I never made a more disagreeable voyage than on board that whaler. There were several reasons that rendered the passage unpleasant. One was, that all on board were in an ill-conditioned frame of mind; and, consequently, had no relish for being either civil or sociable. The diggers had been detained several weeks--on their way to a land they were anxious to reach in the shortest possible time--and they now were to be landed at Auckland instead of Sydney. Another voyage would have to be made, before they could arrive at the gold fields of Australia--of which they had been hearing such attractive tales. We were not even favoured with a fair breeze. On the contrary, the wind blew most of the way against us; and the ship had to make about three hundred miles, while carrying us only fifty in the right direction. The whaler, moreover, was an old tub--good enough for her proper purpose, but ill adapted for carrying impatient passengers on their way to a new gold field. She was kept as much into the wind as possible; but withal made so much lee-way, that her course was side-ways--in the same manner as a pig would go into a battle. There were no accommodations either for sleeping, or eating the little food we were allowed; and we were compelled to rough it in the most literal sense of the phrase. By the time we should have reached Auckland, we were not half the distance; and both the provisions and water of the ship were well nigh consumed. Between seventy and eighty hungry and thirsty men--added to the original crew of the whaler--had made a greater destruction of his ship's stores than the captain had calculated upon; and the third week, after leaving the island, we were put on an allowance of one quart of water per diem to each individual. Meat was no longer served out to us; and simple, though not very sweet, biscuits became our food. We were also allowed rice; but this, without garnishing, was still more insipid than the biscuits. We thought it hard fare, and complained accordingly, although we had but little reason for doing so. We could only blame our fate, or our fortune; and so the captain of the whaler was accustomed to tell us. "I warned you," he would say, "that you might expect to have a hard time of it. I'm sure I did not advertise for you to take passage in my vessel, and you have no reason to complain. I do the best for you I can. You are growling about having to eat rice. Millions of people live on it for years, while working hard. You have only to live on it for a few days, and do nothing. I hope, for both our sakes, it won't last long." It was just, because they were _doing nothing_ that the grumblers were so loud in their complaints.