536 
RETROSPECT 
CHAP. 
have beheld, may be ranked the Southern Cross, the cloud of 
Magellan, and the other constellations of the southern hemisphere 
—the waterspout—the glacier leading its blue stream of ice, 
overhanging the sea in a bold precipice-—-a lagoon-island 
raised by the reef-building corals—an active volcano—and the 
overwhelming effects of a violent earthquake. These latter 
phenomena, perhaps, possess for me a peculiar interest, from 
their intimate connexion with the geological structure of the 
world. The earthquake, however, must be to every one a 
most impressive event; the earth, considered from our earliest 
childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin 
crust beneath our feet ; and in seeing the laboured works of 
man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his 
boasted power. 
It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent 
delight in man—a relic of an instinctive passion. If so, I am 
sure the pleasure of living in the open air, with the sky for a 
roof and the ground for a table, is part of the same feeling ; it 
is the savage returning to his wild and native habits. I always 
look back to our boat cruises, and my land journeys, when 
through unfrequented countries, with an extreme delight, which 
no scenes of civilisation could have created. I do not doubt 
that every traveller must remember the glowing sense of 
happiness which he experienced when he first breathed in a 
foreign clime, where the civilised man had seldom or never 
trod. 
There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long 
voyage which are of a more reasonable nature. The map of 
the world ceases to be a blank ; it becomes a picture full of 
the most varied and animated figures. Each part assumes its 
proper dimensions : continents are not looked at in the light of 
islands, or islands considered as mere specks, which are, in 
truth, larger than many kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North 
and South America, are well-sounding names, and easily 
pronounced ; but it is not until having sailed for weeks along 
small portions of their shores that one is thoroughly convinced 
what vast spaces on our immense world these names imply. 
From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look 
forward with high expectations to the future progress of nearly 
an entire hemisphere. The march of improvement, consequent 
