after we had been a few weeks on shore, and had begun to feel broken into the regularity of our life, its monotony was interrupted by the arrival of two vessels from the windward. we were sitting at dinner in our little room, when we heard the cry of “sail ho!” this, we had learned, did not always signify a vessel, but was raised whenever a woman was seen coming down from the town, or an ox-cart, or anything unusual, hove in sight upon the road; so we took no notice of it. but it soon became so loud and general from all parts of the beach that we were led to go to the door; and there, sure enough, were two sails coming round the point, and leaning over from the strong northwest wind, which blows down the coast every afternoon. the headmost was a ship, and the other a brig. everybody was alive on the beach, and all manner of conjectures were abroad. some said it was the pilgrim, with the boston ship, which we were expecting; but we soon saw that the brig was not the pilgrim, and the ship, with her stump top-gallant-masts and rusty sides, could not be a dandy boston indiaman. as they drew nearer, we discovered the high poop, and top-gallant forecastle, and other marks of the italian ship rosa, and the brig proved to be the catalina, which we saw at santa barbara, just arrived from valparaiso. they came to anchor, moored ship, and began discharging hides and tallow. the rosa had purchased the house occupied by the lagoda, and the catalina took the other spare one between ours and the ayacucho’s, so that now each house was occupied, and the beach, for several days, was all animation. the catalina had several kanakas on board, who were immediately laid hold of by the others, and carried up to the oven, where they had a long pow-wow and a smoke. two frenchmen, who belonged to the rosa’s crew, came in every evening to see nicholas; and from them we learned that the pilgrim was at san pedro, and was the only vessel from the united states now on the coast. several of the italians slept on shore at their hide-house; and there, and at the tent in which the fazio’s crew lived, we had some singing almost every evening. the italians sang a variety of songs — barcarollas, provincial airs, &c.; in several of which i recognized parts of our favorite operas and sentimental songs. they often joined in a song, taking the different parts, which produced a fine effect, as many of them had good voices, and all sang with spirit. one young man, in particular, had a falsetto as clear as a clarionet.
the greater part of the crews of the vessels came ashore every evening, and we passed the time in going about from one house to another, and listening to all manner of languages. the spanish was the common ground upon which we all met; for every one knew more or less of that. we had now, out of forty or fifty, representatives from almost every nation under the sun — two englishmen, three yankees, two scotchmen, two welshmen, one irishman, three frenchmen (two of whom were normans, and the third from gascony), one dutchman, one austrian, two or three spaniards (from old spain), half a dozen spanish–americans and half-breeds, two native indians from chili and the island of chiloe, one negro, one mulatto, about twenty italians, from all parts of italy, as many more sandwich–islanders, one tahitian, and one kanaka from the marquesas islands.
the night before the vessels were ready to sail, all the europeans united and had an entertainment at the rosa’s hide-house, and we had songs of every nation and tongue. a german gave us “ach! mein lieber augustin!” the three frenchmen roared through the marseilles hymn; the english and scotchmen gave us “rule britannia,” and “wha’ll be king but charlie?” the italians and spaniards screamed through some national affairs, for which i was none the wiser; and we three yankees made an attempt at the “star-spangled banner.” after these national tributes had been paid, the austrian gave us a pretty little love-song, and the frenchmen sang a spirited thing — “sentinelle! o prenez garde à vous!”— and then followed the mélange which might have been expected. when i left them, the aguardiente and annisou were pretty well in their heads, they were all singing and talking at once, and their peculiar national oaths were getting as plenty as pronouns.
