CHAPTER VII 
THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE : PERSONAL 
The voyage left its mark on the young naturalist. His 
physique was strengthened : the long spells of isolation, 
though depriving him of much that he longed for, helped to 
fix the lines of his thought and character and aims.^ 
The cruize [he writes to his mother, June 29, 1841] has 
proved me quite hardy. Except a slight cold and its con- 
comitant discomfort, I have had nothing to complain of, 
and that has been since my arriving here (Tasmania). 
During all the time I was in the Southward I did not know 
an hour's illness of any kind whatever : the cold is healthy 
in the extreme, and an occasional ducking of sea-water proves 
rather beneficial. I always accustom myself to taking 
moderate exercise in hauling the ropes, setting sails, putting 
the ship about, &c. Thus my chest expands, my arms 
get hard, and the former rijigs almost when struck. 
And when he reached the Cape in 1843 he tells her that, as 
they felt the weather stifling and hot, ' to dine on board the 
Flagship the other day I had to borrow garments ; not one 
of my 8 J- dozen white trousers will go on : so much for my 
rude health.' 
1 Mrs. Richardson, Franklin's niece, writing to Hooker on August 3, 1842, 
remarks that she would never have recommended the Navy to him as a career 
— and that it might even be unsatisfactory as a means of travel and experience 
when a cautious reserve is wisest : adding sagely, ' As a piece of mental trainiiig 
I cannot think lightly of that retirement into oneself which is the natural 
consequence of not entirely liking our associates, and not agreeing with their 
views or notions. Mrs. Barbauld calls this sort of thing the " Education of 
circumstances," and notices how it contributes to form the character,' 
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