CHAPTER VII 



THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE : PERSONAL 



THE voyage left its mark on the young naturalist. His 

 physique was strengthened : the long spells of isolation, 

 though depriving him of much that he longed for, helped to 

 fix the lines of his thought and character and aims. 1 



The cruize [he writes to his mother, Juno 29, 1841] has 

 proved me quite hardy. Except a slight cold and its con- 

 comitant discomfort, I have had nothing to complain of, 

 and that has been since my arriving here (Tasmania). 

 During all the time I was in the Southward I did not know 

 an hour's illness of any kind whatever : the cold is healthy 

 in the extreme, and an occasional ducking of sea- water proves 

 rather beneficial. I always accustom myself to taking 

 moderate exercise in hauling the ropes, setting sails, putting 

 the ship about, &c. Thus my chest expands, my arms 

 get hard, and the former rings almost when struck. 



And when he reached the Cape in 1843 he tells her that, as 

 they felt the weather stifling and hot, ' to dine on board the 

 Flagship the other day I had to borrow garments ; not one 

 of my 3 dozen white trousers will go on : so much for my 

 rude health.' 



1 Mrs. Richardson, Franklin's niece, writing to Hooker on August 3, 1842, 

 remarks that she would never have recommended the Navy to him as a career 

 and that it might even be unsatisfactory as a means of travel and experience 

 when a cautious reserve is wisest : adding sagely, ' As a piece of mental training 

 I cannot think lightly of that retirement into oneself which is the natural 

 consequence of not entirely liking our associates, and not agreeing with their 

 views or notions. Mrs. Barbauld calls this sort of thing the "Education of 

 circumstances," and notices how it contributes to form the character.' 



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