COQUIMBO, 



3 



one on board the ship has before visited, there 

 always arises a delightful feeling of curiosity and 

 uncertainty, which recals those juvenile emotions 

 with which every boy has read Robinson Crusoe. 

 The reality, in general, comes fully up to the vi- 

 vid promise which the imagination holds out ; 

 nor is this interest abated by the repeated sight 

 of new objects, but, on the contrary, each new 

 place seems more curious than the last : for as 

 the sphere of our observation is enlarged, our cu- 

 xiosity becomes more impatient, though, at the 

 same time, more easily gratified. The world, in- 

 deed, in every place, is so crowded with new and 

 varied objects, that no one can hope, even by the 

 most awakened attention, to observe thoroughly 

 the details of any scene ; and the curiosity is thus 

 kept alive by the certainty of everywhere meet- 

 ing with novelty ; if not in the great outlines and 

 broad distinctions, at least in the minute shades 

 of dilference, which experience teaches us to dis- 

 criminate, and to apply with increased satisfac- 

 tion, as the objects of comparison are multiplied, 

 and our familiarity with them extended. In the 

 iirst instance, our pleasure springs out of our ig- 



