waters of the earth which is the very soul of his calling. Issuing
thence to the west and south, as a youth leaves the shelter of his
parental house, this spirit found the way to the Indies, discovered
the coasts of a new continent, and traversed at last the immensity
of the great Pacific, rich in groups of islands remote and
mysterious like the constellations of the sky.

The first impulse of navigation took its visible form in that
tideless basin freed from hidden shoals and treacherous currents,
as if in tender regard for the infancy of the art. The steep
shores of the Mediterranean favoured the beginners in one of
humanity's most daring enterprises, and the enchanting inland sea
of classic adventure has led mankind gently from headland to
headland, from bay to bay, from island to island, out into the
promise of world-wide oceans beyond the Pillars of Hercules.



XXXIX.



The charm of the Mediterranean dwells in the unforgettable flavour
of my early days, and to this hour this sea, upon which the Romans
alone ruled without dispute, has kept for me the fascination of
youthful romance. The very first Christmas night I ever spent away
from land was employed in running before a Gulf of Lions gale,
which made the old ship groan in every timber as she skipped before
it over the short seas until we brought her to, battered and out of
breath, under the lee of Majorca, where the smooth water was torn