the next day, the two vessels got under way for the windward, and left us in quiet possession of the beach. our numbers were somewhat enlarged by the opening of the new houses, and the society of the beach was a little changed. in charge of the catalina’s house was an old scotchman, robert, who, like most of his countrymen, had some education, and, like many of them, was rather pragmatical, and had a ludicrously solemn conceit of himself. he employed his time in taking care of his pigs, chickens, turkeys, dogs, &c., and in smoking his long pipe. everything was as neat as a pin in the house, and he was as regular in his hours as a chronometer, but, as he kept very much by himself, was not a great addition to our society. he hardly spent a cent all the time he was on the beach, and the others said he was no shipmate. he had been a petty officer on board the british frigate dublin, captain lord james townshend, and had great ideas of his own importance. the man in charge of the rosa’s house, schmidt, was an austrian, but spoke, read, and wrote four languages with ease and correctness. german was his native tongue, but being born near the borders of italy, and having sailed out of genoa, the italian was almost as familiar to him as his own language. he was six years on board of an english man-of-war, where he learned to speak our language easily, and also to read and write it. he had been several years in spanish vessels, and had acquired that language so well that he could read books in it. he was between forty and fifty years of age, and was a singular mixture of the man-of-war’s-man and puritan. he talked a great deal about propriety and steadiness, and gave good advice to the youngsters and kanakas, but seldom went up to the town without coming down “three sheets in the wind.” one holiday, he and old robert (the scotchman from the catalina) went up to the town, and got so cosey, talking over old stories and giving each other good advice, that they came down, double-backed, on a horse, and both rolled off into the sand as soon as the horse stopped. this put an end to their pretensions, and they never heard the last of it from the rest of the men. on the night of the entertainment at the rosa’s house, i saw old schmidt (that was the austrian’s name) standing up by a hogshead, holding on by both hands, and calling out to himself: “hold on, schmidt! hold on, my good fellow, or you’ll be on your back!” still, he was an intelligent, good-natured old fellow, and had a chest full of books, which he willingly lent me to read. in the same house with him were a frenchman and an englishman, the latter a regular-built “man-o’-war jack,” a thorough seaman, a hearty, generous fellow, and, at the same time, a drunken, dissolute dog. he made it a point to get drunk every time he went to the presidio, when he always managed to sleep on the road, and have his money stolen from him. these, with a chilian and half a dozen kanakas, formed the addition to our company.
in about six weeks from the time when the pilgrim sailed, we had all the hides which she left us cured and stowed away; and having cleared up the ground and emptied the vats, and set everything in order, had nothing more to do, until she should come down again, but to supply ourselves with wood. instead of going twice a week for this purpose, we determined to give one whole week to getting wood, and then we should have enough to last us half through the summer. accordingly we started off every morning, after an early breakfast, with our hatchets in hand, and cut wood until the sun was over the point — which was our mark for noon, as there was not a watch on the beach — and then came back to dinner, and after dinner started off again with our hand-cart and ropes, and carted and “backed” it down until sunset. this we kept up for a week, until we had collected several cords — enough to last us for six or eight weeks — when we “knocked off” altogether, much to my joy; for, though i liked straying in the woods, and cutting, very well, yet the backing the wood for so great a distance, over an uneven country, was, without exception, the hardest work i had ever done. i usually had to kneel down, and contrive to heave the load, which was well strapped together, upon my back, and then rise up and start off with it, up the hills and down the vales, sometimes through thickets — the rough points sticking into the skin and tearing the clothes, so that, at the end of the week i had hardly a whole shirt to my back.
