with the glare of her signal lights of red,
+green, and white, and brilliant with lighted saloons and staterooms,
+bound up from the Isthmus of Panama, neared the entrance to San
+Francisco, the great centre of a world-wide commerce.  Miles out at
+sea, on the desolate rocks of the Farallones, gleamed the powerful
+rays of one of the most costly and effective light-houses in the
+world.  As we drew in through the Golden Gate, another light-house
+met our eyes, and in the clear moonlight of the unbroken California
+summer we saw, on the right, a large fortification protecting the
+narrow entrance, and just before us the little island of Alcatraz
+confronted us,--one entire fortress.  We bore round the point toward
+the old anchoring-ground of the hide ships, and there, covering the
+sand-hills and the valleys, stretching from the water's edge to the
+base of the great hills, and from the old Presidio to the Mission,
+flickering all over with the lamps of its streets and houses, lay a
+city of one hundred thousand inhabitants.  Clocks tolled the hour
+of midnight from its steeples, but the city was alive from the salute
+of our guns, spreading the news that the fortnightly steamer had come,
+bringing mails and passengers from the Atlantic world.  Clipper ships
+of the largest size lay at anchor in the stream, or were girt to
+the wharves; and capacious high-pressure steamers, as large and
+showy as those of the Hudson or Mississippi, bodies of dazzling
+light, awaited the delivery of our mails to take their courses up
+the Bay, stopping at Benicia and the United States Naval Station,
+and then up the great tributaries--the Sacramento, San Joaquin,
+and Feather Rivers--to the far inland cities of Sacramento,
+Stockton, and Marysville.
+
+The dock into which we drew, and the streets about it, were densely
+crowded with express wagons and hand-carts to take luggage, coaches and
+cabs for passengers, and with men,--some looking out for friends among
+our hundreds of passengers,--agents of the press, and a greater
+multitude eager for newspapers and verbal intelligence from the
+great Atlantic and European world.  Through this crowd I made
+my way, along the well-built and well-lighted streets, as alive
+as by day, where boys in high-keyed voices were already crying
+the latest New York papers; and between one and two o'clock in
+the morning found myself comfortably abed in a commodious room,
+in the Oriental Hotel, which stood, as well as I could learn,
+on the filled-up cove, and not far from the spot where we used
+to beach our boats from the Alert.
+
+Sunday, August 14th.  When I awoke in the morning, and looked from
+my windows over the city of San Francisco, with its storehouses,
+towers, and steeples; its court-houses, theatres, and hospitals; its
+daily journals; its well-filled learned professions; its fortresses
+and light-houses; its wharves and harbor, with their thousand-ton
+clipper ships, more in number than London or Liverpool sheltered
+that day, itself one of the capitals of the American Republic,
+and the sole emporium of a new world, the awakened Pacific; when I
+looked across the bay to the eastward, and beheld a beautiful town
+on the fertile, wooded shores of the Contra Costa, and steamers,
+large and small, the ferryboats to the Contra Costa, and capacious
+freighters and passenger-carriers to all parts of the great bay and
+its tributaries, with lines of their smoke in the horizon,--when
+I saw all these things, and reflected on what I once was and saw
+here, and what now surrounded me, I could scarcely keep my hold on
+reality at all, or the genuineness of anything, and seemed to myself
+like one who had moved in "worlds not realized."
+
+I could not complain that I had not a choice of places of worship.
+The Roman Catholics have an archbishop, a cathedral, and five
+or six smaller churches, French, German, Spanish, and English;
+and the Episcopalians, a bishop, a cathedral, and three other
+churches; the Methodists and Presbyterians have three or four
+each, and there are Congregationalists, Baptists, a Unitarian,
+and other societies.  On my way to church, I met two classmates
+of mine at Harvard standing in a door-way, one a lawyer and the
+other a teacher, and made appointments for a future meeting.  A
+little farther on I came upon another Harvard man, a fine scholar
+and wit, and full of cleverness and good-humor, who invited me to
+go to breakfast with him at the French house--he was a bachelor,
+and a late riser on Sundays.  I asked him to show me the way to
+Bishop Kip's church.  He hesitated, looked a little confused,
+and admitted that he was not as well up in certain classes of
+knowledge as in others, but, by a desperate guess, pointed out
+a wooden building at the foot of the street, which any one
+might have seen could not be right, and which turned out to be
+an African Baptist meeting-house. But my friend had many capital
+points of character, and I owed much of the pleasure of my visit
+to his attentions.
+
+The congregation at the Bishop's church was precisely like one
+you would meet in New York, Philadelphia, or Boston.  To be sure,
+the identity of the service makes one feel at once at home, but the
+people were alike, nearly all of the English race, though from all
+parts of the Union.  The latest French bonnets were at the head
+of the chief pews, and business men at the foot.  The music was
+without character, but there was an instructive sermon, and the
+church was full.
+
+I found that there were no services at any of the Protestant
+churches in the afternoon.  They have two services on Sunday;
+at 11 A. M., and after dark.  The afternoon is spent at home,
+or in friendly visiting, or teaching of Sunday Schools, or other
+humane and social duties.
+
+This is as much the practice with what at home are called the
+strictest denominations as with any others.  Indeed, I found
+individuals, as well as public bodies, affected in a marked
+degree by a change of oceans and by California life.  One Sunday
+afternoon I was surprised at receiving the card of a man whom I
+had last known, some fifteen years ago, as a strict and formal
+deacon of a Congregational Society in New England.  He was a deacon
+still, in San Francisco, a leader in all pious works, devoted to
+his denomination and to total abstinence,--the same internally,
+but externally--what a change!  Gone was the downcast eye, the
+bated breath, the solemn, non-natural voice, the watchful gait,
+stepping as if he felt responsible for the balance of the moral
+universe!  He walked with a stride, an uplifted open countenance,
+his face covered with beard, whiskers, and mustache, his voice
+strong and natural;--and, in short, he had put off the New
+England deacon and become a human being.  In a visit of an hour
+I learned much from him about the religious societies, the moral
+reforms, the "Dashaways,"--total abstinence societies, which had
+taken strong hold on the young and wilder parts of society,--and
+then of the Vigilance Committee, of which he was a member, and of
+more secular points of interest.
+
+In one of the parlors of the hotel, I saw a man of about sixty years
+of age, with his feet bandaged and resting in a chair, whom somebody
+addressed by the name of Lies.(1)  Lies! thought I, that must be the
+
+---------------
+1. Pronounced _Leese_. 
+---------------
+
+man who came across the country from Kentucky to Monterey while
+we lay there in the Pilgrim in 1835, and made a passage in the
+Alert, when he used to shoot with his rifle bottles hung from the
+top-gallant studding-sail-boom-ends.  He married the beautiful Doña
+Rosalía Vallejo, sister of Don Guadalupe.  There were the old high
+features and sandy hair.  I put my chair beside him, and began
+conversation, as any one may do in California.  Yes, he was the
+Mr. Lies; and when I gave my name he professed at once to remember
+me, and spoke of my book.  I found that almost--I might perhaps say
+quite--every American in California had read it; for when California
+"broke out," as the phrase is, in 1848, and so large a portion of the
+Anglo-Saxon race flocked to it, there was no book upon California
+but mine.  Many who were on the coast at the time the book refers
+to, and afterwards read it, and remembered the Pilgrim and Alert,
+thought they also remembered me.  But perhaps more did remember
+me than I was inclined at first to believe, for the novelty of a
+collegian coming out before the mast had drawn more attention to
+me than I was aware of at the time.
