RECRUITING AND SHORE LEAVE Otaheite, generally called Tahiti, was originally the garden of the world. After the white man came there were great changes, but not for the better. The soil remained as fertile as before and fruits and flowers were just as abundant, but the natives lost the charm of simplicity and innocence, and many of them imitated or adopted the bad traits and habits of the whites. A similar misfortune befell Nukahiva, so we were informed that we were not going into the harbor, but were to get water at a place on the island some distance from the settlement. The captain, we were told, was familiar with the spot, as he had been there before. The men had been looking forward to shore leave, and there was much disappointment, but the privilege of going ashore to fill the casks with water, even in an uninhabited country, was something. Just think of it—to walk once more on the earth after all these months of virtual imprisonment in a whaling vessel! I heard the captain say to Lakeum, as we approached the shore, “Good anchorage and deep water, and, when the men get ashore, quick work, too.” Hardly had the anchor touched bottom when the casks were lowered, and certain men were picked to man two boats; I was happy in being one of them. “They don’t want no deserters here,” I heard an old hand say. The pull was a short one. We landed at a beautiful spot and there, before us, was an expanse of tropical splendors. How nice it was to feel earth beneath one’s feet once more. “You don’t have to bail and fill here,” said Lakeum. This was the expression of a fact we were all aware of, for down an elevation only a few feet from the shore poured a bounteous stream of water. When the casks were landed, came the order “Let every man drink all he wants.” We drank as animals drink, with our faces to the stream. Oh! What luxury! It seemed as if we never could get our fill, but the word came, “Better stop now and drink again after the casks are filled.” A canvas hose with a square mouth was forthcoming, and in less than an hour the casks were filled and bunged up by the carpenter. Then we drank again to our hearts’ content. We were soon on ship, the casks were raised, the windlass was started, the ship took the wind and away we went. The men who had been compelled to remain on the ship were alternately noisy and sullen. We who had been permitted to land were equally discontented, for our brief taste of this tropical paradise only made us long for more. We fancied that we were now to seek the “Offshore Ground,” and that it would be many months before we would see land again. A pleasant surprise was in store for us.