278 THE OCEAN. 



upon the open sea in a small boat. He was pro- 

 ceeding from the island of Eimeo to Huaheine : 

 " 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 contem- 

 plation, 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 of the water, many 

 of my voyages among the Georgian and Society 

 Islands have been made during the night. At these 

 periods I have often been involuntarily brought 

 under the influence of a train of thought and feeling 

 peculiar to the season and the situation, but never 

 more powerfully so than on the present occasion. 



" The night was moonless, but not dark. The 

 stars increased in number and variety as the evening 

 advanced, until the whole firmament was overspread 

 with luminaries of every magnitude and brilliancy. 

 The agitation of the sea had subsided, and the 

 waters around us appeared to unite with the in- 

 distinct, 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 our little bark was suspended in 

 the centre of two united hemispheres. 



"The perfect quietude that surrounded us was 