+
+Late in the afternoon, as there were vespers at the Roman Catholic
+churches, I went to that of Notre Dame des Victoires.  The congregation
+was French, and a sermon in French was preached by an Abbé; the music
+was excellent, all things airy and tasteful, and making one feel as if
+in one of the chapels in Paris.  The Cathedral of St. Mary, which I
+afterwards visited, where the Irish attend, was a contrast indeed,
+and more like one of our stifling Irish Catholic churches in Boston
+or New York, with intelligence in so small a proportion to the number
+of faces.  During the three Sundays I was in San Francisco, I visited
+three of the Episcopal churches, and the Congregational, a Chinese
+Mission Chapel, and on the Sabbath (Saturday) a Jewish synagogue.
+The Jews are a wealthy and powerful class here.  The Chinese, too,
+are numerous, and do a great part of the manual labor and small
+shop-keeping, and have some wealthy mercantile houses.
+
+It is noticeable that European Continental fashions prevail generally
+in this city,--French cooking, lunch at noon, and dinner at the end
+of the day, with café noir after meals, and to a great extent the
+European Sunday,--to all which emigrants from the United States and
+Great Britain seem to adapt themselves.  Some dinners which were given
+to me at French restaurants were, it seemed to me,--a poor judge of
+such matters, to be sure,--as sumptuous and as good, in dishes and
+wines, as I have found in Paris.  But I had a relish-maker which my
+friends at table did not suspect--the remembrance of the forecastle
+dinners I ate here twenty-four years before.
+
+August 17th.  The customs of California are free; and any person who
+knows about my book speaks to me.  The newspapers have announced the
+arrival of the veteran pioneer of all.  I hardly walk out without
+meeting or making acquaintances.  I have already been invited to
+deliver the anniversary oration before the Pioneer Society, to
+celebrate the settlement of San Francisco.  Any man is qualified
+for election into the society who came to California before 1853.
+What moderns they are!  I tell them of the time when Richardson's
+shanty of 1835--not his adobe house of 1836--was the only human
+habitation between the Mission and the Presidio, and when the vast
+bay, with all its tributaries and recesses, was a solitude,--and
+yet I am but little past forty years of age.  They point out the
+place where Richardson's adobe house stood, and tell me that the
+first court and first town council were convened in it, the first
+Protestant worship performed in it, and in it the first capital
+trial by the Vigilance Committee held.  I am taken down to
+the wharves, by antiquaries of a ten or twelve years' range,
+to identify the two points, now known as Clark's and Rincon,
+which formed the little cove of Yerba Buena, where we used to
+beach our boats,--now filled up and built upon.  The island we
+called "Wood Island," where we spent the cold days and nights
+of December, in our launch, getting wood for our year's supply,
+is clean shorn of trees; and the bare rocks of Alcatraz Island,
+an entire fortress.  I have looked at the city from the water
+and islands from the city, but I can see nothing that recalls the
+times gone by, except the venerable Mission, the ruinous Presidio,
+the high hills in the rear of the town, and the great stretches of
+the bay in all directions.
+
+To-day I took a California horse of the old style,--the run, the
+loping gait,--and visited the Presidio.  The walls stand as they
+did, with some changes made to accommodate a small garrison of
+United States troops.  It has a noble situation, and I saw from
+it a clipper ship of the very largest class, coming through the
+Gate, under her fore-and-aft sails.  Thence I rode to the Fort,
+now nearly finished, on the southern shore of the Gate, and made an
+inspection of it.  It is very expensive and of the latest style.
+One of the engineers here is Custis Lee, who has just left West
+Point at the head of his class,--a son of Colonel Robert E. Lee,
+who distinguished himself in the Mexican War.
+
+Another morning I ride to the Mission Dolores.  It has a strangely
+solitary aspect, enhanced by its surroundings of the most uncongenial,
+rapidly growing modernisms; the hoar of ages surrounded by the
+brightest, slightest, and rapidest of modern growths.  Its old
+belfries still clanged with the discordant bells, and Mass was
+saying within, for it is used as a place of worship for the
+extreme south part of the city.
+
+In one of my walks about the wharves, I found a pile of dry hides
+lying by the side of a vessel.  Here was something to feelingly
+persuade me what I had been, to recall a past scarce credible to
+myself.  I stood lost in reflection.  What were these hides--what
+were they not?--to us, to me, a boy, twenty-four years ago?
+These were our constant labor, our chief object, our almost
+habitual thought.  They brought us out here, they kept us here,
+and it was only by getting them that we could escape from the
+coast and return to home and civilized life.  If it had not been
+that I might be seen, I should have seized one, slung it over my
+head, walked off with it, and thrown it by the old toss--I do not
+believe yet a lost art--to the ground.  How they called up to my
+mind the months of curing at San Diego, the year and more of beach
+and surf work, and the steering of the ship for home! I was in a
+dream of San Diego, San Pedro--with its hills so steep for taking
+up goods, and its stones so hard to our bare feet--and the cliffs
+of San Juan!  All this, too, is no more!  The entire hide-business
+is of the past, and to the present inhabitants of California a dim
+tradition.  The gold discoveries drew off all men from the gathering
+or cure of hides, the inflowing population made an end of the
+great droves of cattle; and now not a vessel pursues the--I was
+about to say dear--the dreary once hated business of gathering
+hides upon the coast, and the beach of San Diego is abandoned and
+its hide-houses have disappeared.  Meeting a respectable-looking
+citizen on the wharf, I inquired of him how the hide-trade was
+carried on.  "O," said he, "there is very little of it, and that
+is all here.  The few that are brought in are placed under
+sheds in winter, or left out on the wharf in summer, and are
+loaded from the wharves into the vessels alongside.  They form
+parts of cargoes of other materials."  I really felt too much,
+at the instant, to express to him the cause of my interest in
+the subject, and only added, "Then the old business of trading
+up and down the coast and curing hides for cargoes is all over?"
+"O yes, sir," said he, "those old times of the Pilgrim and Alert
+and California, that we read about, are gone by."
+
+Saturday, August 20th.  The steamer Senator makes regular trips up
+and down the coast, between San Francisco and San Diego, calling
+at intermediate ports.  This is my opportunity to revisit the
+old scenes.  She sails to-day, and I am off, steaming among the
+great clippers anchored in the harbor, and gliding rapidly round
+the point, past Alcatraz Island, the light-house, and through the
+fortified Golden Gate, and bending to the southward,--all done in
+two or three hours, which, in the Alert, under canvas, with head
+tides, variable winds, and sweeping currents to deal with, took us
+full two days.
+
+Among the passengers I noticed an elderly gentleman, thin, with
+sandy hair and face that seemed familiar.  He took off his glove
+and showed one shrivelled hand.  It must be he!  I went to him
+and said, "Captain Wilson, I believe."  Yes, that was his name.
+"I knew you, sir, when you commanded the Ayacucho on this coast,
+in old hide-droghing times, in 1835-6."  He was quickened by this,
+and at once inquiries were made on each side, and we were in full talk
+about the Pilgrim and Alert, Ayacucho and Loriotte, the California
+and Lagoda.  I found he had been very much flattered by the praise
+I had bestowed in my book on his seamanship, especially in bringing
+the Pilgrim to her berth in San Diego harbor, after she had drifted
+successively into the Lagoda and Loriotte, and was coming into him.
