Like Rousseau, St Pierre held that ’to take refuge in the wildest and most desert places is an instinct common to all feeling and suffering beings, as if rocks were ramparts against misfortune, and Nature’s calm could appease the sorrows of the soul’[14]; but he differed in caring for Nature far more for her own sake, and not in opposition to culture and a detested world.  He wrote too, not as a philosopher proclaiming a new gospel, but as a poet[15]; the poetry of Nature had been revealed to French literature.

St Pierre drew the beauty of the tropics in a poem, and George Forster’s Voyage round the World[16] shewed how quickly Rousseau’s influence told upon travels.  It was a far cry from the Crusaders and discoverers to the highly-cultured Forster, alive to everything that was good and beautiful, and able to express it.  He was the first to describe countries and peoples from both the scientific and artistic standpoint—­a style of writing which Humboldt perfected, and some later writers, Haeckel, for example, in Indischen Briefen, have carried on with success.

To quote Forster: 

The town of Santa Cruz in Madeira was abreast of us at six in the afternoon.  The mountains are here intersected by numerous deep glens and valleys.  On the sloping ground we observed several country houses pleasantly situated amidst surrounding vineyards and lofty cypresses, which gave the country altogether a romantic appearance.  Early on the 29th we were agreeably surprised with the picturesque appearance of the city of Funchal....

In October 1772, off South Africa: 

The night was scarcely begun when the water all round us afforded the most grand and astonishing sight that can be imagined.  As far as we could see, the whole ocean seemed to be in a blaze.  Every breaking wave had its summit illuminated by a light similar to that of phosphorus, and the sides of the vessel, coming in contact with the sea, were strongly marked by a luminous line....  There was a singularity and a grandeur in the display of this phenomenon which could not fail of giving occupation to the mind, and striking it with a reverential awe, due to omnipotence.

The ocean was covered to a great extent with myriads of animalcules; these little beings, organized, alive, endowed with locomotive power, a quality of shining whenever they please, of illuminating every body with which they come in contact ... all these ideas crowded upon us, and bade us admire the Creator, even in His minutest works....  I hope I shall not have formed too favourable an opinion of my readers, if I expect that the generality will sympathize with me in these feelings.

In Dusky Bay: