WHALING VOYAGE. 
863 
cal, anatomical, and other specimens, principally from 
the wilds of California and other places that are situated 
in the north-west portion of America ; and he seemed 
yearning for the time when, on his arrival in his native 
land, he could have poured out the treasures of his ex- 
perienced mind, of the worth and abundance of which 
no one could doubt. When we imagine that we have 
reached the highest pinnacle of happiness, the last step 
appearing under our feet, a yawning gulf sometimes 
opens itself, and encloses us in its dark recesses for 
ever. So it happened to the unfortunate Douglas, who, 
having determined to visit O why hee— already too well 
distinguished as the grave of the immortal Cook— before 
leaving the Sandwich group, and while exploring the 
beauties of nature which abound in that romantic island, 
unfortunately fell into a pit, which the natives had dug 
and covered over with branches of trees for the purpose 
of entrapping wild bulls, herds of which roam their 
forests, and whose progenitors, I believe, were first 
landed by Cook. But that which forms the most fright- 
ful part of the catastrophe is the fact, that one of these 
animals had been precipitated into the same pit but a 
short time before the unfortunate Douglas fell in, upon 
whom the enraged beast immediately made a most furious 
attack, and gored him to death, — an event that filled the 
minds of his friends with horror, and caused the world of 
science a severe loss. 
