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 the cave in Thebes which I had previously selected for my dwelling-place, and had visited yesterday afternoon.

After a short repose, as soon as daylight had visited Europe, it was my first care to provide myself with the articles of which I stood most in need.  First of all a drag, to act on my boots; for I had experienced the inconvenience of these whenever I wished to shorten my steps and examine surrounding objects more fully.  A pair of slippers to go over the boots served the purpose effectually; and from that time I carried two pairs about me, because I frequently cast them off from my feet in my botanical investigations, without having time to pick them up, when threatened by the approach of lions, men, or hyenas.  My excellent watch, owing to the short duration of my movements, was also on these occasions an admirable chronometer.  I wanted, besides, a sextant, a few philosophical instruments, and some books.  To purchase these things, I made several unwilling journeys to London and Paris, choosing a time when I could be hid by the favouring clouds.  As all my ill-gotten gold was exhausted, I carried over from Africa some ivory, which is there so plentiful, in payment of my purchases—­taking care, however, to pick out the smallest teeth, in order not to over-burden myself.  I had thus soon provided myself with all that I wanted, and now entered on a new mode of life as a student—­wandering over the globe—­measuring the height of the mountains, and the temperature of the air and of the springs—­observing the manners and habits of animals—­investigating plants and flowers.  From the equator to the pole, and from the new world to the old, I was constantly engaged in repeating and comparing my experiments.

My usual food consisted of the eggs of the African ostrich or northern sea-birds, with a few fruits, especially those of the palm and the banana of the tropics.  The tobacco-plant consoled me when I was depressed; and the affection of my spaniel was a compensation for the loss of human sympathy and society.  When I returned from my excursions, loaded with fresh treasures, to my cave in Thebes, which he guarded during my absence, he ever sprang joyfully forward to greet me, and made me feel that I was indeed not alone on the earth.  An adventure soon occurred which brought me once more among my fellow-creatures.