On the last day of August we anchored for the second time at Porto
Praya in the Cape de Verd archipelago; thence we proceeded to the
Azores, where we stayed six days. On the 2nd of October we made the
shores of England; and at Falmouth I left the "Beagle," having
lived on board the good little vessel nearly five years.
(PLATE 105. HOMEWARD BOUND, THE "BEAGLE.")
Our Voyage having come to an end, I will take a short retrospect of
the advantages and disadvantages, the pains and pleasures, of our
circumnavigation of the world. If a person asked my advice, before
undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his
possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge, which
could by this means be advanced. No doubt it is a high satisfaction
to behold various countries and the many races of mankind, but the
pleasures gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils. It is
necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant that may
be, when some fruit will be reaped, some good effected.
Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious; such as
that of the society of every old friend, and of the sight of those
places with which every dearest remembrance is so intimately
connected.
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