REGULATION OF TIME. 33 



What, therefore, at first promised to be so 

 gratifying, soon threatened to become extremely 

 irksome, and would, indeed, have been a serious 

 inconvenience, had we not followed the example 

 of the feathery tribe, which we daily observed 

 winging their way to roost, with a clock-work 

 regularity, and retired to our cabin at the proper 

 hour, where, shutting out the rays of the sun, 

 we obtained that repose which the exercise of 

 our duties required. 



At first sight it will, no doubt, appear to many 

 persons that constant daylight must be a valu- 

 able acquisition in every country ; but a little 

 reflection will, I think, be sufficient to show 

 that the reverse is really the case ; and to 

 satisfy a thinking mind, that we cannot over- 

 rate the blessings we derive from the wholesome 

 alternation of labour and rest, which is, in a 

 manner, forced upon us by the succession of 

 day and night. It is impossible by removing to 

 a high latitude, not to witness the difficulty there 

 is in the regulation of time ; the proneness that 

 is felt by the indefatigable and zealous to rivet 

 themselves to their occupations, and by the indo- 

 lent and procrastinating to postpone their duties, 

 without being truly thankful for that allwise and 

 merciful provision, with which Nature has en- 

 dowed the more habitable portions of the globe. 



D 



