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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 . 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 . 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 . Many a time , when a thing goes heavy , with one fellow yo-ho-ing , a lively song , like " Heave , to the girls ! 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .