This is not a solitary case of such sharp business-operations. A certain captain once boasted aboard our barque, that by his finesse in settling with those whom he discharged in Hobartown he had made the clear sum of two thousand dollars for his owners; in other words, that by misrepresenting the quantity of oil taken, he had cheated his crew out of so much money. A most creditable boast! Of a piece with such conduct was also his mode of serving out meat. A barrel was broken out, brought on deck, and divided into so many portions as were equivalent to his idea of a day’s allowance (which was about one-third of that prescribed by law). It was then tied together, and strung up on deck; whence if a remnant of it disappeared, it was charged to the steward and cook. We saw the vessel under the last-mentioned individual’s command on the first day of December. She was then bound home, and had but ten barrels of meat aboard for the consumption of the crew during the passage, which, as she had been out about four years, will consume at least ninety days. This quantity of meat would last us with the same number in the ship’s company as she has, but thirty days. For such conduct this man could not plead non-success, as he had on board one of the best cargoes on the ocean--his quantity of oil being no less than two thousand barrels, of which sixteen hundred contained sperm oil. On learning that the Coimbra was bound direct for home, several of us put letters aboard of her, and as she kept off and receded from our sight we naturally wished that we were pursuing a course in the same direction, and were agreeably astonished the next morning (December 5th) to find our captain keep off to the southward, and learned that we were bound round the Cape. In the afternoon we saw the Coimbra, overhauled and passed her; our studding-sails giving us a great advantage over her when the wind is free. The following day, in order to compete with us, she made and bent studding-sails; but this was as far as she could go, and we were still to windward of her, as we had made and bent mizzen, maintopmast, and maintopgallant staysails, which gave us a slight advantage.