362 CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN. 



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 publishing, so here was 

 a second book in prospect ! " 



Darwin, stirred by the right kind of ambition, 

 had found his life-work. It would not be in the 

 church, as his father had fondly hoped, but the 

 world would be his audience. 



On October 5, 1836, Darwin arrived at Shrews- 

 bury, after five years' absence. He left home a 

 high-spirited, warm-hearted youth, fond of athletic 

 sports, and vigorous in body. He came back with 

 a passionate love for science, "with the habit of 

 energetic industry and of concentrated attention," 

 but with health impaired, Avhich made the whole 

 of his after life a battle with suffering. Yet he 

 conquered, and gave to his generation a wonderful 

 example of the power of mind over body ; of vic- 

 tory over obstacles. 



During the voyage he was an almost constant 

 sufferer from sea-sickness. He wrote home the 

 last year : " It is a lucky thing for me that the 

 voyage is drawing to its close, for I positively 

 suffer more from sea-sickness now than three years 

 ago." 



"After perhaps an hour's work," says Admiral 

 Stokes, " he would say to me, ' Old fellow, I must 



