28 From 1850 to 1862 



II 



and turmoil of the vast city, and passing from one 

 bed of suffering to another, with a group of medical 

 students following behind him, through the prim 

 wards of a great hospital. Moreover, fond as he was 

 of the hills and the rivers of Sutherland, and the 

 moors of Devonshire and of Derbyshire, he had one 

 passion — it may truly be called a passion — which 

 made it impossible for him ever to stay for long in 

 his native land. Inscribed on an old Spanish map of 

 the Gulf of Mexico there is a legend stating that 

 ' Pineda was not prompted to push his way up the 

 great river, which is now known as the Mississippi, 

 questing for gold, because it was too far from 

 the Tropics.' For the same reason George 

 Kingsley was not prompted to, nay, could not 

 push his way up the great river of life in England, 

 questing for gold — 'it was too far from the 

 Tropics.' The sunlight, the colour, and the magnifi- 

 cent exuberance of the life of the Torrid Zone 

 absolutely called across the latitudes to every member 

 of the Kingsley family of the same generation as he. 

 It seems to be extremely improbable that it was a 

 call of this kind that had originally induced their 

 ancestors, on the mother's side, to go out to the 

 West Indies ; and it is known, as a matter of fact, 

 that there was a Lucas who went, very unwillingly, 

 from the bridewell at Taunton to Barbadoes im- 

 mediately after the suppression of Monmouth's 

 Rebellion. It seems to be less improbable that (as 

 \^€^\^ Mr. Francis Gallon has suggested) those ancestors 



