LAGOON ISLANDS. 



197 



THE PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS. 





the birds, the dark shadows and bright lights, the rushing 

 of the torrents, all proclaim the strife of the unloosed ele- 

 ments. At sea the al- 

 batross and little petrel 

 fly as if the storm were 

 their proper sphere, the 

 water rises and sinks 

 as if fulfilling its usual 

 task ; the ship alone and 

 its inhabitants seem the 

 objects of wrath. On a 

 forlorn and weather-beat- 

 en coast the scene is in- 

 deed different, but the feelings partake more of horror than 

 of wild delight. 



It is necessary to sail over the Pacific to comprehend its 

 immensity. Moving quickly onward for weeks together, we 

 meet with nothing but the same blue, profoundly deep ocean. 

 Even within the archipelagoes the islands are mere specks, 

 and far distant one from the other. Accustomed to look at 

 maps drawn on a small scale, where dots, shading, and names 

 are crowded together, we do not rightly judge how infinite- 

 ly small the proportion of dry land is to the water of this 

 vast expanse. 



THE ALBATROSS. 



LAGOON ISLANDS. 



ON the first of April, 1836, we arrived in view of the 

 Keeling or Cocos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean, and 



