31 



instantly embarked our instruments, books, and 

 baggage ; but the west wind, which biew still 

 more impetuously, did not permit us to weigh 

 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- 



