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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 . 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 Hygela 's own baking and dressing . The mission of San Francisco near the anchorage , has no trade at all , but those of San Jose , 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 . Toward morning , the rain ceased , and the air became sensibly colder , so that we found sleep impossible , and sat up , watching for daybreak . So it goes until it is eight bells , - call the watch , - heave the log , - relieve the wheel , and go below the larboard watch . 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 know when we were here before . 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 . 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 . " I took mine and went into the sailmaker 's berth , where I could read it without interruption . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . " 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .