28 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
the things which are gone ? Is there a holy-flower which 
springs up among the withered tendrils of buried beauty? 
a strong and vigorous joy, which, like the Aloe, blooms a 
moment on the cold midnight of heavy sorrow ? Is there an 
elevation of the whole being into a higher condition, when 
we wander among the trees, the ruins and the graves of 
former times'? It maybe so. For surely he who treads 
the dust of Rome and stands on the ruins of Thebes, has a 
species of previous existence wrapped about him. He sees 
in the one case armies thronging the Appian-way, hears the 
multitude surging in the forum under the enthusiasm kin¬ 
dled by Cicero, and feels that the eagle of freedom is throw¬ 
ing the pinions of his protection over the energies of man. 
In the other case he hears the voice of the mighty chief 
tain summoning his millions of subservient hands. The 
hammer and the chisel, from the beginning to the end of 
day, send up their vast din to the passing hours. The moun¬ 
tain columns of Thebes stand up in the presence of the pyra¬ 
mids ! And a subject land bows in servitude to a great and 
controlling intellect. We are there, and form an integral 
wave in the sea of vitality that flowed forty ages ago ! We 
venerate the broken tomb of the past. We knock gently 
at its gate, and find our bodies and minds grow vigorous 
and happy in those sublime imaginings, which carry our 
entire selves back to see and converse with those men, the 
mere ruins of whose deeds still astonish mankind ! 
We retired to rest this evening in unusually fine spirits; 
for, with the aid of the good breeze piping down from the 
northwest, we expected sight of land by the next sunset. 
Our sleep, however, was not remarkably deep, for I recol¬ 
lect that the wind freshened during the night, as it generally 
does in the edge of the trades, and compelled the morning- 
watch to take in sail. The noise occasioned by this move¬ 
ment was construed, by the wakeful ear of our desires, into 
a shortening canvas to prevent running on land; and we 
turned out to see it. But it was yet beyond view. The 
