ption, on the coast of California. We had sailed well to the
westward, to have the full advantage of the north-east trades, and so
had now to sail southward to reach the port of Santa Barbara, where we
arrived on the 14th, after a voyage of 150 days from Boston.

At Santa Barbara we came into touch with other vessels engaged in
loading hides and tallow, and as this was the work in which we were soon
to be engaged, we looked on with some curiosity, especially at the
labours of the crew of the Ayacucho, who were dusky Sandwich Islanders.
And besides practice in landing on this difficult coast, we experienced
the difficulties involved in having suddenly to slip our cables and
then, when the weather allowed of it, coming to at our former moorings.
From this time until May 8, 1836, I was engaged in trading and loading,
drying and storing hides, between Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Pedro,
San Diego, San Juan, and San Francisco.

The ship California, belonging to the same firm, had been nearly two
years on the coast before she collected her full cargo of 40,000 hides.
Another vessel, the Lagoda, carrying 31,000 or 32,000, had been nearly
two years getting her cargo; and when it appeared that we were to
collect some 40,000 hides besides our own, which would be 12,000 or
15,000, the men became discontented. It was bad for others, but worse
for me, who did not mean to be a sailor for life. Three or four years
would make me a sailor in every respect, mind and habits as well as
body, and would put all my companions so far ahead of me that college
and a profession would be in vain to think of.

We were at the ends of the earth, in a country where there is neither
law nor gospel, and where sailors are at their captain's mercy. We lost
all interest in the voyage, cared nothing about the cargo, while we were
only collecting for others, began to patch our clothes, and felt as
though we were fixed beyond hope of change.

_III.--A Tyrannical Captain_

Apart from the incessant labour on board ship, at San Pedro we had to
roll heavy casks and barrels of goods up a steep hill, to unload the
hides from the carts at the summit, reload these carts with our goods,
cast the hides over the side of the hill, collect them, and take them on
board. After we had been employed in this manner for several days, the
captain quarrelled with the cook, had a dispute with the mate, and
turned his displeasure particularly against a large, heavy-moulded