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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 . 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 . 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 . He gave us the whole account of his adventures in the country , - roguery and all - and was very entertaining . No one on board had been through the straits but I had in my chest an account of the passage of the ship A. 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . Wednesday , slipped our cable and went to sea , on account of a south-easter . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .