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Chapter XIX
Chapter XIX
The Sandwich Islanders - Hide-curing - Wood-cutting - Rattle-snakes -
New-comers
Here was a change in myelife as complete as it had been sudden. In the
twinkling of an eye, I was transformed from a sailor into a "beach-comber" and
a hide-curer; yet the novelty and the comparative independence of the life
were not unpleasant. Our hide-house was a large building, made of rough
boards, and intended to hold forty thousand hides. In one corner of it, a
small room was parted off, in which four berths were made, where we were to
live, with mother earth for our floor. It contained a table, a small locker
for pots, spoons, plates, etc., and a small hole cut to let in the light. Here
we put our chests, threw our bedding into the berths, and took up our
quarters. Over our head was another small room, in which Mr. Russell lived,
who had charge of the hide-house; the same man who was for a time an officer
of the Pilgrim. There he lived in solitary grandeur; eating and sleeping
alone, (and these were his principal occupations,) and communing with his own
dignity. The boy was to act as cook; while myself, a giant of a Frenchman
named Nicholas, and four Sandwich Islanders, were to cure the hides. Sam, the
Frenchman, and myself, lived together in the room, and the four Sandwich
Islanders worked and ate with us, but generally slept at the oven. My new
messmate, Nicholas, was the most immense man that I had ever seen in my life.
He came on the coast in a vessel which was afterwards wrecked, and now let
himself out to the different houses to cure hides. He was considerably over
six feet, and of a frame so large that he might have been shown for a
curiosity. But the most remarkable thing about him was his feet. They were so
large that he could not find a pair of shoes in California to fit him, and was
obliged to send to Oahu for a pair; and when he got them, he was compelled to
wear them down at the heel. He told me once, himself, that he was wrecked in
an American brig on the Goodwin Sands, and was sent up to London, to the
charge of the American consul, without clothing to his back or shoes to his
feet, and was obliged to go about London streets in his stocking feet three or
four days, in the month of January, until the consul could have a pair of
shoes made for him. His strength was in proportion to his size, and his
ignorance to his strength - "strong as an ox, and ignorant as strong." He
neither knew how to read nor write. He had been to sea from a boy, and had
seen all kinds of service, and been in every kind of vessel: merchantmen,
men-of-war, privateers, and slavers; and from what I could gather from his
accounts of himself, and from what he once told me, in confidence, after we
had become better acquainted, he had even been in worse business than
slave-trading. He was once tried for his life in Charleston, South Carolina,
and though acquitted, yet he was so frightened that he never would show
himself in the United States again; and I could not persuade him that he could
never be tried a second time for the same offence. He said he had got safe off
from the breakers, and was too good a sailor to risk his timbers again.
Though I knew what his life had been, yet I never had the slightest fear
of him. We always got along very well together, and, though so much stronger
and larger than I, he showed a respect for my education, and for what he had
heard of my situation before coming to sea. "I`ll be good friends with you,"
he used to say, "for by-and-by you`ll come out here captain, and then
you`ll haze me well!" By holding well together, we kept the officer in good
order, for he was evidently afraid of Nicholas, and never ordered us, except
when employed upon the hides. My other companions, the Sandwich Islanders,
deserve particular notice.
A considerable trade has been carried on for several years between
California and the Sandwich Islands, and most of the vessels are manned with
Islanders; who, as they, for the most part, sign no articles, leave whenever
they choose, and let themselves out to cure hides at San Diego, and to supply
the places of the men of the American vessels while on the coast. In this way,
quite a colony of them had become settled at San Diego, as their headquarters.
Some of these had recently gone off in the Ayacucho and Loriotte, and the
Pilgrim had taken Mr. Mannini and three others, so that there were not more
than twenty left. Of these, four were on pay at the Ayacucho`s house, four
more working with us, and the rest were living at the oven in a quiet way; for
their money was nearly gone, and they must make it last until some other
vessel came down to employ them.
During the four months that I lived here, I got well acquainted with all
of them, and took the greatest pains to become familiar with their language,
habits, and characters. Their language, I could only learn, orally, for they
had not any books among them, though many of them had been taught to read and
write by the missionaries at home. They spoke a little English, and by a sort
of compromise, a mixed language was used on the beach, which could be
understood by all. The long name of Sandwich Islanders is dropped, and they
are called by the whites, all over the Pacific ocean, "Kanakas," from a word
in their own language which they apply to themselves, and to all South Sea
Islanders, in distinction from whites, whom they call "Haole." This name,
"Kanaka," they answer to, both collectively and individually. Their proper
names, in their own language, being difficult to pronounce and remember, they
are called by any names which the captains or crews may choose to give them.
Some are called after the vessel they are in; others by common names, as Jack,
Tom, Bill; and some have fancy names, as Ban-yan, Fore-top, Rope-yarn,
Pelican, etc., etc. Of the four who worked at our one house was named "Mr.
Bingham," after the missionary at Oahu; another, Hope, after a vessel that he
had been in; a third, Tom Davis, the name of his first captain; and the
fourth, Pelican, from his fancied resemblance to that bird. Then there was
Lagoda-Jack, California-Bill, etc., etc. But by whatever names they might
be called, they were the most interesting, intelligent, and kind-hearted
people that I ever fell in with. I felt a positive attachment for almost all
of them; and many of them I have, to this time, a feeling for, which would
lead me to go a great way for the mere pleasure of seeing them, and which will
always make me feel a strong interest in the mere name of a Sandwich Islander.
Tom Davis knew how to read, write, and cipher in common arithmetic; had
been to the United States, and spoke English quite well. His education was as
good as that of three-quarters of the Yankees in California, and his manners
and principles a good deal better, and he was so quick of apprehension that he
might have been taught navigation, and the elements of many of the sciences,
with the most perfect ease. Old "Mr. Bingham" spoke very little English -
almost none, and neither knew how to read nor write; but he was the
best-hearted old fellow in the world. He must have been over fifty years of
age, and had two of his front teeth knocked out, which was done by his parents
as a sign of grief at the death of Kamehameha, the great king of the Sandwich
Islands. We used to tell him that he ate Captain Cook, and lost his teeth in
that way. That was the only thing that ever made him angry. He would always be
quite excited at that; and say - "Aole!" (no.) "Me no eat Captain Cook! Me
pikinini - small - so high - no more! My father see Captain Cook! Me - no!"
None of them liked to have anything said about Captain Cook, for the sailors
all believe that he was eaten, and that, they cannot endure to be taunted
with. - "New Zealand Kanaka eat white man; - Sandwich Island Kanaka, - no.
Sandwich Island Kanaka ua like pu na haole - all `e same a` you!"
Mr. Bingham was a sort of patriarch among them, and was always treated
with great respect, though he had not the education and energy which gave Mr.
Mannini his power over them. I have spent hours in talking with this old
fellow about Kamehameha, the Charlemagne of the Sandwich Islands; his son and
successor Riho Riho, who died in England, and was brought to Oahu in the
frigate Blonde, Captain Lord Byron, and whose funeral he remembered perfectly;
and also about the customs of his country in his boyhood, and the changes
which had been made by the missionaries. He never would allow that human
beings had been eaten there; and, indeed, it always seemed like an insult to
tell so affectionate, intelligent, and civilized a class of men, that such
barbarities had been practised in their own country within the recollection of
many of them. Certainly, the history of no people on the globe can show
anything like so rapid an advance. I would have trusted my life and my fortune
in the hands of any one of these people; and certainly had I wished for a
favor or act of sacrifice, I would have gone to them all, in turn, before I
should have applied to one of my own countrymen on the coast, and should have
expected to have seen it done, before my own countrymen had got half through
counting the cost. Their costumes, and manner of treating one another, show a
simple, primitive generosity, which is truly delightful; and which is often a
reproach to our own people. Whatever one has, they all have. Money, food,
clothes, they share with one another; even to the last piece of tobacco to put
in their pipes. I once heard old Mr. Bingham say, with the highest
indignation, to a Yankee trader who was trying to persuade him to keep his
money to himself - "No! We no all `e same a` you! - Suppose one got money, all
got money. You; - suppose one got money - lock him up in chest. - No good!" -
"Kanaka all `e same a` one!" This principle they carry so far, that none of
them will eat anything in the sight of others without offering it all round. I
have seen one of them break a biscuit, which had been given him, into five
parts, at a time when I knew he was on a very short allowance, as there was
but little to eat on the beach.
