224? THi]: WILD. 



deter them. Apparently discovering us of a sudden, 

 many of them plunged headlong down into the water, 

 tossing their fiery tails high into the air, and leaving the 

 sea still more S2:)arkling from the violent surging of their 

 descent. 



" Their general course seemed the same as our own ; 

 to the westward. To remove from them, we at last out 

 oars, and pulled towards the north. So doing, we were 

 steadily pursued by a solitary whale that must have taken 

 our boat for a kindred fish. Spite of all our efforts, he 

 drew near and nearer ; at length rubbing his fiery flank 

 against the gunwale, here and there leaving long strips 

 of the glossy transparent substance, which, thin as a 

 gossamer, invests the body of the cachalot. 



" In terror at a sight so new, Samoa shrank. But 

 Jarl and I, more used to the intimate companionship of 

 the whales, pushed the boat away from it with our oars ; 

 a thing often done in the fishery. 



" But, to my great joy, the monster at last departed ; 

 rejoining the shoal, whose lofty spoutings of flame were 

 still visible upon the distant line of the horizon, showing 

 there like the fitful starts of the Aurora Borealis. 



" The sea retained its luminosity for about three hours, 

 at the expiration of half that period beginning to fade ; 

 and, excepting occasional faint illuminations, consequent 

 upon the rapid darting of fish under water, the phe- 

 nomenon at last wholly disappeared. 



*' Heretofore, I had beheld several exhibitions of marine 

 phosphorescence, both in the Atlantic and Pacific ; but 



