THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



527 



owner, and with a cold heart at the slave, never seem to put 

 themselves into the position of the latter; what a cheerless 

 prospect, with not even a hope of change ! picture to your- 

 self the chance, ever hanging over you, of your wife and 

 your little children — those objects which nature urges even 

 the slave to call his own — being torn from you and sold 

 like beasts to the first bidder! And these deeds are done 

 and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours 

 as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be 

 done on earth ! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, 

 to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, 

 with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so 

 guilty : but it is a consolation to reflect, that we at least have 

 made a greater sacrifice, than ever made by any nation, 

 to expiate our sin. 



On the last day of August we anchored for the second time 

 at Porto Praya in the Cape de Verd archipelago; thence we 

 proceeded to the Azores, where we stayed six days. On the 

 2nd of October we made the shores of England ; and at Fal- 

 mouth I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good little 

 vessel nearly five years. 



Our Voyage having come to an end, I will take a short 

 retrospect of the advantages and disadvantages, the pains 

 and pleasures, of our circumnavigation of the world. If a 

 person asked my advice, before undertaking a long voyage, 

 my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste 

 for some branch of knowledge, which could by this means be 

 advanced. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to behold various 

 countries and the many races of mankind, but the pleasures 

 gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils. It is 

 necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant 

 that may be, when some fruit will be reaped, some good 

 effected. 



Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious ; 

 such as that of the society of every old friend, and of the 

 sight of those places with which every dearest remembrance 

 is so intimately connected. These losses, however, are at 

 the time partly relieved by the exhaustless delight of antici- 



