496 COXCLUSION. 



sent to them, I shall not have lost my labour. Emi- 

 nently pleasing that labour has been : the compiling 

 of these pages from my journals and papers, and from 

 the correspondence of my beloved and honoured friend, 

 has recalled in vivid power the lovely Eden-like scenes 

 through which I wandered, and has made me live 

 over again those months of unwearying delight that I 

 spent in beauteous Jamaica. I can echo with fullest 

 truth the experience of Bishop Heber: — " In every 

 ride I have taken, and in every wilderness in which 

 my tent has been pitched, I have found enough to 

 keep my mind from sinking into the languor and the 

 apathy which have been regarded as natural to a tro- 

 pical climate." Nay, I may truly say, I found no 

 tendency to apathy or ennui ; every excursion pre- 

 sented something to admire ; every day had its 

 novelty ; the morning was always pregnant with eager 

 expectation ; the evening invariably brought subjects 

 of interest fresh and new; and the days were only 

 too short for enjoyment. They were not days of 

 stirring adventure, of dangerous conflicts with man or 

 beast, of hair-breadth escapes in flood and field ; their 

 delights were calm and peaceful, I trust not unholy, 

 nor unbecoming the character of a Christian, who has 

 his heart in heaven, and who traces, even in earth's 

 loveliest scenes, the mark of the Spoiler. The senti- 

 ments expressed on this subject by my friend and fel- 

 low-labourer are those which I would ever associate 

 with the study of science. " If the sight of nature," 

 observes Mr. Hill, " were merely the looking at a 

 painted pageantry, or at a spectacle filling the carnal 

 mind with wonder and delight, the spirit would be 