My favorite among all of them, and one who was liked by both officers and
men, and by whomever he had anything to do with, was Hope. He was an
intelligent, kind-hearted little fellow, and I never saw him angry, though I
knew him for more than a year, and have seen him imposed upon by white people,
and abused by insolent officers of vessels. He was always civil, and always
ready, and never forgot a benefit. I once took care of him when he was ill,
getting medicines from the ship`s chests, when no captain or officer would do
anything for him, and he never forgot it. Every Kanaka has one particular
friend, whom he considers himself bound to do everything for, and with whom he
has a sort of contract, - an alliance offensive and defensive, - and for whom
he will often make the greatest sacrifices. This friend they call aikane; and
for such did Hope adopt me. I do not believe I could have wanted anything
which he had, that he would not have given me. In return for this, I was
always his friend among the Americans, and used to teach him letters and
numbers; for he left home before he had learned how to read. He was very
curious about Boston (as they call the United States); asking many questions
about the houses, the people, etc., and always wished to have the pictures in
books explained to him. They were all astonishingly quick in catching at
explanations, and many things which I had thought it utterly impossible to
make them understand, they often seized in an instant, and asked questions
which showed that they knew enough to make them wish to go farther. The
pictures of steamboats and railroad cars, in the columns of some newspapers
which I had, gave me great difficulty to explain. The grading of the road, the
rails, the construction of the carriages, they could easily understand, but
the motion produced by steam was a little too refined for them. I attempted to
show it to them once by an experiment upon the cook`s coppers, but failed;
probably as much from my own ignorance as from their want of apprehension;
and, I have no doubt, left them with about as clear an idea of the principle
as I had myself. This difficulty, of course, existed in the same force with
the steamboats and all I could do was to give them some account of the
results, in the shape of speed; for, failing in the reason, I had to fall back
upon the fact. In my account of the speed I was supported by Tom, who had been
to Nantucket, and seen a little steamboat which ran over to New Bedford.
A map of the world, which I once showed them, kept their attention for
hours; those who knew how to read pointing out the places and referring to me
for the distances. I remember being much amused with a question which Hope
asked me. Pointing to the large irregular place which is always left blank
round the poles, to denote that it is undiscovered, he looked up and asked -
"Pau?" (Done? ended?)
The system of naming the streets and numbering the houses, they easily
understood, and the utility of it. They had a great desire to see America, but
were afraid of doubling Cape Horn, for they suffer much in cold weather, and
had heard dreadful accounts of the Cape, from those of their number who had
been round it.
They smoke a great deal, though not much at a time; using pipes with
large bowls, and very short stems, or no stems at all. These, they light, and
putting them to their mouths, take a long draught, getting their mouths as
full as they can hold, and their cheeks distended, and then let it slowly out
through their mouths and nostrils. The pipe is then passed to others, who
draw, in the same manner, one pipe-full serving for half a dozen. They never
take short, continuous draughts, like Europeans, but one of these "Oahu
puffs," as the sailors call them, serves for an hour or two, until some one
else lights his pipe, and it is passed round in the same manner. Each Kanaka
on the beach had a pipe, flint, steel, tinder, a hand of tobacco, and a
jack-knife, which he always carried about with him.
That which strikes a stranger most peculiarly is their style of singing.
They run on, in a low, guttural, monotonous sort of chant, their lips and
tongues seeming hardly to move, and the sounds modulated solely in the throat.
