6 AVoyage to JAMAICA. 
Thad very often heard, but never obferv'd before, the {pirkling light of Sea- 
Water, which appears thus : In a dark Night (the darker the better will you 
obferve it) if you look atientively on the Surface of the Sea, you fhall {ec now 
and then a little {parkling light fometimes broader,and at other times narrower, 
which prefently vanifhes. If yourow in the fame, you fee it very plain where 
the Oars touch the Water. Ona part of the Sea where a Wave breaks or 
curls you fee it much plainer, and by the Ships fide, or Bow, where the 
Water is more broken, you {ee it moft of all. Sometimes you fhall fee as ir 
were a Spark of Fire leap up into the Air as if a Flint and Stcel were ftruck 
together, which nevertheleis vanifhes very. foon, though fomeiimes I have feen 
a {parkle left by the Water on the entring Ladder of a Ships fide, which has 
continu’d there fhining for {ome half a Minutes time, like the icy Noéfiluca or 
Phofphorus, the light of this being as to colour, gc. like that of the other: 
Concerning the Seamen told me that they were more ordinarily to be {een in Southerly 
the {parking Winds than any other, how true! know not, but am fure the more the Sea is 
ight of the broken or white, the more you ee of them: I endeavoured with a Swab fe- 
Sea-water. veral times dipt into the Water to pull fome of thofe Sparkles up, but could 
not, for they would not ftick to it, wherefore I had a Bucket of Water drawn, 
and by moving it up and down with my Hand faw fome of them appear now 
and then on its Surface; but once had the good luck to move it in fuch a 
manner that one of thofe Sparkles hityon the Bucket-Rope, and fticking there 
gave me the opportunity ef {quatting ic with my Thumb, and making it by 
that means give a larger light, which it did for fome {imall time, and then 
went out. I. did not. obferve that ir had.any actual heat on touch. Nécolas 
Papin, who. wrote a: Treatife in Frenchabout this, giving it the Title of Azer 
lumineufe ou traite de la lumiere'de la Mer, tells us, that apitation without Froth 
produces it even at bottom, p.129. how true. J cannot-tell. es 
This ftrange and {urprifing, Phenomenon. is by {everal People taken notice 
Apud Clufe of; Vanderhagen {peaks of it as extraordinary in fome places, fo that ic was 
im Cur. pofler. like a Lanthorn giving light, Martens »capi2. tells us that the Sea thines like 
the luftre of a Diamond, and foretels Sourh or Weft Winds. Ligon when he 
takes notice of it p. 7. thinks it comes from the Saltnefs of the Sea and the 
hard Boat ftriking Fire,.and that it- would be Fire if not quenched. Notto 
recite the. feveral Opinions about this, 1 am very inclinable to believe that 
it may proceed from fome of the fimaller Particles of Fithes floating in the 
Water, although fo fimall as to fly the quickeft fight, for I could not‘ob- 
ferve.any difference between that and the moft limpid Sea-Water I ever 
The reafon of {aW-.1_am.the more. inelinable to.. believe this, in that 1 have feen on the 
this Appear- Sands, left uncovered by the ebbing of the ‘Tide,:feveral. Portions of fithy 
ance. matter fhining after that:manner, only larger; \the fame is’'to be fen in 
Oyfters, Lobfters, ec. And. I fee no. improbability- m: fuppofing ‘fimall ‘cor- 
rupted parts.of Fifhes to roul up andidown in the Sea-water, and. when they 
come to its. Surface either by themfelves. or in Bubbles, Whereby they are 
more expofed. to the Air '¢ broken-water being fiothing but -a- heap: of 
Bubbles) they fhine in the fame manner,.chat a Piece of rotten Fith wiil 
fhine in the dark, and: the relation of ‘Seamen may well enough agree with 
this, the South-Winds being warmer, and‘ more ‘promoting of ‘Putrefacion, 
or aiding to Fermentation than. any other Wind whatever. ~ If it-be abjected, 
that it feems unreafonable to believe-that.all parts of the Sea fhould be fing 
nifhed with them, J anfwer, that it is.certain, moft\ parts of the Sea are very 
full of. them, and. not to mention the relations of feveral Seamén; who have 
_ told me, that both in the North: and. South Seas they have failed a great many 
hours through Fifhes Spawn ; Emyfelf have done {fo for more than nwo days. 
‘Tt feems co me that fuch Fifh-Spawn or fifhy Matter, if in great quantities. 
: dif- 
