Two Years Before the Mast
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 any 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 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 snake 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.
CHAPTER XX
LEISURE--NEWS FROM HOME--"BURNING THE WATER"
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 a squaw, 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
north-west 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 soon 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
commenced 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 one was occupied,
and the beach, for several days, was all alive. The Catalina had
several Kanakas on board, who were immediately besieged 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 other vessel 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 very good singing almost
every evening. The Italians sang a variety of songs--barcarollas,
provincial airs, etc.; in several of which I recognized parts of our
favorite operas and sentimental songs. They often joined in a song,
taking all the different parts; which produced a fine effect, as many
of them had good voices, and all seemed to sing with spirit and
feeling. One young man, in particular, had a falsetto as clear as a