By putting a hundred and fifty in soak every day, we had the same number at each stage of curing on each day; so that we had, every day, the same work to do upon the same number,—­ a hundred and fifty to put in soak, a 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 house.  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 might be to kill a bullock, which was sent down for our use about once a week, and sometimes came on Sunday.  Another advantage of the hide-curing life 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 with the first signs of daylight, and allowing a short time, at 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 Coffeehouse.’’ Immediately after dinner we usually took a short siesta, 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 nor write, passed away the time by a long siesta, two or three smokes with his pipe, and a paseo 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.