234 THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 26. [1S35. 



of this most important year in your life. Previously I had 

 only heard the plain fact that you were married. You are a 

 true Christian and return good for evil, to send two such let- 

 ters to so bad a correspondent as I have been. God bless 

 you for writing so kindly and affectionately ; if it is a pleas- 

 ure to have friends in England, it is doubly so to think and 

 know that one is not forgotten because absent. This voyage 

 is terribly long. I do so earnestly desire to return, yet I dare 

 hardly look forward to the future, for I do not know what 

 will become of me. Your situation is above envy: I do not 

 venture even to frame such happy visions. To a person fit to 

 take the office, the life of a clergyman is a type of all that is 

 respectable and happy. You tempt me by talking of your 

 fireside, whereas it is a sort of scene I never ought to think 

 about. I saw the other day a vessel sail for England ; it was 

 quite dangerous to know how easily I might turn deserter. 

 As for an English lady, I have almost forgotten what she is — 

 something very angelic and good. As for the women in these 

 countries, they wear caps and petticoats, and a very few have 

 pretty faces, and then all is said. But if we are not wrecked 

 on some unlucky reef, I will sit by that same fireside in Vale 

 Cottage and tell some of the wonderful stories, which you 

 seem to anticipate and, I presume, are not very ready to be- 

 lieve. Gracias a dios^ the prospect of such times is rather 

 shorter than formerly. 



From this most wretched ' City of the Kings ' we sail in 

 a fortnight, from thence to Guayaquil, Galapagos, Marquesas, 

 Society Islands, &c., &c. I look forward to the Galapagos 

 with more interest than any other part of the voyage. They 

 abound with active volcanoes, and, I should hope, contain 

 Tertiary strata. I am glad to hear you have some thoughts 

 of beginning Geology. I hope you will ; there is so much 

 larger a field for thought than in the other branches of Nat- 

 ural History. I am become a zealous disciple of Mr. Lyell's 

 views, as known in his admirable book. Geologising in South 

 America, I am tempted to carry parts to a greater extent 

 even than he does. Geology is a capital science to begin, as 



