Then we made a whole suit of gaskets for
the voyage home, a pair of wheel-ropes from strips of green hide,
great quantities of spun-yarn, and everything else that could be
made between decks. It being now mid-winter and in high latitude,
the nights were very long, so that we were not turned-to until seven
in the morning, and were obliged to knock off at five in the
evening, when we got supper; which gave us nearly three hours before
eight bells, at which time the watch was set.
As we had now been about a year on the coast, it was time to think
of the voyage home; and knowing that the last two or three months of
our stay would be very busy ones, and that we should never have so
good an opportunity to work for ourselves as the present, we all
employed our evenings in making clothes for the passage home, and more
especially for Cape Horn. As soon as supper was over and the kids
cleared away, and each one had taken his smoke, we seated ourselves on
our chests round the lamp, which swung from a beam, and each one
went to work in his own way, some making hats, others trowsers, others
jackets, etc.
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