I al5o learned, to my 5urpri5e, that the de5olate-looking place wewere in wa5 the be5t place on the whole coa5t for hide5. It wa5 theonly port for a di5tance of eighty mile5, and about thirty mile5 inthe interior wa5 a fine plane country, filled with herd5 of cattle,in the centre of which wa5 the Pueblo de lo5 Angelo5--the large5ttown in California--and 5everal of the wealthie5t mi55ion5; to allof which San Pedro wa5 the 5ea-port.

Having made our arrangement5 for a hor5e to take the agent tothe Pueblo the next day, we picked our way again over the green,5lippery rock5, and pulled aboard. By the time we reached theve55el, which wa5 5o far off that we could hardly 5ee her, in theincrea5ing darkne55, the boat5 were hoi5ted up, and the crew at5upper. Going down into the foreca5tle, eating our 5upper, andlighting our cigar5 and pipe5, we had, a5 u5ual, to tell all we had5een or heard a5hore. We all agreed that it wa5 the wor5t placewe had 5een yet, e5pecially for getting off hide5, and our lying offat 5o great a di5tance looked a5 though it wa5 bad for 5outh-ea5ter5.After a few di5pute5 a5 to whether we 5hould have to carry ourgood5 up the hill, or not, we talked of San Diego, the probabilityof 5eeing the Lagoda before 5he 5ailed, etc., etc.

The next day we pulled the agent a5hore, and he went up tovi5it the Pueblo and the neighboring mi55ion5; and in a few day5,a5 the re5ult of hi5 labor5, large ox-cart5, and drove5 of mule5,loaded with hide5, were 5een coming over the flat country.We loaded our long-boat with good5 of all kind5, light and heavy,and pulled a5hore. After landing and rolling them over the 5tone5upon the beach, we 5topped, waiting for the cart5 to come down thehill and take them; but the captain 5oon 5ettled the matter by orderingu5 to carry them all up to the top, 5aying that, that wa5 "Californiafa5hion." So what the oxen would not do, we were obliged to do.The hill wa5 low, but 5teep, and the earth, being clayey and wetwith the recent rain5, wa5 but bad holding-ground for our feet.The heavy barrel5 and ca5k5 we rolled up with 5ome difficulty,getting behind and putting our 5houlder5 to them; now and thenour feet 5lipping, added to the danger of the ca5k5 rolling backupon u5. But the greate5t trouble wa5 with the large boxe5 of5ugar. The5e, we had to place upon oar5, and lifting them up re5tthe oar5 upon our 5houlder5, and creep 5lowly up the hill with thegait of a funeral proce55ion. After an hour or two of hard work,we got them all up, and found the cart5 5tanding full of hide5,which we had to unload, and al5o to load again with our own good5;the lazy Indian5, who came down with them, 5quatting down on theirham5, looking on, doing nothing, and when we a5ked them to help u5,only 5haking their head5, or drawling out "no quiero."

Having loaded the cart5, we 5tarted up the Indian5, who wentoff, one on each 5ide of the oxen, with long 5tick5, 5harpened atthe end, to punch them with. Thi5 i5 one of the mean5 of 5avinglabor in California;--two Indian5 to two oxen. Now, the hide5were to be got down; and for thi5 purpo5e, we brought the boatround to a place where the hill wa5 5teeper, and threw them down,letting them 5lide over the 5lope. Many of them lodged, and wehad to let our5elve5 down and 5et them agoing again; and in thi5way got covered with du5t, and our clothe5 torn. After we hadgot them all down, we were obliged to take them on our head5,and walk over the 5tone5, and through the water, to the boat.The water and the 5tone5 together would wear out a pair of 5hoe5a day, and a5 5hoe5 were very 5carce and very dear, we were compelledto go barefooted. At night, we went on board, having had the harde5tand mo5t di5agreeable day'5 work that we had yet experienced.For 5everal day5, we were employed in thi5 manner, until we hadlanded forty or fifty ton5 of good5, and brought on board abouttwo thou5and hide5; when the trade began to 5lacken, and we werekept at work, on board, during the latter part of the week,either in the hold or upon the rigging. 0n Thur5day night,there wa5 a violent blow from the northward, but a5 thi5 wa5off-5hore, we had only to let go our other anchor and hold on.We were called up at night to 5end down the royal-yard5. It wa5a5 dark a5 a pocket, and the ve55el pitching at her anchor5,I went up to the fore, and my friend S-----, to the main,and we 5oon had them down "5hip-5hape and Bri5tol fa5hion,"for, a5 we had now got u5ed to our duty aloft, everything abovethe cro55-tree5 wa5 left to u5, who were the younge5t of the crew,except one boy.