+I had made a pet of his brig, the Ayacucho, which pleased him almost
+as much as my remembrance of his bride and their wedding, which I
+saw at Santa Barbara in 1836.  Doña Ramona was now the mother of
+a large family, and Wilson assured me that if I would visit him
+at his rancho, near San Luis Obispo, I should find her still
+a handsome woman, and very glad to see me.  How we walked the
+deck together, hour after hour, talking over the old times,--the
+ships, the captains, the crews, the traders on shore, the ladies,
+the Missions, the south-easters! indeed, where could we stop?  He
+had sold the Ayacucho in Chili for a vessel of war, and had given up
+the sea, and had been for years a ranchero.  (I learned from others
+that he had become one of the most wealthy and respectable farmers
+in the State, and that his rancho was well worth visiting.)  Thompson,
+he said, hadn't the sailor in him; and he never could laugh enough at
+his fiasco in San Diego, and his reception by Bradshaw.  Faucon was a
+sailor and a navigator.  He did not know what had become of George
+Marsh (ante, pp. 199-202, 252), except that he left him in Callao;
+nor could he tell me anything of handsome Bill Jackson (ante,
+p. 86), nor of Captain Nye of the Loriotte.  I told him all I
+then knew of the ships, the masters, and the officers.  I found he
+had kept some run of my history, and needed little information.
+Old Señor Noriego of Santa Barbara, he told me, was dead, and Don
+Carlos and Don Santiago, but I should find their children there,
+now in middle life.  Doña Augustia, he said, I had made famous by
+my praises of her beauty and dancing, and I should have from her a
+royal reception.  She had been a widow, and remarried since, and had
+a daughter as handsome as herself.  The descendants of Noriego had
+taken the ancestral name of De la Guerra, as they were nobles of
+Old Spain by birth; and the boy Pablo, who used to make passages
+in the Alert, was now Don Pablo de la Guerra, a Senator in the
+State Legislature for Santa Barbara County.
+
+The points in the country, too, he noticed, as he passed them,
+--Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Point Año Nuevo, the opening
+to Monterey, which to my disappointment we did not visit.
+No; Monterey, the prettiest town on the coast, and its capital
+and seat of customs, had got no advantage from the great changes,
+was out of the way of commerce and of the travel to the mines and
+great rivers, and was not worth stopping at.  Point Conception
+we passed in the night, a cheery light gleaming over the waters
+from its tar light-house, standing on its outermost peak.  Point
+Conception!  That word was enough to recall all our experiences
+and dreads of gales, swept decks, topmast carried away, and the
+hardships of a coast service in the winter.  But Captain Wilson
+tells me that the climate has altered; that the southeasters are
+no longer the bane of the coast they once were, and that vessels
+now anchor inside the kelp at Santa Barbara and San Pedro all the
+year round.  I should have thought this owing to his spending his
+winters on a rancho instead of the deck of the Ayacucho, had not
+the same thing been told me by others.
+
+Passing round Point Conception, and steering easterly, we opened
+the islands that form, with the main-land, the canal of Santa
+Barbara.  There they are, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa; and there is the
+beautiful point, Santa Buenaventura; and there lies Santa Barbara
+on its plain, with its amphitheatre of high hills and distant
+mountains.  There is the old white Mission with its belfries,
+and there the town, with its one-story adobe houses, with here
+and there a two-story wooden house of later build; yet little is
+it altered,--the same repose in the golden sunlight and glorious
+climate, sheltered by its hills; and then, more remindful than
+anything else, there roars and tumbles upon the beach the same
+grand surf of the great Pacific as on the beautiful day when
+the Pilgrim, after her five months' voyage, dropped her weary
+anchors here; the same bright blue ocean, and the surf making
+just the same monotonous, melancholy roar, and the same dreamy
+town, and gleaming white Mission, as when we beached our boats
+for the first time, riding over the breakers with shouting Kanakas,
+the three small hide-traders lying at anchor in the offing.  But now
+we are the only vessel, and that an unromantic, sail-less, spar-less,
+engine-driven hulk!
+
+I landed in the surf, in the old style, but it was not high enough
+to excite us, the only change being that I was somehow unaccountably
+a passenger, and did not have to jump overboard and steady the boat,
+and run her up by the gunwales.
+
+Santa Barbara has gained but little.  I should not know, from anything
+I saw, that she was now a seaport of the United States, a part of the
+enterprising Yankee nation, and not still a lifeless Mexican town.
+At the same old house, where Señor Noriego lived, on the piazza in
+front of the court-yard, where was the gay scene of the marriage
+of our agent, Mr. Robinson, to Doña Anita, where Don Juan Bandini
+and Doña Augustia danced, Don Pablo de la Guerra received me in a
+courtly fashion.  I passed the day with the family, and in walking
+about the place; and ate the old dinner with its accompaniments
+of frijoles, native olives and grapes, and native wines.  In due
+time I paid my respects to Doña Augustia, and notwithstanding
+what Wilson told me, I could hardly believe that after twenty-
+four years there would still be so much of the enchanting woman
+about her.
+
+She thanked me for the kind and, as she called them, greatly exaggerated
+compliments I had paid her; and her daughter told me that all travellers
+who came to Santa Barbara called to see her mother, and that she herself
+never expected to live long enough to be a belle.
+
+Mr. Alfred Robinson, our agent in 1835-6, was here, with a part of
+his family.  I did not know how he would receive me, remembering
+what I had printed to the world about him at a time when I took
+little thought that the world was going to read it; but there was
+no sign of offence, only cordiality which gave him, as between us,
+rather the advantage in status.
+
+The people of this region are giving attention to sheep-raising,
+wine-making, and the raising of olives, just enough to keep the
+town from going backwards. 
+
+But evening is drawing on, and our boat sails to-night.  So,
+refusing a horse or carriage, I walk down, not unwilling to be a
+little early, that I may pace up and down the beach, looking off
+to the islands and the points, and watching the roaring, tumbling
+billows.  How softening is the effect of time!  It touches us
+through the affections.  I almost feel as if I were lamenting the
+passing away of something loved and dear,--the boats, the Kanakas,
+the hides, my old shipmates.  Death, change, distance, lend them
+a character which makes them quite another thing from the vulgar,
+wearisome toil of uninteresting, forced manual labour.
+
+The breeze freshened as we stood out to sea, and the wild waves
+rolled over the red sun, on the broad horizon of the Pacific;
+but it is summer, and in summer there can be no bad weather in
+California.  Every day is pleasant.  Nature forbids a drop of
+rain to fall by day or night, or a wind to excite itself beyond
+a fresh summer breeze.
+
+The next morning we found ourselves at anchor in the Bay of
+San Pedro.  Here was this hated, this thoroughly detested spot.
+Although we lay near, I could scarce recognize the hill up which
+we rolled and dragged and pushed and carried our heavy loads,
+and down which we pitched the hides, to carry them barefooted
+over the rocks to the floating long-boat.  It was no longer
+the landing-place.  One had been made at the head of the creek,
+and boats discharged and took off cargoes from a mole or wharf,
+in a quiet place, safe from southeasters.  A tug ran to take off
+passengers from the steamer to the wharf,--for the trade of Los
+Angeles is sufficient to support such a vessel.  I got the captain
+to land me privately, in a small boat, at the old place by the hill.
+I dismissed the boat, and, alone, found my way to the high ground.
+I say found my way, for neglect and weather had left but few
+traces of the steep road the hide-vessels had built to the top.
+The cliff off which we used to throw the hides, and where I spent
+nights watching them, was more easily found.  The population was
+doubled, that is to say, there were two houses, instead of one,
+on the hill.  I stood on the brow and looked out toward the offing,
+the Santa Catalina Island, and, nearer, the melancholy Dead Man's
+Island, with its painful tradition, and recalled the gloomy days
+that followed the flogging, and fancied the Pilgrim at anchor in
+the offing.  But the tug is going toward our steamer, and I must
+awake and be off.  I walked along the shore to the new landing-place,
+where were two or three store-houses and other buildings, forming a
+small depot; and a stage-coach, I found, went daily between this place
+and the Pueblo.  I got a seat on the top of the coach, to which were
+tackled six little less than wild California horses.  Each horse had
+a man at his head, and when the driver had got his reins in hand he
+gave the word, all the horses were let go at once, and away they
+went on a spring, tearing over the ground, the driver only keeping
+them from going the wrong way, for they had a wide, level pampa
+to run over the whole thirty miles to the Pueblo. This plain is
+almost treeless, with no grass, at least none now in the drought
+of mid-summer, and is filled with squirrel-holes, and alive with
+squirrels.  As we changed horses twice, we did not slacken our
+speed until we turned into the streets of the Pueblo.
