1836.] RETROSPECT, 365 



least have made a greater sacrifice, than ever made by any nation, to 

 expiate our sin. 



On the last day of August we anchored for the second time at Porto 

 Praya in the Cape de Verd Archipelago ; thence we proceeded to the 

 Azores, where we stayed six days. On the 2nd of October we made 

 for the shores of England ; and at Falmouth I left the Beagle, having 

 lived on board the good little vessel nearly five years. 



Our Voyage having come to an end, I will take a short retrospect 

 of the advantages and disadvantages, the pains and pleasures, of our 

 circumnavigation of the world. If a person asked my advice, before 

 undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his 

 possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge, which could 

 by this means be advanced. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to 

 behold various countries and the many races of mankind, but the 

 pleasures gained at the time do not counter-balance the evils. It is 

 necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant that may be, 

 when some fruit will be reaped, some good effected. 



Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious ; such as 

 that of the society of every old friend, and of the sight of those places 

 with which every dearest remembrance is so intimately connected. 

 These losses, however, are at the time partly relieved by the exhaustless 

 delight of anticipating the long-wished-for day of return. If, as poets 

 say, life is a dream, I am sure in a voyage these are the visions which 

 best serve to pass away the long night. Other losses, although not at 

 first felt, tell heavily after a period : these are the want of room, of 

 seclusion, of rest ; the jading feeling of constant hurry ; the privation 

 of small luxuries, the loss of domestic society, and even of music and 

 the other pleasures of imagination. When such trifles are mentioned, 

 it is evident that the real grievances, excepting from accidents, of a sea- 

 life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has made an 

 astonishing difference in the facility of distant navigation. Even in the 

 time of Cook, a man who left his fireside for such expeditions under- 

 went severe privations. A yacht now, with every luxury of life, can 

 circumnavigate the globe. Besides the vast improvements in ships and 

 naval resources, the whole western shores of America are thrown open, 

 and Australia has become the capital of a rising continent. How 

 different are the circumstances to a man shipwrecked at the present 

 day in the Pacific, to what they were in the time of Cook I Since his 

 voyage a hemisphere has been added to the civilized world. 



If a person suffer much from sea-sickness, let him weigh it heavily in 

 the balance. I speak from experience : it is no trifling evil, cured in a 

 week. If, on the other hand, he take pleasure in naval tactics, he will 

 assuredly have full scope for his taste. But it must be borne in mind, 

 how large a proportion of the time, during a long voyage, is spent on 

 the water, *as compared with the days in harbour. And what are the 

 boasted glories of the illimitable ocean ? A tedious waste, a desert of 

 water, as the Arabian calls it. No doubt there are some delightful 



