I got so much money by my first adventure, and such an insight into the method of getting more, that had I been twenty years younger, I should have been tempted to have stayed here, and sought no farther for making my fortune; but what was all this to a man upwards of threescore, that was rich enough, and came abroad more in obedience to a restless desire of seeing the world than a covetous desire of gaining by it?  A restless desire it really was, for when I was at home I was restless to go abroad; and when I was abroad I was restless to be at home.  I say, what was this gain to me?  I was rich enough already, nor had I any uneasy desires about getting more money; therefore the profit of the voyage to me was of no great force for the prompting me forward to further undertakings.  Hence, I thought that by this voyage I had made no progress at all, because I was come back, as I might call it, to the place from whence I came, as to a home:  whereas, my eye, like that which Solomon speaks of, was never satisfied with seeing.  I was come into a part of the world which I was never in before, and that part, in particular, which I heard much of, and was resolved to see as much of it as I could:  and then I thought I might say I had seen all the world that was worth seeing.

But my fellow-traveller and I had different notions:  I acknowledge his were the more suited to the end of a merchant’s life:  who, when he is abroad upon adventures, is wise to stick to that, as the best thing for him, which he is likely to get the most money by.  On the other hand, mine was the notion of a mad, rambling boy, that never cares to see a thing twice over.  But this was not all:  I had a kind of impatience upon me to be nearer home, and yet an unsettled resolution which way to go.  In the interval of these consultations, my friend, who was always upon the search for business, proposed another voyage among the Spice Islands, to bring home a loading of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts.

We were not long in preparing for this voyage; the chief difficulty was in bringing me to come into it.  However, at last, nothing else offering, and as sitting still, to me especially, was the unhappiest part of life, I resolved on this voyage too, which we made very successfully, touching at Borneo and several other islands, and came home in about five months, when we sold our spices, with very great profit, to the Persian merchants, who carried them away to the Gulf.  My friend, when we made up this account, smiled at me:  “Well, now,” said he, with a sort of friendly rebuke on my indolent temper, “is not this better than walking about here, like a man with nothing to do, and spending our time in staring at the nonsense and ignorance of the Pagans?”—­ “Why, truly,” said I, “my friend, I think it is, and I begin to be a convert to the principles of merchandising; but I must tell you, by the way, you do not know what I am doing; for if I once conquer my backwardness, and embark heartily, old as I am, I shall harass you up and down the world till I tire you; for I shall pursue it so eagerly, I shall never let you lie still.”