+
+The Pueblo de los Angeles I found a large and flourishing town of
+about twenty thousand inhabitants, with brick sidewalks, and blocks
+of stone or brick houses.  The three principal traders when we
+were here for hides in the Pilgrim and Alert are still among the
+chief traders of the place,--Stearns, Temple, and Warner, the two
+former being reputed very rich.  I dined with Mr. Stearns, now a
+very old man, and met there Don Juan Bandini, to whom I had given
+a good deal of notice in my book.  From him, as indeed from every
+one in this town, I met with the kindest attentions.  The wife of
+Don Juan, who was a beautiful young girl when we were on the coast,
+Doña Refugio, daughter of Don Santiago Argüello, the commandante
+of San Diego, was with him, and still handsome.  This is one of
+several instances I have noticed of the preserving quality of the
+California climate.  Here, too, was Henry Mellus, who came out with
+me before the mast in the Pilgrim, and left the brig to be agent's
+clerk on shore.  He had experienced varying fortunes here, and was
+now married to a Mexican lady, and had a family.  I dined with
+him, and in the afternoon he drove me round to see the vineyards,
+the chief objects in this region.  The vintage of last year was
+estimated at half a million of gallons.  Every year new square
+miles of ground are laid down to vineyards, and the Pueblo promises
+to be the centre of one of the largest wine-producing regions in
+the world.  Grapes are a drug here, and I found a great abundance
+of figs, olives, peaches, pears, and melons. The climate is well
+suited to these fruits, but is too hot and dry for successful
+wheat crops.
+
+Towards evening, we started off in the stage coach, with again
+our relays of six mad horses, and reached the creek before dark,
+though it was late at night before we got on board the steamer,
+which was slowly moving her wheels, under way for San Diego.
+
+As we skirted along the coast, Wilson and I recognized, or thought
+we did, in the clear moonlight, the rude white Mission of San Juan
+Capistrano, and its cliff, from which I had swung down by a pair of
+halyards to save a few hides,--a boy who could not be prudential,
+and who caught at every chance for adventure.
+
+As we made the high point off San Diego, Point Loma, we were
+greeted by the cheering presence of a light-house.  As we swept
+round it in the early morning, there, before us, lay the little
+harbor of San Diego, its low spit of sand, where the water runs
+so deep; the opposite flats, where the Alert grounded in starting
+for home; the low hills, without trees, and almost without brush;
+the quiet little beach;--but the chief objects, the hide houses,
+my eye looked for in vain.  They were gone, all, and left no mark
+behind.
+
+I wished to be alone, so I let the other passengers go up to the
+town, and was quietly pulled ashore in a boat, and left to myself. 
+The recollections and the emotions all were sad, and only sad.
+
+  Fugit, interea fugit irreparabile tempus.
+
+The past was real.  The present, all about me, was unreal,
+unnatural, repellant.  I saw the big ships lying in the stream,
+the Alert, the California, the Rosa, with her Italians; then the
+handsome Ayacucho, my favorite; the poor, dear old Pilgrim, the
+home of hardship and hopelessness; the boats passing to and fro;
+the cries of the sailors at the capstan or falls; the peopled
+beach; the large hide-houses with their gangs of men; and the
+Kanakas interspersed everywhere.  All, all were gone! not a
+vestige to mark where one hide-house stood.  The oven, too,
+was gone.  I searched for its site, and found, where I thought
+it should be, a few broken bricks and bits of mortar.  I alone
+was left of all, and how strangely was I here!  What changes to
+me!  Where were they all?  Why should I care for them,--poor
+Kanakas and sailors, the refuse of civilization, the outlaws
+and beach-combers of the Pacific!  Time and death seemed to
+transfigure them.  Doubtless nearly all were dead; but how had
+they died, and where?  In hospitals, in fever-climes, in dens
+of vice, or falling from the mast, or dropping exhausted from
+the wreck,--
+
+"When for a moment, like a drop of rain,
+He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
+Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown." 
+
+The light-hearted boys are now hardened middle-aged men, if the
+seas, rocks, fevers, and the deadlier enemies that beset a sailor's
+life on shore have spared them; and the then strong men have bowed
+themselves, and the earth or sea has covered them.
+
+Even the animals are gone,--the colony of dogs, the broods of
+poultry, the useful horses; but the coyotes bark still in the
+woods, for they belong not to man, and are not touched by his
+changes.
+
+I walked slowly up the hill, finding my way among the few bushes,
+for the path was long grown over, and sat down where we used to
+rest in carrying our burdens of wood, and to look out for vessels
+that might, though so seldom, be coming down from the windward.
+
+To rally myself by calling to mind my own better fortune and nobler
+lot, and cherished surroundings at home, was impossible.  Borne down
+by depression, the day being yet at its noon, and the sun over the
+old point--it is four miles to the town, the Presidio,--I have walked
+it often, and can do it once more,--I passed the familiar objects,
+and it seemed to me that I remembered them better than those of any
+other place I had ever been in;--the opening to the little cave;
+the low hills where we cut wood and killed rattlesnakes, and where
+our dogs chased the coyotes; and the black ground where so many
+of the ship's crew and beach-combers used to bring up on their
+return at the end of a liberty day, and spend the night sub Jove.
+
+The little town of San Diego has undergone no change whatever that
+I can see.  It certainly has not grown.  It is still, like Santa
+Barbara, a Mexican town.  The four principal houses of the gente
+de razon--of the Bandinis, Estudillos, Argüellos, and Picos--are
+the chief houses now; but all the gentlemen--and their families,
+too, I believe--are gone.  The big vulgar shop-keeper and trader,
+Fitch, is long since dead; Tom Wrightington, who kept the rival
+pulpería, fell from his horse when drunk, and was found nearly
+eaten up by coyotes; and I can scarce find a person whom I remember.
+I went into a familiar one-story adobe house, with its piazza and
+earthen floor, inhabited by a respectable lower-class family by
+the name of Muchado, and inquired if any of the family remained,
+when a bright-eyed middle-aged woman recognized me, for she had
+heard I was on board the steamer, and told me she had married a
+shipmate of mine, Jack Stewart, who went out as second mate the next
+voyage, but left the ship and married and settled here.  She said he
+wished very much to see me.  In a few minutes he came in, and his
+sincere pleasure in meeting me was extremely grateful.  We talked
+over old times as long as I could afford to.  I was glad to hear
+that he was sober and doing well.  Doña Tomasa Pico I found and
+talked with.  She was the only person of the old upper class that
+remained on the spot, if I rightly recollect.  I found an American
+family here, with whom I dined,--Doyle and his wife, nice young
+people, Doyle agent for the great line of coaches to run to the
+frontier of the old States.
+
+I must complete my acts of pious remembrance, so I take a horse
+and make a run out to the old Mission, where Ben Stimson and I
+went the first liberty day we had after we left Boston (ante,
+p. 115).  All has gone to decay.  The buildings are unused and
+ruinous, and the large gardens show now only wild cactuses, willows,
+and a few olive-trees.  A fast run brings me back in time to take
+leave of the few I knew and who knew me, and to reach the steamer
+before she sails.  A last look--yes, last for life--to the beach,
+the hills, the low point, the distant town, as we round Point
+Loma and the first beams of the light-house strike out towards
+the setting sun.
