140 THE VOYAGE. [ch. vi. 



" sounding ship " to beat a regular man-of-war ; and yet the 

 Beagle is not at all a particular ship. Erasmus will clearly 

 perceive it when he hears that in the night I have actually 

 sat down in the sacred precincts of the quarter deck. You 

 must excuse these queer letters, and recollect they are gen- 

 erally written in the evening after my day's work. I take 

 more pains over my log-book, so that eventually you will 

 have a good account of all the places I visit. Hitherto the 

 voyage has answered admirably to me, and yet I am now 

 more fully aware of your wisdom in throwing cold water on 

 the whole scheme; the chances are so numerous of [its] 

 turning out quite the reverse ; to such an extent do I feel 

 this, that if my advice was asked by any person on a similar 

 occasion, I should be very cautious in encouraging him. I 

 have not time to write to anybody else, so send to Maer to 

 let them know, that in the midst of the glorious tropical 

 scenery, I do not forget how instrumental they were in 

 placing me there. I will not rapturise again, but I give 

 myself great credit in not being crazy out of pure delight. 



Give my love to every soul at home, and to the Owens. 



I think one's affections, like other good things, nourish 

 and increase in these tropical regions. 



The conviction that I am walking in the New World is 

 even yet marvellous in my own eyes, and I daresay it is little 

 less so to you, the receiving a letter from a son of yours in 

 such a quarter. 



Believe me, my dear father, your most affectionate son. 



The Beagle letters give ample proof of his strong love of 

 home, and all connected with it, from his father down to 

 Nancy, his old nurse, to whom he sometimes sends his love. 



His delight in home-letters is shown in such passages 

 as : " But if you knew the glowing, unspeakable delight, 

 which I felt at being certain that my father and all of 

 you were well, only four months ago, you would not grudge 

 the labour lost in keeping Up the regular series of letters." 



" You would be surprised to know how entirely the 

 pleasure in arriving at a new place depends on letters." 



" I saw the other day a vessel sail for England ; it was 

 quite dangerous to know how easily I might turn deserter. 

 As for an English lady, I have almost forgotten what she is 

 something very. angelic and good." 



" I have just received a bundle more letters. I do not 

 know how to thank you all sufficiently. One from Cathe- 



