432 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. XXIV. 



for using steam when no longer propelled by the wind, and 

 the difficulty of procuring a boat to be lowered when any- 

 thing unusual or novel is seen floating, and which might by 

 this means be easUy procured. On my way home I often 

 devoutly wished I was in a sailing vessel, that I might have 

 revelled in the wonderful richness and variety of animal 

 forms which nearly a thousand miles of calms afforded ; and 

 doubtless greater opportunities would be enjoyed in a cruise 

 with an intelligent merchant captain, than in a man-of-war 

 — especially if in the latter case one is hampered by the 

 crotchets and caprices of an unsympathetic commander. 

 The chief drawback to travelling ia merchant vessels would 

 be of course their more limited range, and their avoidance 

 of intermediate ports — circumstances which, however, might 

 or might not be hostile to researches of this nature. They 

 would, however, naturally avoid reefs as they would poison ; 

 and interesting land journeys would seldom be possible to 

 those using them. 



I cannot help feeling great regret that the wonderful 

 advantages which fall to the lot of many of our naval officers 

 are so totally lost. They have their duties on board ship to 

 perform, it is true, but that some of them should not have 

 learned to relieve the dull and unendurable monotony of 

 sea life by such studies is to me unaccountable. The 

 medical officers especially, whose education would most fit 

 them for these pursuits, and who have by far the most 

 leisure at their disposal, might be expected to follow them 

 with no less of advantage to themselves than of benefit to 

 science ; but it is only one in a thousand who troubles him- 

 self to observe what passes around him, or makes any 

 exertion to share in the reputation acquired by a few of 

 their fellow-surgeons, such as an Adams, or a Macdonald. 