+
+Wednesday, August 24th.  At anchor at San Pedro by daylight.
+But instead of being roused out of the forecastle to row the
+long-boat ashore and bring off a load of hides before breakfast,
+we were served with breakfast in the cabin, and again took our
+drive with the wild horses to the Pueblo and spent the day;
+seeing nearly the same persons as before, and again getting back
+by dark.  We steamed again for Santa Barbara, where we only lay
+an hour, and passed through its canal and round Point Conception,
+stopping at San Luis Obispo to land my friend, as I may truly call
+him after this long passage together, Captain Wilson, whose most
+earnest invitation to stop here and visit him at his rancho I was
+obliged to decline.
+
+Friday evening, 26th August, we entered the Golden Gate, passed the
+light-houses and forts, and clipper ships at anchor, and came to our
+dock, with this great city, on its high hills and rising surfaces,
+brilliant before us, and full of eager life.
+
+Making San Francisco my head-quarters, I paid visits to various
+parts of the State,--down the Bay to Santa Clara, with its live
+oaks and sycamores, and its Jesuit College for boys; and San
+José, where is the best girls' school in the State, kept by the
+Sisters of Notre Dame,--a town now famous for a year's session of
+"The legislature of a thousand drinks,"--and thence to the rich
+Almaden quicksilver mines, returning on the Contra Costa side
+through the rich agricultural country, with its ranchos and the
+vast grants of the Castro and Soto families, where farming and
+fruit-raising are done on so large a scale.  Another excursion
+was up the San Joaquin to Stockton, a town of some ten thousand
+inhabitants, a hundred miles from San Francisco, and crossing the
+Tuolumne and Stanislaus and Merced, by the little Spanish town
+of Hornitos, and Snelling's Tavern, at the ford of the Merced,
+where so many fatal fights are had.  Thence I went to Mariposa
+County, and Colonel Fremont's mines, and made an interesting
+visit to "the Colonel," as he is called all over the country,
+and Mrs. Fremont, a heroine equal to either fortune, the salons
+of Paris and the drawing-rooms of New York and Washington, or the
+roughest life of the remote and wild mining regions of Mariposa,--with
+their fine family of spirited, clever children.  After a rest there,
+we went on to Clark's Camp and the Big Trees, where I measured one
+tree ninety-seven feet in circumference without its bark, and the
+bark is usually eighteen inches thick; and rode through another which
+lay on the ground, a shell, with all the insides out--rode through
+it mounted, and sitting at full height in the saddle; then to the
+wonderful Yo Semite Valley,--itself a stupendous miracle of nature,
+with its Dome, its Capitan, its walls of three thousand feet of
+perpendicular height,--but a valley of streams, of waterfalls from
+the torrent to the mere shimmer of a bridal veil, only enough to
+reflect a rainbow, with their plunges of twenty-five hundred feet,
+or their smaller falls of eight hundred, with nothing at the base
+but thick mists, which form and trickle, and then run and at last
+plunge into the blue Merced that flows through the centre of the
+valley.  Back by the Coulterville trail, the peaks of Sierra Nevada
+in sight, across the North Fork of the Merced, by Gentry's Gulch,
+over hills and through cañons, to Fremont's again, and thence to
+Stockton and San Francisco--all this at the end of August, when
+there has been no rain for four months, and the air is dear and
+very hot, and the ground perfectly dry; windmills, to raise water for
+artificial irrigation of small patches, seen all over the landscape,
+while we travel through square miles of hot dust, where they tell
+us, and truly that in winter and early spring we should be up to
+our knees in flowers; a country, too, where surface gold-digging
+is so common and unnoticed that the large, six-horse stage-coach,
+in which I travelled from Stockton to Hornitos, turned off in the
+high road for a Chinaman, who, with his pan and washer, was working
+up a hole which an American had abandoned, but where the minute
+and patient industry of the Chinaman averaged a few dollars a day.
+
+These visits were so full of interest, with grandeurs and humors
+of all sorts, that I am strongly tempted to describe them.  But I
+remember that I am not to write a journal of a visit over the new
+California, but to sketch briefly the contrasts with the old spots
+of 1835-6, and I forbear.
+
+How strange and eventful has been the brief history of this
+marvellous city, San Francisco!  In 1835 there was one board
+shanty.  In 1836, one adobe house on the same spot.  In 1847,
+a population of four hundred and fifty persons, who organized a
+town government.  Then came the auri sacra fames, the flocking
+together of many of the worst spirits of Christendom; a sudden
+birth of a city of canvas and boards, entirely destroyed by fire
+five times in eighteen months, with a loss of sixteen millions
+of dollars, and as often rebuilt, until it became a solid city
+of brick and stone, of nearly one hundred thousand inhabitants,
+with all the accompaniments of wealth and culture, and now
+(in 1859) the most quiet and well-governed city of its size
+in the United States.  But it has been through its season of
+Heaven-defying crime, violence, and blood, from which it was
+rescued and handed back to soberness, morality, and good government,
+by that peculiar invention of Anglo-Saxon Republican America,
+the solemn, awe-inspiring Vigilance Committee of the most grave
+and responsible citizens, the last resort of the thinking and the
+good, taken to only when vice, fraud, and ruffianism have intrenched
+themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage, and ballot, and there
+is no hope but in organized force, whose action must be instant and
+thorough, or its state will be worse than before.  A history of the
+passage of this city through those ordeals, and through its almost
+incredible financial extremes, should be written by a pen which
+not only accuracy shall govern, but imagination shall inspire.
+
+I cannot pause for the civility of referring to the many kind
+attentions I received, and the society of educated men and women
+from all parts of the Union I met with; where New England,
+the Carolinas, Virginia, and the new West sat side by side
+with English, French, and German civilization.
+
+My stay in California was interrupted by an absence of nearly four
+months, when I sailed for the Sandwich Islands in the noble Boston
+clipper ship Mastiff, which was burned at sea to the water's edge;
+we escaping in boats, and carried by a friendly British bark into
+Honolulu, whence, after a deeply interesting visit of three months
+in that most fascinating group of islands, with its natural and its
+moral wonders, I returned to San Francisco in an American whaler,
+and found myself again in my quarters on the morning of Sunday,
+December 11th, 1859.
+
+My first visit after my return was to Sacramento, a city of about
+forty thousand inhabitants, more than a hundred miles inland
+from San Francisco, on the Sacramento, where was the capital of
+the State, and where were fleets of river steamers, and a large
+inland commerce.  Here I saw the inauguration of a Governor, Mr.
+Latham, a young man from Massachusetts, much my junior; and met a
+member of the State Senate, a man who, as a carpenter, repaired
+my father's house at home some ten years before; and two more
+Senators from southern California, relics of another age,--Don
+Andres Pico, from San Diego; and Don Pablo de la Guerra, whom I
+have mentioned as meeting at Santa Barbara.  I had a good deal of
+conversation with these gentlemen, who stood alone in an assembly
+of Americans, who had conquered their country, spared pillars of
+the past.  Don Andres had fought us at San Pazqual and Sepulveda's
+rancho, in 1846, and as he fought bravely, not a common thing among
+the Mexicans, and, indeed, repulsed Kearney, is always treated with
+respect.  He had the satisfaction, dear to the proud Spanish heart,
+of making a speech before a Senate of Americans, in favor of the
+retention in office of an officer of our army who was wounded at
+San Pazqual and whom some wretched caucus was going to displace to
+carry out a political job.  Don Andres's magnanimity and indignation
+carried the day.
+
+My last visit in this part of the country was to a new and
+rich farming region, the Napa Valley, the United States Navy
+Yard at Mare Island, the river gold workings, and the Geysers,
+and old Mr. John Yount's rancho.  On board the steamer, found Mr.
