There was no watch to stand, and no topsails to
reef. The evenings we generally spent at one another's houses, and I
often went up and spent an hour or so at the oven; which was called
the "Kanaka Hotel," and the "Oahu Coffee-house." Immediately after
dinner we usually took a short siesta to make up for our early rising,
and spent the rest of the afternoon according to our own fancies. I
generally read, wrote, and made or mended clothes; for necessity,
the mother of invention, had taught me these two latter arts. The
Kanakas went up to the oven, and spent the time in sleeping,
talking, and smoking; and my messmate, Nicholas, who neither knew
how to read or write, passed away the time by a long siesta, two or
three smokes with his pipe, and a paseo to the other houses. This
leisure time is never interfered with, for the captains know that
the men earn it by working hard and fast, and that if they
interfered with it, the men could easily make their twenty-five
hides apiece last through the day. We were pretty independent, too,
for the master of the house- "capitan de la casa"- had nothing to say
to us, except when we were at work on the hides, and although we could
not go up to the town without his permission, this was seldom or never
refused.
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