Oct. 1836. 



CONCLUSION. 



603 



Australia has become the metropoHs of a rising continent. 



How different are the circumstances to a man shipwrecked 

 at the present day in the Pacific^ to what they were in the 

 time of Cook ! since his voyage a hemisphere has been added 

 to the civiUzed world. 



If a person suffer much from sea-sickness^ let him weigh 

 it heavily in the balance. I speak from experience : it is no 

 trifling evil which may be cured in a week. If, on the other 

 hand^ he takes pleasure in naval tactics^ he will assuredly 

 have full scope for his taste. But it must be borne in 

 mind^ how large a proportion of the time^ during a long 

 voyage, is spent on the water, as compared with the days in 

 harbour. And what are the boasted glories of the illimit- 

 able ocean ? A tedious waste, a desert of water, as the 

 Arabian calls it. No doubt there are some delightful scenes. 

 A moonlight night, with the clear heavens and the dark 

 glittering sea, and the white sails filled by the soft air of a 

 gently-blowing trade-wind ; — a dead calm, with the heaving 

 surface polished like a mirror, and all still, except the 

 occasional flapping of the sails. It is well once to behold a 

 squall with its rising arch and coming fury, or the heavy 

 gale of wind and mountainous waves. I confess, however, 

 my imagination had painted something more grand, more 

 terrific in the full-grown storm. It is an incomparably 

 finer spectacle when beheld on shore, where the waving 

 trees, the wild flight of the birds, the dark shadows and 

 bright lights, the rushing of the torrents, all proclaim the 

 strife of the unloosed elements. At sea the albatross and 

 petrel fly as if the storm were their proper sphere, the 

 water rises and sinks as if fulfilling its usual task, the ship 

 alone and its inhabitants seem the objects of wrath. On a 

 forlorn and weather-beaten coast, the scene is indeed dif- 

 ferent, but the feelings partake more of horror than of wild 

 delight. 



Let us now look at the brighter side of the past time. 

 The pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and the 

 general aspect of the various countries we have visited, has 



