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Finding himself disappointed at headquarters , he edged along forward to the mate , who was overseeing some work on the forecastle , and tried to begin a yarn ; but it would not do . He has worked a traverse over ' em , and come ' way out here , where nobody 's ever been afore , and where they 'll never think of coming . Some of the crews of the vessels are obliged to go and come in the boats , to look out for the hides and goods . This was set off against the account of the A. J. Donelson , and led us to look forward with less confidence to the passage , especially as no one on board had ever been through , and the captain had no very perfect charts . There was little else to do than to look out ; and we had the sharpest eyes in the ship on the forecastle . Sometimes , when I was at the wheel of a calm night , and the steering required no attention , and the officer of the watch was forward , he would come aft and hold a short yarn with me ; but this was against the rules of the ship , as is , in fact , all intercourse between passengers and the crew . The steward had heard the captain say something about the straits of Magellan , and the man at the wheel fancied he had heard him tell the " passenger " that , if he found the wind ahead and the weather very bad off the Cape , he should stick her off for New Holland , and come home round the Cape of Good Hope . This they did all day long for several days , until their hides were all discharged , when a gang of them were sent on board the Alert , to help us steeve our hides . When this was arranged , and the ways greased upon which the book was to slide , the falls of the tackles were stretched forward , and all hands tallied on , and bowsed away until the book was well entered ; when these tackles were nippered , straps and toggles clapped upon the falls , and two more luff tackles hooked on , with dogs , in the same manner ; and thus , by luff upon luff , the power was multiplied , until into a pile in which one hide more could not be crowded by hand , an hundred or an hundred and fifty were often driven in by this complication of purchases . We must come down from our heights , and leave our straight paths , for the byways and low places of life , if we would learn truths by strong contrasts ; and in hovels , in forecastles , and among our own outcasts in foreign lands , see what has been wrought upon our fellow-creatures by accident , hardship , or vice . Day after day , Captain Faucon went up to the hill to look out for us , and at last , gave us up , thinking we must have gone down in the gale which we experienced off Point Conception , and which had blown with great fury over the whole coast , driving ashore several vessels in the snuggest ports . Each morning we went ashore , and beat and brought off as many hides as we could steeve in the course of the day , and , after breakfast , went down into the hold , where we remained at work until night . Our captain told him to look out for the Mexicans , but he said they had not an armed vessel of his size in the whole Pacific .