+Edward Stanley, formerly member of Congress from North Carolina,
+who became my companion for the greater part of my trip.  I also
+met--a revival on the spot of an acquaintance of twenty years
+ago--Don Guadalupe Vallejo; I may say acquaintance, for although
+I was then before the mast, he knew my story, and, as he spoke
+English well, used to hold many conversations with me, when in
+the boat or on shore. He received me with true earnestness, and
+would not hear of my passing his estate without visiting him.
+He reminded me of a remark I made to him once, when pulling him
+ashore in the boat, when he was commandante at the Presidio.
+I learned that the two Vallejos, Guadalupe and Salvador, owned,
+at an early time, nearly all Napa and Sonoma, having princely
+estates.  But they have not much left.  They were nearly ruined
+by their bargain with the State, that they would put up the public
+buildings if the Capital should be placed at Vallejo, then a town
+of some promise. They spent $100,000, the Capital was moved there,
+and in two years removed to San José on another contract.  The town
+fell to pieces, and the houses, chiefly wooden, were taken down
+and removed. I accepted the old gentleman's invitation so far as
+to stop at Vallejo to breakfast.
+
+The United States Navy Yard, at Mare Island, near Vallejo, is large
+and well placed, with deep fresh water.  The old Independence,
+and the sloop Decatur, and two steamers were there, and they
+were experimenting on building a despatch boat, the Saginaw,
+of California timber.
+
+I have no excuse for attempting to describe my visit through the
+fertile and beautiful Napa Valley, nor even, what exceeded that
+in interest, my visit to old John Yount at his rancho, where I
+heard from his own lips some of his most interesting stories of
+hunting and trapping and Indian fighting, during an adventurous
+life of forty years of such work, between our back settlements in
+Missouri and Arkansas, and the mountains of California, trapping in
+Colorado and Gila,--and his celebrated dream, thrice repeated,
+which led him to organize a party to go out over the mountains,
+that did actually rescue from death by starvation the wretched
+remnants of the Donner party.
+
+I must not pause for the dreary country of the Geysers, the screaming
+escapes of steam, the sulphur, the boiling caldrons of black and yellow
+and green, and the region of Gehenna, through which runs a quiet stream
+of pure water; nor for the park scenery, and captivating ranchos of
+the Napa Valley, where farming is done on so grand a scale--where
+I have seen a man plough a furrow by little red flags on sticks,
+to keep his range by, until nearly out of sight, and where, the wits
+tell us, he returns the next day on the back furrow; a region where,
+at Christmas time, I have seen old strawberries still on the vines,
+by the side of vines in full blossom for the next crop, and grapes
+in the same stages, and open windows, and yet a grateful wood fire
+on the hearth in early morning; nor for the titanic operations of
+hydraulic surface mining, where large mountain streams are diverted
+from their ancient beds, and made to do the work, beyond the reach
+of all other agents, of washing out valleys and carrying away hills,
+and changing the whole surface of the country, to expose the stores
+of gold hidden for centuries in the darkness of their earthly depths.
+
+January 10th, 1860.  I am again in San Francisco, and my revisit
+to California is closed.  I have touched too lightly and rapidly
+for much impression upon the reader on my last visit into the
+interior; but, as I have said, in a mere continuation to a narrative
+of a sea-faring life on the coast, I am only to carry the reader
+with me on a visit to those scenes in which the public has long
+manifested so gratifying an interest.  But it seemed to me that
+slight notices of these entirely new parts of the country would
+not be out of place, for they serve to put in strong contrast with
+the solitudes of 1835-6 the developed interior, with its mines,
+and agricultural wealth, and rapidly filling population, and its
+large cities, so far from the coast, with their education, religion,
+arts, and trade.
+
+On the morning of the 11th January, 1860, I passed, for the eighth
+time, through the Golden Gate, on my way across the delightful Pacific
+to the Oriental world, with its civilization three thousand years
+older than that I was leaving behind.  As the shores of California
+fadcd in the distance, and the summits of the Coast Range sank
+under the blue horizon, I bade farewell--yes, I do not doubt,
+forever--to those scenes which, however changed or unchanged,
+must always possess an ineffable interest for me.
+
+-----
+
+It is time my fellow-travellers and I should part company.  But I
+have been requested by a great many persons to give some account of
+the subsequent history of the vessels and their crews, with which
+I had made them acquainted.  I attempt the following sketches in
+deference to these suggestions, and not, I trust, with any undue
+estimate of the general interest my narrative may have created.
+
+Something less than a year after my return in the Alert, and when,
+my eyes having recovered, I was again in college life, I found one
+morning in the newspapers, among the arrivals of the day before,
+"The brig Pilgrim, Faucon, from San Diego, California."  In a
+few hours I was down in Ann Street, and on my way to Hackstadt's
+boarding-house, where I knew Tom Harris and others would lodge.
+Entering the front room, I heard my name called from amid a group
+of blue-jackets, and several sunburned, tar-colored men came forward
+to speak to me.  They were, at first, a little embarrassed by
+the dress and style in which they had never seen me, and one of
+them was calling me Mr. Dana; but I soon stopped that, and we
+were shipmates once more. First, there was Tom Harris, in a
+characteristic occupation.  I had made him promise to come and
+see me when we parted in San Diego; he had got a directory of
+Boston, found the street and number of my father's house, and,
+by a study of the plan of the city, had laid out his course,
+and was committing it to memory.  He said he could go straight to
+the house without asking a question.  And so he could, for I took
+the book from him, and he gave his course, naming each street and
+turn to right or left, directly to the door.
+
+Tom had been second mate of the Pilgrim, and had laid up no mean
+sum of money.  True to his resolution, he was going to England to
+find his mother, and he entered into the comparative advantages
+of taking his money home in gold or in bills,--a matter of some
+moment, as this was in the disastrous financial year of 1837.
+He seemed to have his ideas well arranged, but I took him to
+a leading banker, whose advice he followed; and, declining my
+invitation to go up and show himself to my friends, he was off
+for New York that afternoon, to sail the next day for Liverpool.
+The last I ever saw of Tom Harris was as he passed down Tremont
+Street on the sidewalk, a man dragging a hand-cart in the street
+by his side, on which were his voyage-worn chest, his mattress,
+and a box of nautical instruments.
+
+Sam seemed to have got funny again, and he and John the Swede
+learned that Captain Thompson had several months before sailed
+in command of a ship for the coast of Sumatra, and that their
+chance of proceedings against him at law was hopeless.  Sam was
+afterwards lost in a brig off the coast of Brazil, when all hands
+went down.  Of John and the rest of the men I have never heard.
+The Marblehead boy, Sam, turned out badly; and, although he had
+influential friends, never allowed them to improve his condition.
+The old carpenter, the Fin, of whom the cook stood in such awe
+(ante p. 41), had fallen sick and died in Santa Barbara, and was
+buried ashore.  Jim Hall, from the Kennebec, who sailed with us
+before the mast, and was made second mate in Foster's place,
+came home chief mate of the Pilgrim.  I have often seen him
+since.  His lot has been prosperous, as he well deserved it
+should be.  He has commanded the largest ships, and when I
+last saw him, was going to the Pacific coast of South America,
+to take charge of a line of mail steamers.  Poor, luckless Foster
+I have twice seen.  He came into my rooms in Boston, after I had
+become a barrister and my narrative had been published, and told
+me he was chief mate of a big ship; that he had heard I had said
+some things unfavorable of him in my book; that he had just bought
+it, and was going to read it that night, and if I had said anything
+unfair of him, he would punish me if he found me in State Street.
