Captain Faucon Came Quietly Up To
Me, As I Was At Work, With My Knife, Cutting The Meat From A
Dirty
hide, asked me how I liked California, and repeated - "Tityre, tu
patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi." Very apropos, thought
I, and,
at the same time, serves to show that you understand Latin.
However, a kind word from a captain is a thing not to be slighted;
so I answered him civilly, and made the most of it.
Saturday, July 11th. The Pilgrim set sail for the windward, and left
us to go on in our old way. Having laid in such a supply of wood,
and the days being now long, and invariably pleasant, we had a
good deal of time to ourselves. All the duck I received from home,
I soon made up into trowsers and frocks, and displayed, every Sunday,
a complete suit of my own make, from head to foot, having formed
the remnants of the duck into a cap. Reading, mending, sleeping,
with occasional excursions into the bush, with the dogs, in search
of coati, hares, and rabbits, or to encounter a rattlesnake, and now
and then a visit to the Presidio, filled up our spare time after
hide-curing was over for the day. Another amusement, which we
sometimes indulged in, was "burning the water" for craw-fish.
For this purpose, we procured a pair of grains, with a long staff
like a harpoon, and making torches with tarred rope twisted round a
long pine stick, took the only boat on the beach, a small skiff,
and with a torch-bearer in the bow, a steersman in the stern, and one
man on each side with the grains, went off, on dark nights, to burn
the water. This is fine sport. Keeping within a few rods of the
shore, where the water is not more than three or four feet deep,
with a clear sandy bottom, the torches light everything up so that one
could almost have seen a pin among the grains of sand. The craw-fish
are an easy prey, and we used soon to get a load of them. The other
fish were more difficult to catch, yet we frequently speared a number
of them, of various kinds and sizes. The Pilgrim brought us down
a supply of fish-hooks, which we had never had before, on the beach,
and for several days we went down to the Point, and caught a
quantity of cod and mackerel. On one of these expeditions, we saw
a battle between two Sandwich Islanders and a shark. "Johnny"
had been playing about our boat for some time, driving away the
fish, and showing his teeth at our bait, when we missed him, and in
a few moments heard a great shouting between two Kanakas who were
fishing on the rock opposite to us: "E hana hana make i ka ia nui!"
"E pii mai Aikane!" etc., etc.; and saw them pulling away on a stout
line, and "Johnny Shark" floundering at the other end. The line
soon broke; but the Kanakas would not let him off so easily,
and sprang directly into the water after him. Now came the tug of
war. Before we could get into deep water, one of them seized him
by the tail, and ran up with him upon the beach; but Johnny
twisted round, turning his head under his body, and, showing his
teeth in the vicinity of the Kanaka's hand, made him let go and
spring out of the way. The shark now turned tail and made the
best of his way, by flapping and floundering, toward deep water;
but here again, before he was fairly off, the other Kanaka seized
him by the tail, and made a spring towards the beach, his companion
at the same time paying away upon him with stones and a large stick.
As soon, however, as the shark could turn, he was obliged to let go
his hold; but the instant he made toward deep water, they were both
behind him, watching their chance to seize him. In this way the
battle went on for some time, the shark, in a rage, splashing and
twisting about, and the Kanakas, in high excitement, yelling at the
top of their voices; but the shark at last got off, carrying away a
hook and liner and not a few severe bruises.
CHAPTER XXI
CALIFORNIA AND ITS INHABITANTS
We kept up a constant connection with the Presidio, and by the close
of the summer I had added much to my vocabulary, beside having made
the acquaintance of nearly everybody in the place, and acquired some
knowledge of the character and habits of the people, as well as of
the institutions under which they live.
California was first discovered in 1536, by Cortes, and was subsequently
visited by numerous other adventurers as well as commissioned voyagers
of the Spanish crown. It was found to be inhabited by numerous tribes
of Indians, and to be in many parts extremely fertile; to which, of course,
was added rumors of gold mines, pearl fishery, etc. No sooner was the
importance of the country known, than the Jesuits obtained leave to
establish themselves in it, to Christianize and enlighten the Indians.
They established missions in various parts of the country toward the
close of the seventeenth century, and collected the natives about them,
baptizing them into the church, and teaching them the arts of civilized
life. To protect the Jesuits in their missions, and at the same time
to support the power of the crown over the civilized Indians, two
forts were erected and garrisoned, one at San Diego, and the other
at Monterey. These were called Presidios, and divided the command of
the whole country between them. Presidios have since been established
at Santa Barbara and San Francisco; thus dividing the country into
four large districts, each with its presidio, and governed by the
commandant. The soldiers, for the most part, married civilized
Indians; and thus, in the vicinity of each presidio, sprung up,
gradually, small towns.
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