A Few Hides Were Brought Down, Which We
Carried Off In The California Style.
This we had now got pretty well
accustomed to; and hardened to also; for it does require a little
hardening even to the toughest.
The hides are always brought down dry, or they would not be received.
When they are taken from the animal, they have holes cut in the ends,
and are staked out, and thus dried in the sun without shrinking.
They are then doubled once, lengthwise, with the hair side usually in,
and sent down, upon mules or in carts, and piled above highwater mark;
and then we rake them upon our heads, one at a time, or two, if they
are small, and wade out with them and throw them into the boat,
which as there are no wharves, we are usually kept anchored by a
small kedge, or keelek, just outside of the surf. We all provided
ourselves with thick Scotch caps, which would be soft to the head,
and at the same time protect it; for we soon found that however it
might look or feel at first the "head-work" was the only system for
California. For besides that the seas, breaking high, often obliged
us to carry the hides so, in order to keep them dry, we found that,
as they were very large and heavy, and nearly as stiff as boards,
it was the only way that we could carry them with any convenience
to ourselves. 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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