I felt an
unextinguishable curiosity kindle in my mind, and resolved to snatch
this opportunity of seeing the manners of other nations, and of learning
sciences unknown in Abissinia.
"I remembered that my father had obliged me to the improvement of my
stock, not by a promise, which I ought not to violate, but by a penalty,
which I was at liberty to incur; and, therefore, determined to gratify
my predominant desire, and, by drinking at the fountains of knowledge,
to quench the thirst of curiosity.
"As I was supposed to trade without connexion with my father, it was
easy for me to become acquainted with the master of a ship, and procure
a passage to some other country. I had no motives of choice to regulate
my voyage; it was sufficient for me, that, wherever I wandered, I should
see a country, which I had not seen before. I, therefore, entered a ship
bound for Surat, having left a letter for my father, declaring my
intention.
CHAP. IX.
THE HISTORY OF IMLAC CONTINUED.
"When I first entered upon the world of waters, and lost sight of land,
I looked round about me with pleasing terrour, and, thinking my soul
enlarged by the boundless prospect, imagined that I could gaze round for
ever without satiety; but, in a short time, I grew weary of looking on
barren uniformity, where I could only see again what I had already seen.
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