32 To the River Plate and Back 



bits of charcoal churned about and rolling over in the 

 water. 



One phenomenon which awakened my astonishment 

 as we went along the coast south of Santos deserves 

 mention. When over thirty miles from the land spider- 

 webs came floating through the air. These spider- 

 webs were snowy white and were easily seen. I called 

 attention to them at the time, and afterwards when on 

 land I found that they were quite numerous. I did 

 not secure any of the spiders which make them. But 

 I saw them floating in the air over the pampas just as 

 I had seen them floating over the ocean. Butterflies 

 and other insects have frequently been noticed at great 

 distances from the shore. Carried into the upper regions 

 of the air they may be blown far out to sea. I have in 

 my possession a hawk-moth, which flew on board a 

 ship and was captured four hundred miles from the 

 land. 



Only once did we witness a display of the phosphores- 

 cence of which so much has been written by those who 

 have sailed in the tropics. The night was intensely 

 dark, the moon having not as yet risen. About the 

 prow of the ship and along its sides there appeared to be 

 great balls of fire flashing in the water. The top of every 

 wave was illuminated, and far away toward the hori- 

 zon every whitecap seemed to be twinkling with stars. 

 The light is emitted by various forms of marine life. 

 In this case it was of course impossible to decide what 

 creatures they were which were giving forth this wonder- 

 ful light, but it is quite likely that we were plowing 

 our way through swarms of large jelly-fishes, or medusae, 

 some of which emit phosphorescent light. 



