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:
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