Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/54

 28 hue of the farmer. A freedom from anxiety of mind, and professional occupation, may probably be the cause of my being so fat; however, an active life of rural industry will soon rid me of superabundant flesh.

29th.—There has been almost a dead calm since yesterday, until within this last two hours. We are now advancing towards the coast, which has an undulating and very pleasing appearance, like gentlemen's parks. We can plainly distinguish clumps of trees on the low lands in front; and in the back grounds a range of hills, apparently twenty-five or thirty miles distant. All our people are in high spirits but we are obliged to put about, and stand off, as our charts are not perfect enough to assure us of our proper landing-place.

30th.—We are now at anchor in Cockburn Sound, near Garden Island; which, except for the greenness and the foliage, does not deserve the appellation. Why it is so called I cannot conjecture, unless it be according to the accommodating rule, which so satisfactorily accounts for every misnomer, best known by its example—lucus a non lucendo. The soil on the beach is sandy; the view around is beautiful, the land having sufficient diversities.

The entrance to Cockburn Sound is attended with some difficulty to strangers; but new charts have been sent home, laying down all the