31 



instantly embarked our instruments, books,, and 

 baggage ; but the west wind, which blew still 

 more impetuously, did not permit us to weigh 

 I anchor, and during this delay we wrote to our 

 friends in France and Germany. The moment 

 of leaving Europe for the first time is attended 

 with a solemn feeling. We in vain summon to 

 our minds the frequency of the communication 

 between the two worlds ; we in vain reflect on 

 the great facility, with which, from the improved 

 state of navigation, we traverse the Atlantic,, 

 which compared to the great ocean is but a 

 larger arm of the sea ; the sentiment we feel 

 when we first undertake so distant a voyage is 

 not the less accompanied by a deep emotion, un- 

 like any other impression we have hitherto felt. 

 Separated from the objects of our dearest affec- 

 tions, entering in some sort on a new state of 

 existence, we are forced to turn back on the fa- 

 mily of our thoughts, and we find them in a 

 situation which they have never known before. 

 Among the letters which I wrote at the time of 

 our embarking, one had a considerable influence 

 on the direction of our travels, and on our suc- 

 ceeding operations. When I left Paris with the 

 intention of visiting the coasts of Spain, the ex- 

 pedition for discoveries in the Southern Ocean 

 seemed to be adjourned for several years. I had 

 agreed with Captain Baudin, that if, contrary to 

 his expectation, his voyage took place at an ear- 



