An Hundred
And Fifty To Put In Soak; An Hundred And Fifty To Wash Out And Put
In The Vat;
The same number to haul from the vat and put on the
platform to drain; the same number to spread
And stake out and
clean; and the same number to beat and stow away in the home.
I ought to except Sunday; for, by a prescription which no captain
or agent has yet ventured to break in upon, Sunday has been a day
of leisure on the beach for years. On Saturday night, the hides,
in every stage of progress, are carefully covered up, and not
uncovered until Monday morning. On Sundays we had absolutely
no work to do, unless it was to kill a bullock, which was sent
down for our use about once a week, and sometimes came on Sunday.
Another good arrangement was, that we had just so much work to do,
and when that was through, the time was our own. Knowing this,
we worked hard, and needed no driving. We "turned out" every
morning at the first signs of daylight, and allowing a short time,
about eight o'clock, for breakfast, generally got through our labor
between one and two o'clock, when we dined, and had the rest of the
time to ourselves; until just before sundown, when we beat the dry
hides and put them in the house, and covered over all the others.
By this means we had about three hours to ourselves every afternoon;
and at sundown we had our supper, and our work was done for the day.
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 siésta 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 siésta, two or three smokes with
his pipe, and a paséo 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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