They Are
Complete Water-Dogs, Therefore Very Good In Boating.
It is for this
reason that there are so many of them on the coast of California;
they being very good hands in the surf.
They are also quick and
active in the rigging, and good hands in warm weather; but those
who have been with them round Cape Horn, and in high latitudes,
say that they are useless in cold weather. In their dress they are
precisely like our sailors. In addition to these Islanders, the vessel
had two English sailors, who acted as boatswains over the Islanders,
and took care of the rigging. One of them I shall always remember as
the best specimen of the thoroughbred English sailor that I ever saw.
He had been to sea from a boy, having served a regular apprenticeship
of seven years, as all English sailors are obliged to do, and was
then about four or five and twenty. He was tall; but you only
perceived it when he was standing by the side of others, for the
great breadth of his shoulders and chest made him appear but little
above the middle height. His chest was as deep as it was wide;
his arm like that of Hercules; and his hand "the fist of a tar
- every hair a rope-yarn." With all this he had one of the pleasantest
smiles I ever saw. His cheeks were of a handsome brown; his teeth
brilliantly white; and his hair, of a raven black, waved in loose
curls all over his head, and fine, open forehead; and his eyes
he might have sold to a duchess at the price of diamonds, for their
brilliancy.
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