[tag=IN | lemma=□]
[tag=IN | lemma=ndus]
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 . was asked by every one ; and from questions , it soon grew into complaints and murmurings . 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 . 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 . " 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 ! 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . As we drew near , we heard the accustomed sound of violins and guitars , and saw a great motion of the people within . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . " 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 .