22d, at San Pedro, in the old south-easter berth, a
league from shore, with a slip-rope on the cable, reefs in the
topsails, and rope-yarns for gaskets. Here we lay ten days, with the
usual boating, hide-carrying, rolling of cargo up the steep hill,
walking barefooted over stones, and getting drenched in salt water.
The third day after our arrival, the Rosa came in from San Juan,
where she went the day after the south-easter. Her crew said it was as
smooth as a mill-pond, after the gale, and she took off nearly a
thousand hides, which had been brought down for us, and which we
lost in consequence of the south-easter. This mortified us; not only
that an Italian ship should have got to windward of us in the trade,
but because every thousand hides went toward completing the forty
thousand which we were to collect before we could say good-by to
California.
While lying here, we shipped one new hand, an Englishman, of about
two or three and twenty, who was quite an acquisition, as he proved to
be a good sailor, could sing tolerably, and, what was of more
importance to me, had a good education, and a somewhat remarkable
history.
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