ATTRACTIONS OF THE SOUTH SEAS 



roof of the Astor House, in New York, sending a full 

 report of what he saw to his astronomical correspondent 

 in New Haven. At one time he writes that he is detained 

 in New York by his interest in studying a parasitic crusta- 

 cean, Argulus, which attaches itself to the body of the 

 codfish. Everything indicates enthusiasm, energy, ver- 

 satility, and patience. 



It is evident that all the powers of the young naturalist 

 were aroused by his new opportunities and responsibili- 

 ties. This was, as every one knows, a most interesting 

 period in the progress of geography, the epoch of island 

 surveys following the epoch of early circumnavigation. 

 Great discoveries of continental coast-lines and of ocean 

 archipelagoes had been made during the first decades of 

 the century, so that the cruise of the Vincennes and the 

 Peacock would not be in regions wholly undescribed ; at 

 the same time, vast tracts of the Pacific were still unex- 

 plored, more accurate information was required in respect 

 to places which had already been visited, and there were 

 opportunities for unlimited researches in the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms, and respecting the geology. The 

 suspected existence of an Antarctic continent excited 

 boundless curiosity. Moreover, the island world was 

 coming under Christian influences and European suprem- 

 acy; missionaries and traders were securing stations. 

 Civilization had entered Oceana. The day had dawned 

 when travellers in search of adventures, invalids in quest 

 of health, and novelists seeking inspiration were to be 

 attracted by the charms of these distant archipelagoes. 

 A writer like Robert Louis Stevenson, an artist like La- 

 farge, a novelist like Pierre Loti, an " American Loti " 

 like Charles W. Stoddard, had not yet appeared. But 

 while the United States Expedition was at sea, Richard 

 H. Dana, Jr., a distant kinsman of James D. Dana, had 

 uttered " a voice from the forecastle," a narrative of 

 Two Years Before the Mast, between 1837 anc * 1839, 



55 



