DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0030
4 TRAVELS IN UPPER
thirst after science, apassion for discovery, the cool-
ness of intrepidity ; with a physical constitution fit
to encounter every hardship; I seemed to be formed
for enterprises the most hazardous, for the execu-
tion of projects the most uncommon ; and when,
after along course of trial in this way, though still
in the prime of life, I returned to my native country,
that same Nature who has allotted to each of us
his particular disposition, seemed to punish me for
choosing a state of retirement, and at the same time
to accuse a government which scarcely ever under-
stood how to place men in the post adapted to them,
or to do itself honour by making a selection unsul-
lied by venality or intrigue. That robust tempera-
ment which had withstood the burning heat of an
African climate, the boiling humidity of theequator,
in South America ; which no excess of fatigue and
privation was able to subdue, sunk under the lan-
guor of repose. One violent malady succeeded an-
other ; a gloomy melancholy occupied the place of
mental activity, and a painful agitation of soul fol-
lowed close upon the salutary agitation of the body.
An absence of some years had stimulated a covet-
ous disposition in certain of my relations. In order
to recover what they had robbed me of, I "was
obliged to find my way into what was then deno-
minated the sanctuary of Justice, but which proved
to be, in reality, the labyrinth of chicane, the walls
of which, bristled on all sides with sharp hooks,
loaded
thirst after science, apassion for discovery, the cool-
ness of intrepidity ; with a physical constitution fit
to encounter every hardship; I seemed to be formed
for enterprises the most hazardous, for the execu-
tion of projects the most uncommon ; and when,
after along course of trial in this way, though still
in the prime of life, I returned to my native country,
that same Nature who has allotted to each of us
his particular disposition, seemed to punish me for
choosing a state of retirement, and at the same time
to accuse a government which scarcely ever under-
stood how to place men in the post adapted to them,
or to do itself honour by making a selection unsul-
lied by venality or intrigue. That robust tempera-
ment which had withstood the burning heat of an
African climate, the boiling humidity of theequator,
in South America ; which no excess of fatigue and
privation was able to subdue, sunk under the lan-
guor of repose. One violent malady succeeded an-
other ; a gloomy melancholy occupied the place of
mental activity, and a painful agitation of soul fol-
lowed close upon the salutary agitation of the body.
An absence of some years had stimulated a covet-
ous disposition in certain of my relations. In order
to recover what they had robbed me of, I "was
obliged to find my way into what was then deno-
minated the sanctuary of Justice, but which proved
to be, in reality, the labyrinth of chicane, the walls
of which, bristled on all sides with sharp hooks,
loaded