352 SEND LETTERS HOME BY THE COIMBRA. 



our barque, that by his finesse in settling with those 

 whom he discharged in Ilobartown 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 rem- 

 nant of it disappeared, it was charged to the steward 

 and cook. 



We saw the vessel under the last-mentioned indi- 

 vidual'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 quan- 

 tity 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 natu- 

 rally wished that we were pursuing a course in the 

 same direction, and were agreeably astonished the 

 next morning (December 5th) to find our captain 