+I surveyed him from head to foot, and said to him, "Foster, you were
+not a formidable man when I last knew you, and I don't believe you
+are now."  Either he was of my opinion, or thought I had spoken of
+him well enough, for the next (and last) time I met him he was civil
+and pleasant.
+
+I believe I omitted to state that Mr. Andrew B. Amerzene, the chief
+mate of the Pilgrim, an estimable, kind, and trustworthy man, had a
+difficulty with Captain Faucon, who thought him slack, was turned
+off duty, and sent home with us in the Alert.  Captain Thompson,
+instead of giving him the place of a mate off duty, put him into
+the narrow between-decks, where a space, not over four feet high,
+had been left out among the hides, and there compelled him to live
+the whole wearisome voyage, through trades and tropics, and round
+Cape Horn, with nothing to do,--not allowed to converse or walk
+with the officers, and obliged to get his grub himself from the
+galley, in the tin pot and kid of a common sailor.  I used to
+talk with him as much as I had opportunity to, but his lot was
+wretched, and in every way wounding to his feelings.  After our
+arrival, Captain Thompson was obliged to make him compensation
+for this treatment.  It happens that I have never heard of him
+since.
+
+Henry Mellus, who had been in a counting-house in Boston, and left
+the forecastle, on the coast, to be agent's clerk, and whom I met,
+a married man, at Los Angeles in 1859, died at that place a few years
+ago, not having been successful in commercial life.  Ben Stimson left
+the sea for the fresh water and prairies, and settled in Detroit as
+a merchant, and when I visited that city, in 1863, I was rejoiced to
+find him a prosperous and respected man, and the same generous-hearted
+shipmate as ever.
+
+This ends the catalogue of the Pilgrim's original crew, except
+her first master, Captain Thompson.  He was not employed by the
+same firm again, and got up a voyage to the coast of Sumatra for
+pepper.  A cousin and classmate of mine, Mr. Channing, went as
+supercargo, not having consulted me as to the captain.  First,
+Captain Thompson got into difficulties with another American vessel
+on the coast, which charged him with having taken some advantage of
+her in getting pepper; and then with the natives, who accused him
+of having obtained too much pepper for his weights.  The natives
+seized him, one afternoon, as he landed in his boat, and demanded
+of him to sign an order on the supercargo for the Spanish dollars
+that they said were due them, on pain of being imprisoned on shore.
+He never failed in pluck, and now ordered his boat aboard, leaving
+him ashore, the officer to tell the supercargo to obey no direction
+except under his hand.  For several successive days and nights,
+his ship, the Alciope, lay in the burning sun, with rain-squalls
+and thunder-clouds coming over the high mountains, waiting for a
+word from him.  Toward evening of the fourth or fifth day he was
+seen on the beach, hailing for the boat.  The natives, finding they
+could not force more money from him, were afraid to hold him longer,
+and had let him go.  He sprang into the boat, urged her off with the
+utmost eagerness, leaped on board the ship like a tiger, his eyes
+flashing and his face full of blood, ordered the anchor aweigh,
+and the topsails set, the four guns, two on a side, loaded with all
+sorts of devilish stuff, and wore her round, and, keeping as close
+into the bamboo village as he could, gave them both broadsides,
+slam-bang into the midst of the houses and people, and stood out
+to sea!  As his excitement passed off, headache, languor, fever,
+set in,--the deadly coast-fever, contracted from the water and
+night-dews on shore and his maddened temper.  He ordered the ship
+to Penang, and never saw the deck again.  He died on the passage,
+and was buried at sea.  Mr. Channing, who took care of him in his
+sickness and delirium, caught the fever from him, but, as we
+gratefully remember, did not die until the ship made port, and he was
+under the kindly roof of a hospitable family in Penang.  The chief
+mate, also, took the fever, and the second mate and crew deserted;
+and although the chief mate recovered and took the ship to Europe
+and home, the voyage was a melancholy disaster.  In a tour I made
+round the world in 1859-1860, of which my revisit to California was
+the beginning, I went to Penang.  In that fairy-like scene of sea
+and sky and shore, as beautiful as material earth can be, with its
+fruits and flowers of a perpetual summer,--somewhere in which still
+lurks the deadly fever,--I found the tomb of my kinsman, classmate,
+and friend.  Standing beside his grave, I tried not to think that
+his life had been sacrificed to the faults and violence of another;
+I tried not to think too hardly of that other, who at least had
+suffered in death.
+
+The dear old Pilgrim herself!  She was sold, at the end of this
+voyage, to a merchant in New Hampshire, who employed her on short
+voyages, and, after a few years, I read of her total loss at sea,
+by fire, off the coast of North Carolina.
+
+Captain Faucon, who took out the Alert, and brought home the
+Pilgrim, spent many years in command of vessels in the Indian and
+Chinese seas, and was in our volunteer navy during the late war,
+commanding several large vessels in succession, on the blockade
+of the Carolinas, with the rank of lieutenant.  He has now given
+up the sea, but still keeps it under his eye, from the piazza of
+his house on the most beautiful hill in the environs of Boston.
+I have the pleasure of meeting him often.  Once, in speaking of
+the Alert's crew, in a company of gentlemen, I heard him say that
+that crew was exceptional: that he had passed all his life at sea,
+but whether before the mast or abaft, whether officer or master,
+he had never met such a crew, and never should expect to; and that
+the two officers of the Alert, long ago shipmasters, agreed with
+him that, for intelligence, knowledge of duty and willingness to
+perform it, pride in the ship, her appearance and sailing, and in
+absolute reliableness, they never had seen their equal.  Especially he
+spoke of his favorite seaman, French John.  John, after a few more
+years at sea, became a boatman, and kept his neat boat at the end of
+Granite Wharf, and was ready to take all, but delighted to take any
+of us of the old Alert's crew, to sail down the harbor.  One day
+Captain Faucon went to the end of the wharf to board a vessel in
+the stream, and hailed for John.  There was no response, and his
+boat was not there.  He inquired of a boatman near, where John
+was.  The time had come that comes to all!  There was no loyal
+voice to respond to the familiar call, the hatches had closed
+over him, his boat was sold to another, and he had left not a
+trace behind.  We could not find out even where he was buried.
+
+Mr. Richard Brown, of Marblehead, our chief mate in the Alert,
+commanded many of our noblest ships in the European trade,
+a general favorite.  A few years ago, while stepping on board
+his ship from the wharf, he fell from the plank into the hold
+and was killed.  If he did not actually die at sea, at least
+he died as a sailor,--he died on board ship.
+
+Our second mate, Evans, no one liked or cared for, and I know
+nothing of him, except that I once saw him in court, on trial
+for some alleged petty tyranny towards his men,--still a subaltern
+officer.
+
+The third mate, Mr. Hatch, a nephew of one of the owners, though only
+a lad on board the ship, went out chief mate the next voyage, and rose
+soon to command some of the finest clippers in the California and
+India trade, under the new order of things,--a man of character,
+good judgment, and no little cultivation.
+
+Of the other men before the mast in the Alert, I know nothing of
+peculiar interest.  When visiting, with a party of ladies and
+gentlemen, one of our largest line-of-battle ships, we were
+escorted about the decks by a midshipman, who was explaining
+various matters on board, when one of the party came to me and
+told me that there was an old sailor there with a whistle round
+his neck, who looked at me and said of the officer, "he can't show
+him anything aboard a ship."  I found him out, and, looking into
+his sunburnt face, covered with hair, and his little eyes drawn
+up into the smallest passages for light,--like a man who had
+peered into hundreds of northeasters,--there was old "Sails"
+of the Alert, clothed in all the honors of boatswain's-mate.
