480 RETROSPECT. [IIAI > . XXT. 



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 retro- 

 spect 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 counter- 

 balance 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 luxu- 

 ries, 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, excepting from accidents, of a 

 sea-life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has made 

 an astonishing difference in the facility of distant navigation. 

 Even in the time of Cook, a man who left his fireside for such 

 expeditions underwent severe privations. A yacht now, with 

 every luxury of life, can circumnavigate the globe. Besides the 

 vast improvements in ships and naval resources, the whole western 



