THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 295 



"Nothing can exceed the solemn stillness of a night 

 at sea within the tropics, when the wind is light, 

 and the water comparatively smooth. Few periods 

 and situations amid the diversified circumstances 

 of human life, are equally adapted to excite con- 

 templation, or to impart more elevated conceptions 

 of the Divine Being, and more just impressions of 

 the insignificancy and dependence of man. In order 

 to avoid the vertical rays of a tropical sun, and the 

 painful effects of the reflection from the water, 

 many of my voyages among the Georgian and So- 

 ciety Islands have been made during the night. At 

 these periods I have ofteu been involuntarily brought 

 under the influence of a train of thought and feel- 

 ing peculiar to the season and the situation, but 

 never more powerfully so than on the present oc- 

 casion. 



"The night was moonless, but not dark. The 

 stars increased in number and variety as the even- 

 ing advanced, until the whole firmament was over- 

 spread with luminaries of every magnitude and 

 brilliancy. The agitation of the sea had subsided, 

 and the waters around us appeared to unite with the 

 indistinct, though visible, horizon. In the heaven 

 and the ocean, all powers of vision were lost; while 

 the brilliant lights in the one being reflected from 

 the surface of the other, gave a correspondence to the 

 appearance of both, and almost forced the illusion 

 on the mind, that oar little bark was suspended in 

 the centre of two united hemispheres. 



"The perfect quietude that surrounded us was 

 equally impressive. No objects were visible but the 



