I had
heard the sound before at night, but did not know what it was, until
one of the men, who came down to look at my quarters, told me it was
the owl. Mellowed by the distance, and heard alone, at night, I
thought it was the most melancholy, boding sound I had ever heard.
Through nearly all the night they kept it up, answering one another
slowly, at regular intervals. This was relieved by the noisy coati,
some of which came quite near to my quarters, and were not very
pleasant neighbors. The next morning, before sunrise, the long-boat
came ashore, and the hides were taken off.
We lay at San Pedro about a week, engaged in taking off hides and in
other labors, which had now become our regular duties. I spent one
more day on the hill, watching a quantity of hides and goods, and this
time succeeded in finding a part of a volume of Scott's Pirate, in a
corner of the house; but it failed me at a most interesting moment,
and I betook myself to my acquaintances on shore, and from them
learned a good deal about the customs of the country, the harbors,
etc. This, they told me, was a worse harbor than Santa Barbara, for
south-easters; the bearing of the headland being a point and a half
more to windward, and it being so shallow that the sea broke often
as far out as where we lay at anchor.
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