we were now through all our work, and had nothing more to do until the pilgrim should come down again. we had nearly got through our provisions too, as well as our work; for our officer had been very wasteful of them, and the tea, flour, sugar, and molasses were all gone. we suspected him of sending them up to the town; and he always treated the squaws with molasses when they came down to the beach. finding wheat-coffee and dry bread rather poor living, we clubbed together, and i went to the town on horseback, with a great salt-bag behind the saddle, and a few reals in my pocket, and brought back the bag full of onions, beans, pears, watermelons, and other fruits; for the young woman who tended the garden, finding that i belonged to the american ship, and that we were short of provisions, put in a larger portion. with these we lived like fighting-cocks for a week or two, and had, besides, what the sailors call a “blow-out on sleep,” not turning out in the morning until breakfast was ready. i employed several days in overhauling my chest, and mending up all my old clothes, until i had put everything in order — “patch upon patch, like a sand-barge’s mainsail.” then i took hold of bowditch’s navigator, which i had always with me. i had been through the greater part of it, and now went carefully over it from beginning to end, working out most of the examples. that done, and there being no signs of the pilgrim, i made a descent upon old schmidt, and borrowed and read all the books there were upon the beach. such a dearth was there of these latter articles, that anything, even a little child’s story-book, or the half of a shipping calendar, seemed a treasure. i actually read a jest-book through, from beginning to end, in one day, as i should a novel, and enjoyed it much. at last, when i thought that there were no more to be had, i found at the bottom of old schmidt’s chest, “mandeville, a romance, by godwin, in five volumes.” this i had never read, but godwin’s name was enough, and, after the wretched trash i had devoured, anything bearing the name of an intellectual man was a prize indeed. i bore it off, and for two days i was up early and late, reading with all my might, and actually drinking in delight. it is no extravagance to say that it was like a spring in a desert land.
from the sublime to the ridiculous — so, with me, from mandeville to hide-curing — was but a step; for —
wednesday, july 18th, brought us the brig pilgrim from the windward. as she came in, we found that she was a good deal altered in her appearance. her short top-gallant-masts were up, her bowlines all unrove (except to the courses), the quarter boom-irons off her lower yards, her jack-cross-trees sent down, several blocks got rid of, running rigging rove in new places, and numberless other changes of the same character. then, too, there was a new voice giving orders, and a new face on the quarter-deck — a short, dark-complexioned man, in a green jacket and a high leather cap. these changes, of course, set the whole beach on the qui-vive, and we were all waiting for the boat to come ashore, that we might have things explained. at length, after the sails were furled and the anchor carried out, her boat pulled ashore, and the news soon flew that the expected ship had arrived at santa barbara, and that captain thompson had taken command of her, and her captain, faucon, had taken the pilgrim, and was the green-jacketed man on the quarter-deck. the boat put directly off again, without giving us time to ask any more questions, and we were obliged to wait till night, when we took a little skiff, that lay on the beach, and paddled off. when i stepped aboard, the second mate called me aft, and gave me a large bundle, directed to me, and marked “ship alert.” this was what i had longed for, yet i refrained from opening it until i went ashore. diving down into the forecastle, i found the same old crew, and was really glad to see them again. numerous inquiries passed as to the new ship, the latest news from boston, &c., &c. stimson had received letters from home, and nothing remarkable had happened. the alert was agreed on all hands to be a fine ship, and a large one: “larger than the rosa,”— “big enough to carry off all the hides in california,”— “rail as high as a man’s head,”— “a crack ship,”— “a regular dandy,” &c., &c. captain thompson took command of her, and she went directly up to monterey; thence she was to go to san francisco, and probably would not be in san diego under two or three months. some of the pilgrim’s crew found old shipmates aboard of her, and spent an hour or two in her forecastle the evening before she sailed. they said her decks were as white as snow — holystoned every morning, like a man-of-war’s; everything on board “ship-shape and bristol fashion”; a fine crew, three mates, a sailmaker and carpenter, and all complete. “they’ve got a man for mate of that ship, and not a bloody sheep about decks!”— “a mate that knows his duty, and makes everybody do theirs, and won’t be imposed upon by either captain or crew.” after collecting all the information we could get on this point, we asked something about their new captain. he had hardly been on board long enough for them to know much about him, but he had taken hold strong, as soon as he took command — shifting the top-gallant-masts, and unreeving all the studding-sail gear and half the running rigging, the very first day.