There is very little tune to it, and the words, so far as I could learn, are
extempore. They sing about persons and things which are around them, and adopt
this method when they do not wish to be understood by any but themselves; and
it is very effectual, for with the most careful attention I never could detect
a word that I knew. I have often heard Mr. Mannini, who was the most noted
improvisatore among them, sing for an hour together, when at work in the midst
of Americans and Englishmen; and, by the occasional shouts and laughter of the
Kanakas, who were at a distance, it was evident that he was singing about the
different men that he was at work with. They have great powers of ridicule,
and are excellent mimics; many of them discovering and imitating the
peculiarities of our own people, before we had seen them ourselves.
These were the people with whom I was to spend a few months; and who,
with the exception of the officer, Nicholas the Frenchman, and the boy, made
the whole population of the beach. I ought, perhaps, to except the dogs, for
they were an important part of our settlement. Some of the first vessels
brought dogs out with them, who, for convenience, were left ashore, and there
multiplied, until they came to be a great people. While I was on the beach,
the average number was about forty, and probably an equal, or greater number
are drowned, or killed in some other way, every year. They are very useful in
guarding the beach, the Indians being afraid to come down at night; for it was
impossible for any one to get within half a mile of the hide-houses without
a general alarm. The father of the colony, old Sachem, so called from the ship
in which he was brought out, died while I was there, full of years, and was
honorably buried. Hogs, and a few chickens, were the rest of the animal tribe,
and formed, like the dogs, a common company, though they were all known and
marked, and usually fed at the houses to which they belonged.
I had been but a few hours on the beach, and the Pilgrim was hardly out
of sight, when the cry of "Sail ho!" was raised, and a small hermaphrodite
brig rounded the point, bore up into the harbor, and came to anchor. It was
the Mexican brig Fazio, which we had left at San Pedro, and which had come
down to land her tallow, try it all over, and make new bags, and then take it
in, and leave the coast. They moored ship, erected their try-works on shore,
put up a small tent, in which they all lived, and commenced operations. They
made an addition to our society, and we spent many evenings in their tent,
where, amid the Babel of English, Spanish, French, Indian, and Kanaka, we
found some words that we could understand in common.
The morning after my landing, I began the duties of hide-curing. In
order to understand these, it will be necessary to give the whole history of a
hide, from the time it is taken from a bullock until it is put on board the
vessel to be carried to Boston. When the hide is taken from the bullock, holes
are cut round it, near the edge, by which it is staked out to dry. In this
manner it dries without shrinking. After they are thus dried in the sun, they
are received by the vessels, and brought down to the depot at San Diego. The
vessels land them, and leave them in large piles near the houses.
Then begins the hide-curer`s duty. The first thing is to put them in
soak. This is done by carrying them down at low tide, and making them fast, in
small piles, by ropes, and letting the tide come up and cover them. Every day
we put in soak twenty-five for each man, which, with us, made an hundred and
fifty. There they lie forty-eight hours, when they are taken out, and rolled
up, in wheel-barrows, and thrown into the vats. These vats contain brine, made
very strong; being sea-water, with great quantities of salt thrown in. This
pickles the hides, and in this they lie forty-eight hours; the use of the
sea-water, into which they are first put, being merely to soften and clean
them. From these vats, they are taken, and lie on a platform twenty-four
hours, and then are spread upon the ground, and carefully stretched and staked
out, so that they may dry smooth. After they were staked, and while yet wet
and soft, we used to go upon them with our knives, and carefully cut off all
the bad parts: - the pieces of meat and fat, which would corrupt and infect
the whole if stowed away in a vessel for many months, the large flippers, the
ears, and all other parts which would prevent close stowage. This was the most
difficult part of our duty: as it required much skill to take everything
necessary off and not to cut or injure the hide. It was also a long process,
as six of us had to clean an hundred and fifty, most of which required a great
deal to be done to them, as the Spaniards are very careless in skinning their
cattle. Then, too, as we cleaned them while they were staked out, we were
obliged to kneel down upon them, which always gives beginners the back-ache.
