532 RETROSPECT 



And these deeds are done and palliated by men who profess 

 to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and 

 pray that His Will be done on earth ! It makes one's blood 

 boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our 

 American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have 

 been and are so guilty ; but it is a consolation to reflect, that 

 we at 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 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 counterbalance 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, 