having got all the news we could, we pulled ashore; and as soon as we reached the house, i, as might be supposed, fell directly to opening my bundle, and found a reasonable supply of duck, flannel shirts, shoes, &c., and, what was still more valuable, a packet of eleven letters. these i sat up nearly all night reading, and put them carefully away, to be reread again and again at my leisure. then came half a dozen newspapers, the last of which gave notice of thanksgiving, and of the clearance of “ship alert, edward h. faucon, master, for callao and california, by bryant, sturgis, & co.” only those who have been on distant voyages, and after a long absence received a newspaper from home, can understand the delight that they give one. i read every part of them — the houses to let, things lost or stolen, auction sales, and all. nothing carries you so entirely to a place, and makes you feel so perfectly at home, as a newspaper. the very name of “boston daily advertiser” “sounded hospitably upon the ear.”
the pilgrim discharged her hides, which set us at work again, and in a few days we were in the old routine of dry hides, wet hides, cleaning, beating, &c. captain faucon came quietly up to me, as i was sitting upon a stretched hide, cutting the meat from it with my knife, and asked me how i liked california, and repeated —
“tityre, tu patulae recubans subtegmine fagi.”
very apropos, thought i, and, at the same time, shows that you have studied latin. however, it was kind of him, and an attention from a captain is a thing not to be slighted. thompson’s majesty could not have bent to it, in the sight of so many mates and men; but faucon was a man of education, literary habits, and good social position, and held things at their right value.
saturday, july 11th. the pilgrim set sail for the windward, and left us to go on in our old way. having laid in such a supply of wood, and the days being now long, and invariably pleasant, we had a good deal of time to ourselves. the duck i received from home i soon made up into trousers and frocks, and, having formed the remnants of the duck into a cap, i displayed myself, every sunday, in a complete suit of my own make, from head to foot. reading, mending, sleeping, with occasional excursions into the bush, with the dogs, in search of coyotes, hares, and rabbits, or to encounter a rattlesnake, and now and then a visit to the presidio, filled up our spare time after hide-curing was over for the day. another amusement which we sometimes indulged in was “burning the water” for craw-fish. for this purpose we procured a pair of grains, with a long staff like a harpoon, and, making torches with tarred rope twisted round a long pine stick, took the only boat on the beach, a small skiff, and with a torch-bearer in the bow, a steersman in the stern, and one man on each side with the grains, went off, on dark nights, to burn the water. this is fine sport. keeping within a few rods of the shore, where the water is not more than three or four feet deep, with a clear, sandy bottom, the torches light everything up so that one could almost have seen a pin among the grains of sand. the craw-fish are an easy prey, and we used soon to get a load of them. the other fish were more difficult to catch, yet we frequently speared a number of them, of various kinds and sizes. the pilgrim brought us a supply of fish-hooks, which we had never had before on the beach, and for several days we went down to the point, and caught a quantity of cod and mackerel. on one of these expeditions, we saw a battle between two sandwich–islanders and a shark. “johnny” had been playing about our boat for some time, driving away the fish, and showing his teeth at our bait, when we missed him, and in a few minutes heard a great shouting between two kanakas who were fishing on the rock opposite to us: “e hana hana make i ka ia nui!” “e pii mai aikane!” &c., &c.; and saw them pulling away on a stout line, and “johnny shark” floundering at the other end. the line soon broke; but the kanakas would not let him off so easily, and sprang directly into the water after him. now came the tug of war. before he could get into deep water, one of them seized him by the tail, and ran up with him upon the beach; but johnny twisted round, and turning his head under his body, and showing his teeth in the vicinity of the kanaka’s hand, made him let go and spring out of the way. the shark now turned tail and made the best of his way, by flapping and floundering, toward deep water; but here again, before he was fairly off, the other kanaka seized him by the tail, and made a spring toward the beach, his companion at the same time paying away upon him with stones and a large stick. as soon, however, as the shark could turn, the man was obliged to let go his hold; but the instant he made toward deep water, they were both behind him, watching their chance to seize him. in this way the battle went on for some time, the shark, in a rage, splashing and twisting about, and the kanakas, in high excitement, yelling at the top of their voices. but the shark at last got off, carrying away a hook and line, and not a few severe bruises.