The first day, I was so slow and awkward that I cleaned only eight; at the end
of a few days I doubled my number; and in a fortnight or three weeks, could
keep up with the others, and clean my proportion - twenty-five.
This cleaning must be got through with before noon; for by that time they
get too dry. After the sun has been upon them a few hours, they are carefully
gone over with scrapers, to get off all the grease which the sun brings out.
This being done, the stakes are pulled up, and the hides carefully doubled,
with the hair side out, and left to dry. About the middle of the afternoon
they are turned upon the other side, and at sundown piled up and covered over.
The next day they are spread out and opened again, and at night, if fully dry,
are thrown upon a long, horizontal pole, five at a time, and beat with flails.
This takes all the dust from them. Then, being salted, scraped, cleaned,
dried, and beaten, they are stowed away in the house. Here ends their history,
except that they are taken out again when the vessel is ready to go home,
beaten, stowed away on board, carried to Boston, tanned, made into shoes and
other articles for which leather is used; and many of them, very probably, in
the end, brought back again to California in the shape of shoes, and worn out
in pursuit of other bullocks, or in the curing of other hides.
By putting an hundred and fifty in soak every day, we had the same number
at each stage of curing, on each day; so that we had, every day, the same work
to do upon the same number: an hundred and fifty to put in soak; an hundred
and fifty to wash out and put in the vat; the same number to haul from the vat
and put on the platform to drain; the same number to spread and stake out and
clean; and the same number to beat and stow away in the house. I ought to
except Sunday; for, by a prescription which no captain or agent has yet
ventured to break in upon, Sunday has been a day of leisure on the beach for
years. On Saturday night, the hides, in every stage of progress, are carefully
covered up, and not uncovered until Monday morning. On Sundays we had
absolutely no work to do, unless it was to kill a bullock, which was sent down
for our use about once a week, and sometimes came on Sunday. Another good
arrangement was, that we had just so much work to do, and when that was
through, the time was our own. Knowing this, we worked hard, and needed no
driving. We "turned out" every morning at the first signs of daylight, and
allowing a short time, about eight o`clock, for breakfast, generally got
through our labor between one and two o`clock, when we dined, and had the rest
of the time to ourselves; until just before sundown, when we beat the dry
hides and put them in the house, and covered over all the others. By this
means we had about three hours to ourselves every afternoon; and at sundown we
had our supper, and our work was done for the day. There was no watch to
stand, and no topsails to reef. The evenings we generally spent at one
another`s houses, and I often went up and spent an hour or so at the oven;
which was called the "Kanaka Hotel," and the "Oahu Coffee-house."
Immediately after dinner we usually took a short siesta to make up for our
early rising, and spent the rest of the afternoon according to our own
fancies. I generally read, wrote, and made or mended clothes; for necessity,
the mother of invention, had taught me these two latter arts. The Kanakas went
up to the oven, and spent the time in sleeping, talking, and smoking; and my
messmate, Nicholas, who neither knew how to read or write, passed away the
time by a long siesta, two or three smokes with his pipe, and a paseo to the
other houses. This leisure time is never interfered with, for the captains
know that the men earn it by working hard and fast, and that if they
interfered with it, the men could easily make their twenty-five hides apiece
last through the day. We were pretty independent, too, for the master of the
house - "capitan de la casa" - had nothing to say to us, except when we were
at work on the hides, and although we could not go up to the town without his
permission, this was seldom or never refused.
