My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

156 MY LIFEPara was with me, and comprised hundreds of newand beautiful species, which would have rendered (Ihad fondly hoped) my cabinet, as far as regardsAmerican species, one of the finest in Europe.Fancy your regrets had you lost all your Pyreneanmosses on your voyage home, or should you now loseall your South American collection, and you will havesome idea of what I sufifer. But besides this, I havelost a number of sketches, drawings, notes, andobservations on natural history, besides the threemost interesting years of my journal, the whole ofwhich, unlike any pecuniary loss, can never be replaced; so you will see that I have some need ofphilosophic resignation to bear my fate with patienceand equanimity." Day after day we continued in the boats. Thewinds changed, blowing dead from the point to whichwe wanted to go. We were scorched by the sun, myhands, nose, and ears being completely skinned, andwere drenched continually by the seas or spray. Wewere therefore almost constantly wet, and had nocomfort and little sleep at night. Our meals consistedof raw pork and biscuit, with a little preservedmeat or carrots once a day, which was a great luxury,and a short allowance of water, which left us as thirstyas before directly after we had drunk it. Ten daysand ten nights we spent in this manner. We werestill two hundred miles from Bermuda, when in theafternoon a vessel was seen, and by eight in theevening we were on board her, much rejoiced tohave escaped a death on the wide ocean, whence nonewould have come to tell the tale. The ship was theJordesofi, bound for London, and proves to be one ofthe slowest old ships going. With a favourable windshe seldom does more than five knots.and all sail set,