352 JOURNAL. 



And now I had reached a lonely spot, where no trace of man could 

 be seen, and whence I seemed to have no communication with any 

 living thing. I had been some hours alone in this magnificent wilder- 

 ness ; and though at first I might begin with exultation to cry — 



" I am monarch of all I survey, 



My right there is none to dispute," 



yet I very soon felt that utter loneliness is as disagreeable as unna- 

 tural ; and Cowper's exquisite lines again served me — 



" Oh, solitude ! where are thy charms 

 That sages have seen in thy face? 

 Better dwell in the midst of alarms, 

 Than reign in this horrible place." 



And I repeated over and over the whole of the poem, till I saw 

 two of my companions of the morning coming down the hill, when 

 I hurried to meet them, as if I had been really " out of humanity's 

 reach." 



The two were His Lordship and Mr. Shepherd, who having reached 

 the ridge, or rather the gap in it, by which the two sides of the 

 island communicate, had contented themselves with a Pisgah view, and 

 had left the others to pursue their journey through the wood below. 



They report that there is not more flat ground there than here, 

 and that there is no perceptible difference in the vegetation. They 

 are enraptured with the wild beauty of the scenery, and have brought 

 me many splendid flowers and shrubs, — the giant fuscia, andromedas, 

 and myrtles ; but above all, a lovely monopetalous flowering shrub : 

 the leaves are thick-set, shiny green ; the flower and berry of the 

 richest purple. I never saw any thing like it. While we were sort- 

 ing these in our dining-room under the fig-trees, the rest of the party 

 joined us, reporting traces of recent habitation, such as fresh embers, 

 and a horse evidently used for the saddle ; so that, though we had 

 not seen them, we concluded that there were probably some of the 

 cowherds here, who on government account make charqui and cure 

 hides for Valdivia ; and this we afterwards had confirmed. 



After dinner we went to the western side of the town, and there 

 we admired the extraordinary regularity of the structure of the rocks, 



