8 



VOYAGE FROM ENGLAND 



dominion proportioned to the sun's declination, and vice versa as he recedes 

 through the southern tropic, or, more properly speaking, in the earth's oblique 

 revolution round the sun ? The rust, which at this time constantly showed itself 

 upon my razors, was probably owing to some peculiar corrosive properties in 

 the atmosphere, or it might have arisen from some saline moisture insinuating 

 itself every where imperceptibly. 



But to attempt to comprehend or explain the extraordinary operations in the 

 grand work of nature, in this and other latitudes, has in many instances baffled 

 the keenest sagacity and most laborious research. Secondary causes of the 

 phenomena in nature are often beyond the clearest ken of human intellect, how 

 then are the faculties of the mind bewildered in the contemplation of the great 

 First Cause! How lost and absorbed in adoration of the Divine source, the 

 essence of all those wonderfully diversified appearances ! The hand moves the 

 pen with which I now write ; I can trace the power that impels it — the cause of 

 this effect, to the immediate impulse only, that is, to the muscles in the arm, that, 

 arising thence, connect themselves with the hand. But can I go back any 

 further ? Can I ascertain what it is that produces this admirable power in the 

 muscles, this secondary cause? Reason here discovers its confined limit as to 

 remoter and efficient causes, but, bounding at once over these concealed regions 

 of knowledge, sees and acknowledges the great original source of all finite 

 existence, and in the power of thinking, and in the movement of his bodily 

 frame, man feels that 



" It is the Divinity that stirs within him." 



He has an undeniable and practical evidence of the existence, power, and 

 goodness of an invisible and eternal Being, from whom all creation has 

 emanated. 



On the 6th of May, we crossed the Line in 23° west longitude. The calms 

 and squalls were succeeded by cloudy weather and light breezes from the south 

 and south-east, which in a few days assumed the steadiness of the trade wind, 

 but not accompanied with that beautiful serenity and brightness of sky, which 

 we experienced whilst in the north-east trade wind. Neptune and his wife 

 Amphitrite did not make their appearance ; or, to speak without mythological 

 allusion, the usual ceremonies on crossing the Line were not observed, owing, I 

 presume, to the fatigue and exhaustion sustained by the sailors, in consequence 

 of the variable weather. 



Q.n the 22d of May, we discovered, at a distance, Cape Frio, a discovery 



