AN UNDISCOVERED ISLAND. 195 



us aware on the instant how dependent are all the 

 deep and beautiful relations of life on this wonder 

 ful faculty. But for this &quot; master light of all our 

 seeing,&quot; how small a circle of light would lie about 

 our feet, how vast a darkness would engulf the 

 world ! 



v. 



O wonder ! 



How many goodly creatures are there here ! 

 How beauteous mankind is ! O brave new world, 

 That has such people in t ! 



WE had never thought of the island in the old 

 days save as lashed by tempests ; but now the suns 

 rose and set, dawn wore its shining veil and night 

 its crest of stars, and not a cloud darkened the sky; 

 we seemed to be in the heart of a vast and change 

 less calm. There was no monotony in the 

 unbroken succession of the days, but the changes 

 were wrought by light, not by darkness. The sing 

 ing of the sea, never rising into those shrill upper 

 notes which bode disaster, nor sinking into the deep 

 lower tones through which the awful thunder of the 

 elements breaks, came to us as out of the depths of 

 an infinite repose. The youth of an untroubled 

 world was in it. The joy of effortless activities 

 breathed through it. We felt that we were once 

 more in the morning of the world s day, and hope 

 gave the keynote to all our thought. Life is di- 



