416 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



the equator, Long. 92°. A current rip very strongly marked as far as 

 the eye could see, coming out of the strait between Narborough and 

 Albemarle from the southeast, and after reaching the northern point 

 of Albemarle, curving around to the southwest. This has probably 

 something to do with the smooth backwater or eddy north of Nar- 

 borough, which we found so full of life. The water to the north of 

 the loop was very green and rough, while that to the south was blue 

 and smooth. It looked as if the latter were flowing rapidly north- 

 ward and pressing against or flowing under the green north water, 

 causing the whitecaps to break in a southern direction. Trawled 

 through it and make good hauls (Station 87) but there was not the 

 surface life to make it as interesting as our first Current Rip. 



Steamed around the northern tip of Albemarle and south toward 

 Cape Marshall, running into an immense school of tunnies which were 

 jumping eight or ten feet in the air and setting up a line of foam 

 like breakers, two or three miles long. Sometimes twenty would be 

 leaping in one spot. 



In the evening with no moon, a rough sea (after we passed the 

 shelter of the island's lee) and with cloudy skies, we made four enor- 

 mous hauls of Myctophum coccoi. There were hundreds of them in 

 each net. The estimate of 1437 square feet covered by a half-metre 

 net in its course is probably too great by half, as the net is half out 

 of water all the time. The speed was slow on both engines. 



Noon position: Lat. 0° 07' S: Long. 91° 49' W. 



June 14th. At breakfast time white spouts sighted, apparently com- 

 ing from the sea beyond Cape Marshall. Heavy head wind and cur- 

 rent made our approach slow, but little by little we realized the origin 

 of the puffing masses that rose from the water. In the two months 

 since we were here before, the lava has been working down the slope 

 until it reached the steep cliffs of the shore, and here before us were 

 nine great cascades of molten rock gushing from the face of the black 

 coast, and dropping straight into the sea. Immense columns of steam 

 were blown by the strong wind across the land, so that the cataracts 

 were not obscured and we could watch huge pieces of the cliffs crum- 

 ble under the pressure from behind, crashing outward to release fresh 

 torrents of red-hot lava, that spouted lilie water from a culvert. Now 

 and then submarine explosions from too-rapidly-cooled lava threw 

 great lumps of glowing rocks above the breakers, that hissed and 

 turned to steam as they dashed against the scorching shore. 



The sea was choppy with tossing whitecaps; along the coast the 

 water was vivid light green, where it was heated by the lava; a line, 

 distinct as though painted on a floor, marked the beginning of the 

 deep blue, normally cool ocean. So sharp was the demarcation that 

 when the Arcturus was within a quarter-mile of land, as near as we 

 dared venture, and lying directly across this line, her bow was in 

 the green watev at a temperature of 99°, and her stern was in blue 

 water which registered 78°. As molten lava reached 3000°, the ocean 

 under the cliifs was literally boiling. A sea-lion flung itself in agony 

 from the scalding immersion, five times leaping all clear, and then 



