The Clothing
Of One Of These Men Would Weigh Nearly As Much As That Of Half
Our Crew.
They had brutish faces, looked like the antipodes of
sailors, and apparently dealt in nothing but grease.
They lived
upon grease; eat it, drank it, slept in the midst of it, and their
clothes were covered with it. To a Russian, grease is the greatest
luxury. They looked with greedy eyes upon the tallow-bags as they
were taken into the vessel, and, no doubt, would have eaten one up
whole, had not the officer kept watch over it. The grease seemed
actually coming through their pores, and out in their hair, and on
their faces. It seems as if it were this saturation which makes
them stand cold and rain so well. If they were to go into a warm
climate, they would all die of the scurvy.
The vessel was no better than the crew. Everything was in the oldest
and most inconvenient fashion possible; running trusses on the yards,
and large hawser cables, coiled all over the decks, and served and
parcelled in all directions. The topmasts, top-gallant masts and
studding-sail booms were nearly black for want of scraping, and
the decks would have turned the stomach of a man-of-war's-man.
The galley was down in the forecastle; and there the crew lived,
in the midst of the steam and grease of the cooking, in a place
as hot as an oven, and as dirty as a pigsty. Five minutes in
the forecastle was enough for us, and we were glad to get into the
open air. We made some trade with them, buying Indian curiosities,
of which they had a great number; such as bead-work, feathers of
birds, fur moccasins, etc. I purchased a large robe, made of the
skins of some animals, dried and sewed nicely together, and covered
all over on the outside with thick downy feathers, taken from the
breasts of various birds, and arranged with their different colors,
so as to make a brilliant show.
A few days after our arrival, the rainy season set in, and,
for three weeks, it rained almost every hour, without cessation.
This was bad for our trade, for the collecting of hides is managed
differently in this port from what it is in any other on the coast.
The mission of San Francisco near the anchorage, has no trade at
all, but those of San José, Santa Clara, and others, situated on
large creeks or rivers which run into the bay, and distant between
fifteen and forty miles from the anchorage, do a greater business
in hides than any in California. Large boats, manned by Indians,
and capable of carrying nearly a thousand hides apiece, are attached
to the missions, and sent down to the vessels with hides, to bring
away goods in return. Some of the crews of the vessels are obliged
to go and come in the boats, to look out for the hides and goods.
These are favorite expeditions with the sailors, in fine weather;
but now to be gone three or four days, in open boats, in constant
rain, without any shelter, and with cold food, was hard service.
Two of our men went up to Santa Clara in one of these boats,
and were gone three days, during all which time they had a
constant rain, and did not sleep a wink, but passed three long
nights, walking fore and aft the boat, in the open air.
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