rdinary country, so essentially necessary to
understanding the philosophy of the earth, and its sun-embroidered dress,
the vegetable and the animal world; and the South Sea with its Zoophyte
islands, were interdicted to me; and thus everything on which I would
have gathered together and erected my hopes was condemned to be left a
mere fragment, even in its very origin. O, my Adalbert! such is the
reward for all the labours of man!

In the coldest winter of the southern hemisphere I have stood on Cape
Horn, meditating on the two hundred paces, or thereabouts, which divided
me from New Holland and Van Diemen's Land--careless about the means of
returning, and indifferent even though that strange land should lie over
me like the cover of my bier. I attempted to cross the polar glaciers
towards the west, and, with foolishly daring yet desponding steps, to
pass upon the floating ice, braving the frost and the waves. In vain--I
have never yet been in New Holland. I returned again to Lamboc--again I
sat myself on the outer verge--my face turned to the south and east, and
wept again, as if at the fast-closed iron-window of my prison.

{Schlemihl using the boots: p113.jpg}

I rose up at last from this spot, and with a dejected heart journeyed to
the interior of Asia. I hastened onwards, perceiving the day break
towards the west, and at night reached my before-described abode in
Thebes, which I had just looked into the previous afternoon.

As soon as I had taken some repose, and the day had dawned upon Europe,
my first care was to provide for my necessities. First, stop-shoes; for
I had discovered that, however inconvenient it might be, there was no way
of shortening my pace in order to move conveniently in my immediate
neighbourhood, except by drawing off my boots. A pair of slippers,
however, produced the wished-for effect, and henceforward I always took
care to be provided with a couple of pair, as I often threw one pair away
if I had not time to lay hold of them, when the approach of lions, men,
or hyaenas interrupted my botanizing. My excellent watch was an
admirable chronometer to me for the short period of my peregrinations;
but I required a sextant, some philosophical instruments, and books.

In order to obtain all these things, I made some tedious journeys to
London, and Paris, which were both overshadowed by friendly fogs. As I
had exhausted the remainder of my magic gold, I brought with me for the
purposes