of knowledge, to quench the thirst of curiosity.

"As I was supposed to trade without connection with my father, it
was easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and
procure a passage to some other country. I had no motives of
choice to regulate my voyage. It was sufficient for me that,
wherever I wandered, I should see a country which I had not seen
before. I therefore entered a ship bound for Surat, having left a
letter for my father declaring my intention."



CHAPTER IX--THE HISTORY OF IMLAC (continued).



"When I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight of
land, I looked round about me in pleasing terror, and thinking my
soul enlarged by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze
around me for ever without satiety; but in a short time I grew
weary of looking on barren uniformity, where I could only see again
what I had already seen. I then descended into the ship, and
doubted for awhile whether all my future pleasures would not end,
like this, in disgust and disappointment. 'Yet surely,' said I,
'the ocean and the land are very different. The only variety of
water is rest and motion. But the earth has mountains and valleys,
deserts and cities; it is inhabited by men of different customs and
contrary opinions; and I may hope to find variety in life, though I
should miss it in nature.'