attracted our observation till some time after our residence on the
island. Neither had we observed another curious circumstance until
we had been some time there. This was the fact, that the tide rose
and fell with constant regularity, instead of being affected by the
changes of the moon as in our own country, and as it is in most
other parts of the world, - at least in all those parts with which
I am acquainted. Every day and every night, at twelve o'clock
precisely, the tide is at the full; and at six o'clock every
morning and evening it is ebb. I can speak with much confidence on
this singular circumstance, as we took particular note of it, and
never found it to alter. Of course, I must admit, we had to guess
the hour of twelve midnight, and I think we could do this pretty
correctly; but in regard to twelve noon we are quite positive,
because we easily found the highest point that the sun reached in
the sky by placing ourselves at a certain spot whence we observed
the sharp summit of a cliff resting against the sky, just where the
sun passed.

Jack and I were surprised that we had not noticed this the first
few days of our residence here, and could only account for it by
our being so much taken up with the more obvious wonders of our
novel situation. I have since learned, however, that this want of
observation is a sad and very common infirmity of human nature,
there being hundreds of persons before whose eyes the most
wonderful things are passing every day, who nevertheless are
totally ignorant of them. I therefore have to record my sympathy
with such persons, and to recommend to them a course of conduct
which I have now for a long time myself adopted, - namely, the
habit of forcing my attention upon ALL things that go on around me,
and of taking some degree of interest in them, whether I feel it