aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

CHAPTER IV.
OCEANICA TO AUCKLAND.
To-day, Oct. 2, we crossed the equator. The weather is
oppressive, the sun scorching. Only the sea, and its refreshing
breezes, save us from suffocation.
We are yet in the line
of the south-east trade-winds.
The sunsets are gorgeous. It is a fitful season for meditation.
Some poet thus sings of man's origin :
—
" Heaven's exile, straying from the orb of light."
Who at times does not feel himself an exile, a prisoner ?
The world is a hotel. The soul is imprisoned in the body
and a fashionable conservatism would make us all moral prisoners
by compelling conformity to the shams of society.
Why not sleep each alone, as did Pythagoras ? Why not
wear linen only, as did ApoUonius ? Why not wear the
hair and beard long, as did sage and savant in the palmy
period of the lost arts ? If shaving at all, Avhy not be consistent,
shaving away the eyebrows, and even the hair, as do
the Chinese ?
Louis XII. ascended the French throne at the age of
nine, beardless. His courtiers, famous for their cringing
servility, rushed to the barbers, and came away clean-faced.
That stern old state counselor. Sully, refused to shave, ashe
had previously done under the reign of King Henry IV.
These vain, face- scraped courtiers often made merry at the
attorney's odd appearance. Sully, bearing their jests for a
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