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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 . 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 . 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 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .