Some Of The Crew Tried Other Expedients, Saying That
They Looked Too Much Like West India Negroes; But They All Came To
It At Last.
The great art is in getting them on the head.
We had
to take them from the ground, and as they were often very heavy,
and as wide as the arms could stretch and easily taken by the wind,
we used to have some trouble with them. I have often been laughed
at myself, and joined in laughing at others, pitching themselves
down in the sand, trying to swing a large hide upon their heads,
or nearly blown over with one in a little gust of wind. The captain
made it harder for us, by telling us that it was "California fashion"
to carry two on the head at a time; and as he insisted upon it,
and we did not wish to be outdone by other vessels, we carried two
for the first few months; but after falling in with a few other
"hide-droghers," and finding that they carried only one at a time we
"knocked off" the extra one, and thus made our duty somewhat easier.
After we had got our heads used to the weight, and had learned the
true California style of tossing a hide, we could carry off two or
three hundred in a short time, without much trouble; but it was
always wet work, and, if the beach was stony, bad for our feet;
for we, of course, always went barefooted on this duty, as no shoes
could stand such constant wetting with salt water.
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