196 
INTRODUCTORY 
tempests and unexplored regions, even at the antipodes, 
he guides his bark with safety and triumph ; all dangers 
he defies, confident of his skill in seamanship, and 
avoiding them by his watchfulness and care ;—to-day 
Cape Horn with its rugged front rises to his view, anon 
the burning zone reminds him of his course ; in his 
passage the most remote lands are laid open for his 
observation, “the most rugged and barbarous, the most 
beautiful and friendly, are in turn presented to him, and 
seem to provoke his admiration or dislike. At times he 
is amused by the capture of the agile albacore, the 
hungry shark, or impetuous dolphin ; anon the Indian 
typhoon, with its dreadful power, severely proves the 
strength of his wandering habitation ; and then he is 
seen, proudly stemming with a flowing sheet the smooth 
and beautiful ocean, with only the sea-bird for his com- 
panion or the sportive dolphin for his follower. 
At other times, during his long absence, his zeal is 
redoubled for the success of the voyage by a growing 
desire to return to his native land, and his bosom heaves 
with anguish when he suddenly thinks of the vast dis- 
tance which separates him from his beloved wife, his 
children, his parent, or his friend ; but his reflections 
may be suddenly interrupted— as the next moment, with 
his feeble arm he is engaged in deadly strife with the 
monarch of the sea : one moment he conquers, the next 
he has nearly fallen a sacrifice to the convulsions of his 
dying victim, whose blood pouring in fountains from his 
mortal wounds or panting nostril, incarnadines the deep 
with purple stain. He returns to the ship a conqueror ; 
