On account of the prevalent westerly winds, we were forced to run several degrees to the northward. On our passage to Hobartown we crossed the middle ground (which is midway between New Zealand and New Holland). This is a famous ground for sperm whales, and did not, in this case, belie its reputation--we seeing a school, whilst crossing it. We lowered for, but scared them, much to our discontent. We made no stay here, but steered directly for Van Dieman’s Land; and on the 21st were becalmed in sight of it. The next evening we took a pilot aboard, and the following morning passed the Iron Pot light, and entered the Derwent river. This is a noble stream, two and a half miles wide, and navigable for one hundred. The country on both sides of the river appeared fertile, and it being the proper season of the year, in this latitude, for the husbandman to break the ground and plant his seeds, the agriculturists of the section were to be seen intent on such employment. Some of our crew, whilst closely watching these busy laborers, thought of their earlier youth, when, like them, they followed a kind father or elder brother in their occupations around their farms at home, and on contrasting their present rough and boisterous calling with the more peaceful and quiet one they were formerly engaged in, they were rather disposed to think the farmer had the best of it; and several expressed a willingness to exchange conditions with them. They may have been sincere, but I doubt it; as those who have been employed in agricultural pursuits, after once becoming identified with whaling by the performance of a voyage, although they may inveigh against its hardships and discomforts, rarely fail to go again. Why this is, is easily deduced. In the first place, in their old calling, there is too much work for them after leading the lazy, rollicking sailor’s life aboard a whaleship, where the regulations of the service allow him four or five hours sleep (without whales are in sight) in the daytime. A man has little inclination to labor from sun to sun. Again, in rural localities, there is a degree of wonder and interest attaching to a sailor, that makes him feel flattered by the special attention displayed towards him; and, after spinning all his marvellous yarns to an admiring audience, he feels it incumbent upon him to keep up the character by again embarking, with the prospect of returning in the possession of new stories and songs.