, etc.; and no one was idle. The boys who could not sew
well enough to make their own clothes, laid up grass into sinnet for
the men, who sewed for them in return. Several of us clubbed
together and bought a large piece of twilled cotton, which we made
into trowsers and jackets, and giving them several coats of linseed
oil, laid them by for Cape Horn. I also sewed and covered a
tarpaulin hat, thick and strong enough to sit down upon, and made
myself a complete suit of flannel under-clothing, for bad weather.
Those who had no south-wester caps, made them, and several of the crew
made themselves tarpaulin jackets and trowsers, lined on the inside
with flannel. Industry was the order of the day, and every one did
something for himself; for we knew that as the season advanced, and we
went further south, we should have no evenings to work in.
Friday, December 25th. This day was Christmas; and as it rained
all day long, and there were no hides to take in, and nothing especial
to do, the captain gave us a holiday, (the first we had had since
leaving Boston,) and plum duff for dinner. The Russian brig, following
the Old Style, had celebrated their Christmas eleven days before; when
they had a grand blow-out and (as our men said) drank, in the
forecastle, a barrel of gin, ate up a bag of tallow, and made a soup
of the skin.
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