The great weight of the wet hides, which we were obliged to roll about in
wheelbarrows; the continual stooping upon those which were pegged out to be
cleaned; and the smell of the vats, into which we were often obliged to get,
knee-deep, to press down the hides; all made the work disagreeable and
fatiguing; - but we soon got hardened to it, and the comparative independence
of our life reconciled us to it; for there was nobody to haze us and find
fault; and when we got through, we had only to wash and change our clothes,
and our time was our own. There was, however, one exception to the time`s
being our own; which was, that on two afternoons of every week we were obliged
to go off and get wood, for the cook to use in the galley. Wood is very scarce
in the vicinity of San Diego; there being no trees of any size, for miles. In
the town, the inhabitants burn the small wood which grows in thickets, and for
which they send out Indians, in large numbers, every few days. Fortunately,
the climate is so fine that they had no need of a fire in their houses, and
only use it for cooking. With us the getting of wood was a great trouble; for
all that in the vicinity of the houses had been cut down, and we were obliged
to go off a mile or two, and to carry it some distance on our backs, as we
could not get the hand-cart up the hills and over the uneven places. Two
afternoons in the week, generally Monday and Thursday, as soon as we had got
through dinner, we started off for the bush, each of us furnished with a
hatchet and a long piece of rope, and dragging the hand-cart behind us, and
followed by the whole colony of dogs, who were always ready for the bush, and
were half mad whenever they saw our preparations. We went with the hand-cart
as far as we could conveniently drag it, and leaving it in an open,
conspicuous place, separated ourselves; each taking his own course, and
looking about for some good place to begin upon. Frequently, we had to go
nearly a mile from the hand-cart before we could find ant fit place. Having
lighted upon a good thicket, the next thing was to clear away the under-brush,
and have fair play at the trees. These trees are seldom more than five or six
feet high, and the highest that I ever saw in these expeditions could not have
been more than twelve; so that, with lopping off the branches and clearing
away the underwood, we had a good deal of cutting to do for a very little
wood. Having cut enough for a "back-load," the next thing was to make it well
fast with the rope, and heaving the bundle upon our backs, and taking the
hatchet in hand, to walk off, up hill and down dale, to the hand cart. Two
good back-loads apiece filled the hand-cart; and that was each one`s
proportion. When each had brought down his second load, we filled the
hand-cart, and took our way again slowly back, and unloading, covering the
hides for the night, and getting our supper, finished the day`s work.
These wooding excursions had always a mixture of something rather
pleasant in them. Roaming about in the woods with hatchet in hand, like a
backwoodsman, followed by a troop of dogs; starting up of birds, snakes, hares
and foxes, and examining the various kinds of trees, flowers, and birds`
nests, was at least, a change from the monotonous drag and pull on shipboard.
Frequently, too, we had some amusement and adventure. The coati, of which I
have before spoken, - a sort of mixture of the fox and wolf breeds, - fierce
little animals, with bushy tails and large heads, and a quick, sharp bark,
abound here, as in all other parts of California. These, the dogs were very
watchful for, and whenever they saw them, started off in full run after them.
We had many fine chases; yet, although our dogs ran finely, the rascals
generally escaped. They are a match for the dog, - one to one, - but as the
dogs generally went in squads, there was seldom a fair fight. A smaller dog,
belonging to us, once attacked a coati, single, and got a good deal worsted,
and might perhaps have been killed had we not come to his assistance. We had,
however, one dog which gave them a good deal of trouble, and many hard runs.
He was a fine, tall fellow, and united strength and agility better than any
dog that I have ever seen. He was born at the Islands, his father being an
English mastiff, and his mother a greyhound. He had the high head, long legs,
narrow body, and springing gait of the latter, and the heavy jaw, thick jowls,
and strong fore-quarters of the mastiff. When he was brought to San Diego,
an English sailor said that he looked, about the face precisely like the Duke
of Wellington, whom he had once seen at the Tower; and, indeed, there was
something about him which resembled the portraits of the Duke. From this time
he was christened "Welly," and became the favorite and bully of the beach. He
always led the dogs by several yards in the chase, and had killed two coati at
different times in single combats. We often had fine sport with these fellows.
A quick, sharp bark from a coati, and in an instant every dog was at the
height of his speed. A few moments made up for an unfair start, and gave each
dog his relative place. Welly, at the head, seemed almost to skim over the
bushes; and after him came Fanny, Feliciana, Childers, and the other fleet
ones, - the spaniels and terriers; and then behind, followed the heavy corps -
bulldogs, etc., for we had every breed. Pursuit by us was in vain, and in
about half an hour a few of them would come panting and straggling back.
