66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



dence round the craters, which had since been in 

 action, and had poured forth lava. It then first 

 dawned on me that I might perhaps write a book on 

 the geology of the various countries visited, and this 

 made me thrill with delight. That was a memorable 

 hour to me, and how distinctly I can call to mind the 

 low cliff of lava beneath which I rested, with the sun 

 glaring hot, a few strange desert plants growing near, 

 and with living corals in the tidal pools at my feet. 

 Later in the voyage, Fitz-Roy asked me to read some 

 of my Journal, and declared it would be worth publish- 

 ing ; so here was a second book in prospect ! 



Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter 

 whilst at Ascension, in which my sisters told me that 

 Sedgwick had called on my father, and said that I 

 should take a place among the leading scientific men. 

 I could not at the time understand how he could have 

 learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I 

 believe afterwards) that Henslow had read some of 

 the letters which I wrote to him before the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Cambridge,* and had printed them 

 for private distribution. My collection of fossil bones, 

 which had been sent to Henslow, also excited con- 

 siderable attention amongst palaeontologists. After 

 reading this letter, I clambered over the mountains of 

 Ascension with a bounding step, and made the volcanic 

 rocks resound under my geological hammer. All this 

 shows how ambitious I was ; but I think that I can 



* Read at the meeting held tion among the members of the 

 November 16, 1835, and printed in Society, 

 a pamphlet of 31 pp. for distribu- 



