THE COASTS OF SICILY. 187 



thrown, as I had been, amongst the marvels of living 

 creation, separated from all friends, and far from 

 any human being capable of understanding or shar- 

 ing one's delight ; one must have felt the want of 

 sympathy in the midst of one's own genuine enthu- 

 siasm, and known what it was to pine for com- 

 munion with other minds susceptible of intelligence, 

 a feeling which after a time takes complete posses- 

 sion of the isolated observer of nature. How dif- 

 ferent was my present position when I was one of 

 three zealous labourers ! One or other of our party 

 was constantly calling upon his companions to ex- 

 amine some curious detail, or some unlooked-for 

 marvel, and thus our knowledge and our enjoyments 

 were continually multiplied by this active inter- 

 change of the facts, reflections, and ideas, suggested 

 by a constant supply of fresh objects of observation. 

 Wherever a shadow of doubt impaired the exactness 

 of any observation, the grounds on which it was 

 based were at once tested with the most perfect 

 good humour, but at the same time with scrutinising 

 severity ; and this perpetual control added very con- 

 siderably to our enjoyment by impressing a character 

 of certainty on each individual result. 



As may readily be conceived, our time was com- 

 pletely absorbed by these attractive occupations. In 

 the evenings when our eyes and hands imperatively 

 demanded some rest from their prolonged occupation 

 by the microscope and scalpel, we would sally forth, 

 and, leaving the village, proceed to a wood of the 

 Cactus Opuntia, where, stretched at full length 

 beneath the trees, whose summits rose to a height of 



