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

Oct. 1836. CONCLUSION. 605 Australia has become the metropolis of a rising continent. How different are the circumstances to a man shipwrecked at the present day in the Pacific, to what they were in the time of Cook ! since his voyage a hemisphere has been added to the civilized world. If a person suffer much from sea-sickness, let him weigh it heavily in the balance, I speak from experience : it is no trifling evil which may be cured in a week. If, on the other hand, he takes pleasure in naval tactics, he wiU assuredly have full scope for his taste. But it must be borne in mind, how large a proportion of the time, during a long voyage, is spent on the water, as compared with the days in harbour. And what are the boasted glories of the iUimit- able ocean ? A tedious waste, a desert of water, as the Arabian calls it. No doubt there are some delightful scenes. A moonlight night, with the clear heavens and the dark glittering sea, and the white sails filled by the soft air of a gently-blowing trade- wind ; — a dead calm, with the heaving surface polished hke a mirror, and all stiU, except the occasional flapping of the sails. It is well once to behold a squall with its rising arch and coming fury, or the heavy gale of wind and mountainous waves. I confess, however, my imagination had painted soriething more grand, more terrific in the full-grown storm. It is an incomparably finer spectacle when beheld on shore, where the waving trees, the wild flight of the birds, the dark shadows and bright lights, the rushing of the torrents, all proclaim the strife of the unloosed elements. At sea the albatross and petrel fly as if the storm were their proper sphere, the water rises and sinks as if fulfilling its usual task, the ship alone and its inhabitants seem the objects of wrath. On a forlorn and weather-beaten coast, the scene is indeed dif- ferent, but the feeUngs partake more of horror than of wild delight. Let us now look at the brighter side of the past time. The pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and the general aspect of the various countries we have visited, has