Beside the coati, the dogs sometimes made prizes of rabbits and hares,
which are very plentiful here, and great numbers of which we often shot for
our dinners. There was another animal that I was not so much disposed to find
amusement from, and that was the rattlesnake. These are very abundant here,
especially during the spring of the year. The latter part of the time that I
was on shore, I did not meet with so many, but for the first two months we
seldom went into "the bush" without one of our number starting some of them.
The first that I ever saw, I remember perfectly well. I had left my
companions, and was beginning to clear away a fine clump of trees, when just
in the midst of the thicket, not more than eight yards from me, one of these
fellows set up his hiss. It is a sharp, continuous sound, and resembles very
much the letting off of the steam from the small pipe of a steamboat, except
that it is on a smaller scale. I knew, by the sound of an axe, that one of my
companions was near, and called out to him, to let him know what I had fallen
upon. He took it very lightly, and as he seemed inclined to laugh at me for
being afraid, I determined to keep my place. I knew that so long as I could
hear the rattle, I was safe, for these snakes never make a noise when they are
in motion. Accordingly, I kept at my work, and the noise which I made with
cutting and breaking the trees kept him in alarm; so that I had the rattle to
show me his whereabouts. Once or twice the noise stopped for a short time,
which gave me a little uneasiness, and retreating a few steps, I threw
something into the bush, at which he would set his rattle agoing; and finding
that he had not moved from his first place, I was easy again. In this way I
continued at my work until I had cut a full load, never suffering to him to be
quiet for a moment. Having cut my load, I strapped it together, and got
everything ready for starting. I felt that I could now call the others without
the imputation of being afraid; and went in search of them. In a few minutes
we were all collected, and began an attack upon the bush. The big Frenchman,
who was the one that I had called to at first, I found as little inclined to
approach the snakes as I had been. The dogs, too, seemed afraid of the rattle,
and kept up a barking at a safe distance; but the Kanakas showed no fear, and
getting long sticks, went into the bush, and keeping a bright look-out,
stood within a few feet of him. One or two blows struck near him, and a few
stones thrown, started him, and we lost his track, and had the pleasant
consciousness that he might be directly under our feet. By throwing stones and
chips in different directions, we made him spring his rattle again, and began
another attack. This time we drove him into the clear ground, and saw him
gliding off, with head and tail erect, when a stone, well aimed, knocked him
over the bank, down a declivity of fifteen or twenty feet, and stretched him
at his length. Having made sure of him, by a few more stones, we went down,
and one of the Kanakas cut off his rattle. These rattles vary in number it is
said, according to the age of the snake; though the Indians think they
indicate the number of creatures they have killed. We always preserved them as
trophies, and at the end of the summer had quite a number. None of our people
were ever bitten by them, but one of our dogs died of a bite, and another was
supposed to have been bitten, but recovered. We had no remedy for the bite,
though it was said that the Indians of the country had, and the Kanakas
professed to have an herb which would cure it, but it was fortunately never
brought to the test.
Hares and rabbits, as I said before, were abundant, and, during the
winter months, the waters are covered with wild ducks and geese. Crows, too,
were very numerous, and frequently alighted in great numbers upon our hides,
picking at the pieces of dried meat and fat. Bears and wolves are numerous in
the upper parts, and in the interior, (and, indeed, a man was killed by a bear
within a few miles of San Pedro, while we were there,) but there were none in
our immediate neighborhood. The only other animals were horses. Over a dozen
of these were owned by different people on the beach, and were allowed to run
loose among the hills, with a long lasso attached to them, and pick up feed
wherever they could find it. We were sure of seeing them once a day, for there
was no water among the hills, and they were obliged to come down to the well
which had been dug upon the beach. These horses were bought at, from two, to
six and eight dollars apiece, and were held very much as common property. We
generally kept one fast to one of the houses every day, so that we could mount
him and catch any of the others. Some of them were really fine animals, and
gave us many good runs up to the Presidio and over the country.
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