Seas. They told me of thousands of beautiful fertile islands that
had been formed by a small creature called the coral insect, where
summer reigned nearly all the year round, - where the trees were
laden with a constant harvest of luxuriant fruit, - where the
climate was almost perpetually delightful, - yet where, strange to
say, men were wild, bloodthirsty savages, excepting in those
favoured isles to which the gospel of our Saviour had been
conveyed. These exciting accounts had so great an effect upon my
mind, that, when I reached the age of fifteen, I resolved to make a
voyage to the South Seas.

I had no little difficulty at first in prevailing on my dear
parents to let me go; but when I urged on my father that he would
never have become a great captain had he remained in the coasting
trade, he saw the truth of what I said, and gave his consent. My
dear mother, seeing that my father had made up his mind, no longer
offered opposition to my wishes. "But oh, Ralph," she said, on the
day I bade her adieu, "come back soon to us, my dear boy, for we
are getting old now, Ralph, and may not have many years to live."

I will not take up my reader's time with a minute account of all
that occurred before I took my final leave of my dear parents.
Suffice it to say, that my father placed me under the charge of an
old mess-mate of his own, a merchant captain, who was on the point
of sailing to the South Seas in his own ship, the Arrow. My mother
gave me her blessing and a small Bible; and her last request was,
that I would never forget to read a chapter every day, and say my
prayers; which I promised, with tears in my eyes, that I would
certainly do.