eight
a.m.
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 .