Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

602 CONCLUSION. Oct. 1836. in a foreign clime ; and then most assuredly his own satis- faction will one day weU repay him. Our voyage having come to an end, I will take a short re- trospect of the advantages and disadvantages, the pains and pleasures, of our five years' wandering. If a person should ask my advice, before undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge, which could by such means be im- proved. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to behold various countries, and the many races of mankind, but the pleasures gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils. It is necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant it may be, when some fruit will be reaped, some good effected. Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious such as that of the society of all old friends, and of the sight of those places, with which every dearest remembrance is so intimately connected. These losses, however, are at the time partly relieved by the exhaustless delight of anticipating the long wished-for day of return. If, as poets say, life is a dream, I am sure in a voyage these are the visions which serve best to pass away the long night. Other losses, although not at first felt, tell heavily after a period ; these are, the want of room, of seclusion, of rest ; — the jading feeling of constant hurry; — the privation of small luxuries, the comforts of civilization and domestic society, and, lastly, even of music and the other pleasures of imagination. When such trifles are mentioned, it is evident that the real grievances (ex- cepting from accidents) of a sea life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has made an astonishing diff"erence in the facility of distant navigation. Even in the time of Cook, a man who left his comfortable fireside for such expeditions, underwent severe privations. A yacht now with every luxury of life might circumnavigate the globe. Besides the vast improvements in ships and naval resources, the whole western shores of America are thrown open, and