danger, and always unsuccessfully--to force my way over the numerous
little islands and rocks with which this sea is studded, wishing to
find a north-west passage to Borneo and other islands of the
Archipelago.

At last I sat down at the extreme point of Lombok, my eyes turned
towards the south-east, lamenting that I had so soon reached the
limits allotted to me, and bewailing my fate as a captive in his
grated cell. Thus was I shut out from that remarkable country, New
Holland, and the islands of the southern ocean, so essentially
necessary to a knowledge of the earth, and which would have best
assisted me in the study of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. And
thus, at the very outset, I beheld all my labours condemned to be
limited to mere fragments.

Ah! Chamisso, what is the activity of man?

Frequently in the most rigorous winters of the southern hemisphere I
have rashly thrown myself on a fragment of drifting ice between Cape
Horn and Van Dieman's Land, in the hope of effecting a passage to
New Holland, reckless of the cold and the vast ocean, reckless of my
fate, even should this savage land prove my grave.

But all in vain--I never reached New Holland. Each time, when
defeated in my attempt, I returned to Lombok; and seated at its
extreme point, my eyes directed to the south-east, I gave way afresh
to lamentations that my range of investigation was so limited. At
last I tore myself from the spot, and, heartily grieved at my
disappointment, returned to the interior of Asia. Setting out at
morning dawn, I traversed it from east to west, and at night reached