_December 18th._--At 1¹⁄₂ A. M., furled foretopsail; at 4, set close-reefed foretopsail and foresail; at 7, made all sail; at 3 P. M., furled the light sails, and double-reefed the foretopsail; at 7 P. M., shook the reefs out, and set the flying-jib and maintopgallantsail; at 10, furled the light sails and double-reefed the fore topsail, and at midnight double-reefed the maintopsail. Here was work enough for three days, and hard work, as any one may discover, who doubts the fact, by, like me, participating in it; but handling, reefing, and steering, are by no means all the employments of the seamen when afloat. Everything being kept taut, the strain on the rigging, in heavy weather, is tremendous, so that some little thing or other always needs repair; and in fine weather the sailor is sent with his marlinespike, slush, and tar-bucket, into the rigging, where he not unusually stays a whole watch, busily employed in putting a seizing here, or seizing on a ratline there, repairing the service, or other chafing gear. These, with other duties of a like description, keep a merchantman’s crew continually on the move; but where there are so many, as with us, the labors are performed without making the task irksome to any. Wishing, in doubling the Cape, to near the land, so as to take advantage of the westerly current (which here is said to run with a speed of four knots hourly), we done all we could to hang on; but the wind forbade us arriving at this desired position; and as we drifted considerably to the southward, we were two degrees from Table Mountain on the 21st, when, with a fair wind and plenty of it, a clear sky and smooth sea, without let or hindrance, we passed into the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean; just three years, two months, and eleven days from the time we passed from it into the Indian Ocean, with a prospect of three years whaling before us; all buoyant with hope, and not a doubt entering the thoughts of any that, by the time we were thus far on our return passage, we should be full of oil. But it is needless to say that such is far from being the case. It cannot be supposed that we left the Indian Ocean, whose broad bosom was our home for so many months, with any regret. Indeed, there was little to endear it to the remembrance of any one who ever experienced its changeable and heavy weather, and who has been obliged to visit its miserable ports. We have had a pretty thorough acquaintance with it, having navigated its entire length, and cruised, day after day, in its waters, from latitude 8° to 42° south.