+We stood aside, out of the cun of the officers, and had a good
+talk over old times.  I remember the contempt with which he turned
+on his heel to conceal his face, when the midshipman (who was a
+grown youth) could not tell the ladies the length of a fathom,
+and said it depended on circumstances.  Notwithstanding his advice
+and consolation to "Chips," in the steerage of the Alert, and his
+story of his runaway wife and the flag-bottomed chairs (ante, p.
+249), he confessed to me that he had tried marriage again, and had
+a little tenement just outside the gate of the yard.
+
+Harry Bennett, the man who had the palsy, and was unfeelingly left
+on shore when the Alert sailed, came home in the Pilgrim, and I had
+the pleasure of helping to get him into the Massachusetts General
+Hospital.  When he had been there about a week, I went to see him
+in his ward, and asked him how he got along.  "Oh! first-rate
+usage, sir; not a hand's turn to do, and all your grub brought
+to you, sir."  This is a sailor's paradise,--not a hand's turn
+to do, and all your grub brought to you.  But an earthly paradise
+may pall.  Bennett got tired of in-doors and stillness, and was soon
+out again, and set up a stall, covered with canvas, at the end of one
+of the bridges, where he could see all the passers-by, and turn
+a penny by cakes and ale.  The stall in time disappeared, and I
+could learn nothing of his last end, if it has come.
+
+Of the lads who, beside myself, composed the gig's crew, I know
+something of all but one.  Our bright-eyed, quick-witted little
+cockswain, from the Boston public schools, Harry May, or Harry Bluff,
+as he was called, with all his songs and gibes, went the road to ruin
+as fast as the usual means could carry him.  Nat, the "bucket-maker,"
+grave and sober, left the seas, and, I believe, is a hack-driver in
+his native town, although I have not had the luck to see him since
+the Alert hauled into her berth at the North End.
+
+One cold winter evening, a pull at the bell, and a woman in distress
+wished to see me.  Her poor son George,--George Somerby,--"you
+remember him, sir; he was a boy in the Alert; he always talks
+of you,--he is dying in my poor house."  I went with her, and in
+a small room, with the most scanty furniture, upon a mattress on
+the floor,--emaciated, ashy pale, with hollow voice and sunken
+eyes,--lay the boy George, whom we took out a small, bright boy
+of fourteen from a Boston public school, who fought himself into
+a position on board ship (ante, p. 231), and whom we brought home
+a tall, athletic youth, that might have been the pride and support
+of his widowed mother.  There he lay, not over nineteen years of
+age, ruined by every vice a sailor's life absorbs.  He took my
+hand in his wasted feeble fingers, and talked a little with his
+hollow, death-smitten voice.  I was to leave town the next day
+for a fortnight's absence, and whom had they to see to them?  The
+mother named her landlord,--she knew no one else able to do much
+for them.  It was the name of a physician of wealth and high
+social position, well known in the city as the owner of many small
+tenements, and of whom hard things had been said as to his strictness
+in collecting what he thought his dues.  Be that as it may, my memory
+associates him only with ready and active beneficence.  His name has
+since been known the civilized world over, from his having been the
+victim of one of the most painful tragedies in the records of the
+criminal law.  I tried the experiment of calling upon him; and,
+having drawn him away from the cheerful fire, sofa, and curtains
+of a luxurious parlor, I told him the simple tale of woe, of one
+of his tenants, unknown to him even by name.  He did not hesitate;
+and I well remember how, in that biting, eager air, at a late hour,
+he drew his cloak about his thin and bent form, and walked off
+with me across the Common, and to the South End, nearly two miles
+of an exposed walk, to the scene of misery.  He gave his full
+share, and more, of kindness and material aid; and, as George's
+mother told me, on my return, had with medical aid and stores,
+and a clergyman, made the boy's end as comfortable and hopeful
+as possible.
+
+The Alert made two more voyages to the coast of California,
+successful, and without a mishap, as usual, and was sold by
+Messrs. Bryant and Sturgis, in 1843, to Mr. Thomas W. Williams,
+a merchant of New London, Connecticut, who employed her in the
+whale-trade in the Pacific.  She was as lucky and prosperous
+there as in the merchant service.  When I was at the Sandwich
+Islands in 1860, a man was introduced to me as having commanded
+the Alert on two cruises, and his friends told me that he was as
+proud of it as if he had commanded a frigate.
+
+I am permitted to publish the following letter from the owner of
+the Alert, giving her later record and her historic end,--captured
+and burned by the rebel Alabama:--
+
+
+New London, March 17, 1868. 
+
+Richard H. Dana, Esq.:
+
+Dear Sir,--I am happy to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of
+the 14th inst., and to answer your inquiries about the good ship
+Alert.  I bought her of Messrs. Bryant and Sturgis in the year
+1843, for my firm of Williams and Haven, for a whaler, in which
+business she was successful until captured by the rebel steamer
+Alabama, September, 1862, making a period of more than nineteen
+years, during which she took and delivered at New London upwards
+of twenty-five thousand barrels of whale and sperm oil.  She sailed
+last from this port, August 30, 1862, for Hurd's Island (the newly
+discovered land south of Kerguelen's), commanded by Edwin Church,
+and was captured and burned on the 9th of September following,
+only ten days out, near or close to the Azores, with thirty
+barrels of sperm oil on board, and while her boats were off
+in pursuit of whales.
+
+The Alert was a favorite ship with all owners, officers, and men who
+had anything to do with her; and I may add almost all who heard her
+name asked if that was the ship the man went in who wrote the book
+called "Two Years before the Mast"; and thus we feel, with you,
+no doubt, a sort of sympathy at her loss, and that, too, in such
+a manner, and by wicked acts of our own countrymen.
+
+My partner, Mr. Haven, sends me a note from the office this P. M.,
+saying that he had just found the last log-book, and would send up
+this evening a copy of the last entry on it; and if there should
+be anything of importance I will enclose it to you, and if you
+have any further inquiries to put, I will, with great pleasure,
+endeavor to answer them.
+
+Remaining very respectfully and truly yours,
+
+THOMAS W. WILLIAMS.
+
+P. S.--Since writing the above I have received the extract from
+the log-book, and enclose the same. 
+
+
+THE LAST ENTRY IN THE LOG-BOOK OF THE ALERT.
+
+"September 9, 1862. 
+
+"Shortly after the ship came to the wind, with the main yard
+aback, we went alongside and were hoisted up, when we found we
+were prisoners of war, and our ship a prize to the Confederate
+steamer Alabama.  We were then ordered to give up all nautical
+instruments and letters appertaining to any of us.  Afterwards
+we were offered the privilege, as they called it, of joining
+the steamer or signing a parole of honor not to serve in the
+army or navy of the United States.  Thank God no one accepted
+the former of these offers.  We were all then ordered to get
+our things ready in haste, to go on shore,--the ship running
+off shore all the time.  We were allowed four boats to go on
+shore in, and when we had got what things we could take in them,
+were ordered to get into the boats and pull for the shore,--the
+nearest land being about fourteen miles off,--which we reached
+in safety, and, shortly after, saw the ship in flames.
+
+"So end all our bright prospects, blasted by a gang of miscreants,
+who certainly can have no regard for humanity so long as they continue
+to foster their so-called peculiar institution, which is now destroying
+our country."
+
+
+I love to think that our noble ship, with her long record of
+good service and uniform success, attractive and beloved in her
+life, should have passed, at her death, into the lofty regions of
+international jurisprudence and debate, forming a part of the body
+of the "Alabama Claims"; that, like a true ship, committed to her
+element once for all at her launching, she perished at sea, and,
+without an extreme use of language, we may say, a victim in the
+cause of her country.
+
+R. H. D., Jr.
+
+BOSTON, May 6, 1869.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Two Years Before the Mast, by Dana
+
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