Next day was devoted to watering; but as I have elsewhere described that necessary if prosaic occupation, I will not repeat the story.Sufficient to say that the job was successfully "did"in the course of the day.
All the work being accomplished for which we had come, it only remained to give the crew "liberty." So the port watch, in their best (?) rig, were mustered aft; each man received ten shillings, and away they went in glee for the first genuine day's liberty since leaving Honolulu.For although they had been much ashore in Vau Vau, that was not looked upon in the same light as a day's freedom in a town where liquor might be procured, and the questionable privilege of getting drunk taken advantage of.
Envious eyes watched their progress from the other ships, but, much to my secret satisfaction, none of their crews were allowed ashore at the same time.There were quite sufficient possibilities of a row among our own crowd, without farther complications such as would almost certainly have occurred had the strangers been let loose at the same time.Unfortunately, to the ordinary sailor-man, the place presented no other forms of amusement besides drinking, and I was grieved to see almost the whole crowd, including the Kanakas, emerge from the grog-shop plentifully supplied with bottles, and, seating themselves on the beach, commence their carouse.The natives evinced the greatest eagerness to get drunk, swallowing down the horrible "square gin"as if it were water.They passed with the utmost rapidity through all the stages of drunkenness.Before they had been ashore an hour, most of them were lying like logs, in the full blaze of the sun, on the beach.Seeing this, the captain suggested the advisability of bringing them on board at once, as they were only exposed to robbery by the few prowling Maories that loafed about the beach--a curious contrast to the stately fellows met with in other parts of New Zealand.
So we set to work, and brought them on board again, handing them over to their compatriots by way of warning against similar excesses, although, it must be confessed, that they were hardly to blame, with the example of their more civilized shipmates before their eyes.Sam was energetic in his condemnation of both the Kanakas for getting drunk, and the captain for giving them any money wherewith to do so.The remainder of the watch fortunately concluded their carouse without any serious disorder.
A few bruises bestowed upon one another, more in clumsy horseplay than real fighting summed up the casualties among them.By ten o'clock that evening we had them all safely on board again, ready for sore heads and repentance in the morning.
During the day I had evolved a scheme, which I had great hopes of carrying out when our watch should be let loose on the morrow.
When morning came, and the liberty men received their money, Icalled them together and unfolded my plan.Briefly, I proposed a sort of picnic at a beautiful spot discovered during our wooding expedition.I was surprised and very pleased at the eager way in which all, with the sole exceptions of Tui and his fellow-harpooner, a Portuguese, fell in with my suggestions.Without any solicitation on my part, my Kanakas brought me their money, begging me to expend it for them, as they did not know how, and did not want to buy gin.
Under such favourable auspices as these, we landed shortly after eight a.m., making a bee-line for the only provision shop the place boasted.Here we laid in a stock of such savouries as we had long been strangers to, both eatables and drinkables, although I vetoed fire-water altogether.Beer in bottle was substituted, at my suggestion, as being, if we must have drinks of that nature, much the least harmful to men in a hot country, besides, in the quantity that we were able to take, non-intoxicant.We also took tea, sugar, milk, and a kettle, Thus furnished, we struck for the country, merry as a group of schoolboys, making the quiet air ring again with song, shout, and laughter--all of which may seem puerile and trivial in the extreme; but having seen liberty men ashore in nearly every big port in the world, watched the helpless, dazed look with which they wander about, swinging hands, bent shoulders, and purposeless rolling gait, I have often fervently wished that some one would take a party of them for a ramble with a definite purpose, helping them to a little enjoyment, instead of them falling, from sheer lack of knowing what else to do, into some dirty, darksome gin-mill, to be besotted, befooled, and debased.
I do earnestly wish that some of the good folk in London and Liverpool, who are wringing their hands for want of something to do among their fellow-men, would pay a visit to sailor-town for the purpose of getting up a personally-conducted party of sailors to see the sights worth seeing.It is a cheap form of pleasure, even if they paid all expenses, though that would not be likely.
