□
[□]
□ | □
The next morning , we made sail at slack water , with a fair wind , and got on board by eleven o'clock , when all hands were turned-to , to unload and stow away the wood , which took till night . Our merchant ships are always under-manned , and if one man is lost by sickness , they cannot spare another to take care of him . This is one of those petty frauds which every vessel practises in ports of inferior foreign nations , and which are lost sight of , among the countless deeds of greater weight which are hardly less common . This was the only time I had been ill since I left Boston , and it was the worst time it could have happened . Sailors are willing enough , but it is true , as is often said - No one ships for nurse on board a vessel . We congratulated one another upon finding what we had long talked over and wished for , thus brought about ; and none on board the ship were more glad than ourselves to see the old brig standing round the point , under full sail . By the utmost exertions , we saved ourselves from being carried out to sea , and were glad to reach the leewardmost point of the island , where we came-to , and prepared to pass another night , more uncomfortable than the first , for we were loaded up to the gunwale , and had only a choice among logs and sticks for a resting-place . Her armament was from her being an illegal trader . It was a contrast to much that we had lately seen , and a spectacle not only of beauty , but of life ; for it required but little fancy to imagine these islands to be animate masses which had broken loose from the " thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice , " and were working their way , by wind and current , some alone , and some in fleets , to milder climes . The next in the order , that I never varied from , came Cowper 's Castaway , which was a great favorite with me ; the solemn measure and gloomy character of which , as well as the incident that it was founded upon , made it well suited to a lonely watch at sea . In the general joy , Mr. N. said he should like to go ashore upon the island and examine a spot which probably no human being had ever set foot upon ; but the captain intimated that he would see the island - specimens and all , - in - another place , before he would get out a boat or delay the ship one moment for him . Large boats , manned by Indians , and capable of carrying nearly a thousand hides apiece , are attached to the missions , and sent down to the vessels with hides , to bring away goods in return . 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 . The next day , two of us were sent up to the town , and took care to come back by way of Capitan Noriego 's and take a look into the booth . We could put but little confidence in our reckoning , as there had been no opportunities for an observation , and we had drifted too much to allow of our dead reckoning being anywhere near the mark . On deck , all was as dark as a pocket , and either a dead calm , with the rain pouring steadily down , or , more generally , a violent gale dead ahead , with rain pelting horizontally , and occasional variations of hail and sleet ; - decks afloat with water swashing from side to side , and constantly wet feet ; for boots could not be wrung out like drawers , and no composition could stand the constant soaking . The sail being nearly all forward , it lifted her out of the water , and she seemed actually to jump from sea to sea . The time when we were to take in our last hide , we had looked forward to , for sixteen months , as the first bright spot . 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 . Light and dry , feeling unsatisfied , and , at the same time , full , we were glad to see four quarters of a bullock , just killed , swinging from the fore-top . The older men of the crew , whom it would have been dangerous to have kept in the water , remained on board with the mate , to stow the hides away , as fast as they were brought off by the boats . This carried me through my facts , and , being repeated deliberately , with long intervals , often eked out the two first bells . There is a story current among seamen , that a beef-dealer was convicted , at Boston , of having sold old horse for ship 's stores , instead of beef , and had been sentenced to be confined in jail , until he should eat the whole of it ; and that he is now lying in Boston jail . Having been long enough below to get my hands well warmed and softened , the first handling of the ropes was rather tough ; but a few days hardened them , and as soon as I got my mouth open wide enough to take in a piece of salt beef and hard bread , I was all right again .