536 RETROSPECT chap. 



have beheld, may be ranked the Southern Cross, the cloud of 

 Magellan, and the other constellations of the southern hemisphere 

 — the waterspout — the glacier leading its blue stream of ice, 

 overhanging the sea in a bold precipice — a lagoon -island 

 raised by the reef-building corals — an active volcano — and the 

 overwhelming effects of a violent earthquake. These latter 

 phenomena, perhaps, possess for me a peculiar interest, from 

 their intimate connexion with the geological structure of the 

 world. The earthquake, however, must be to every one a 

 most impressive event ; the earth, considered from our earliest 

 childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin 

 crust beneath our feet ; and in seeing the laboured works of 

 man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his 

 boasted power. 



It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent 

 delight in man — a relic of an instinctive passion. If so, I am 

 sure the pleasure of living in the open air, with the sky for a 

 roof and the ground for a table, is part of the same feeling ; it 

 is the savage returning to his wild and native habits. I always 

 look back to our boat cruises, and my land journeys, when 

 through unfrequented countries, with an extreme delight, which 

 no scenes of civilisation could have created. I do not doubt 

 that every traveller must remember the glowing sense of 

 happiness which he experienced when he first breathed in a 

 foreign clime, where the civilised man had seldom or never 

 trod. 



There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long 

 voyage which are of a more reasonable nature. The map of 

 the world ceases to be a blank ; it becomes a picture full of 

 the most varied and animated figures. Each part assumes its 

 proper dimensions : continents are not looked at in the light of 

 islands, or islands considered as mere specks, which are, in 

 truth, larger than many kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North 

 and South America, are well -sounding names, and easily 

 pronounced ; but it is not until having sailed for weeks along 

 small portions of their shores that one is thoroughly convinced 

 what vast spaces on our immense world these names imply. 



From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look 

 forward with high expectations to the future progress of nearly 

 an entire hemisphere. The march of improvement, consequent 



