314 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT:' 



and the questionable privilege of getting drunk taken 

 advantage of. Envious eyes watched their progress 

 from the other ships, but, much to my secret satisfac- 

 tion, none of their crews were allowed ashore at the same 

 tim6. There were quite sufficient possibilities of a row 

 among our own crowd, without further 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 eager- 

 ness 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 warn- 

 ing against similar excesses, although, it must be con- 

 fessed, that they we^e 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, 



