AITEXDIX A. 493 



drawn my attenfion to several notices of tliis obscure iilienoraonon, in Science Gossip 

 fur 1870,"inclu(liu<^ his own observations on the coast between Tavoy and Mergui, 

 which 1 now quote. 



"In the mouth of February, 18.57, liaving waited at Tavoy a liiuf; time in vain 

 for the arrival of the Maulmaiii steamer to take mo on to Mergui, I determined to 

 make the voyage in a native boat. 



"The distance from Tavoy to llergui is about one hundred miles, viz. forty 

 down the Tavoy River to its so-called mouth, really a broad estiiary, and thence sixty 

 miles by sea. The greater portion, however, of tlu^se sixty nules is shut in from the 

 Bay of Bengal by the northernmost islands of the Jlergui Arcliipelago, and the sea is 

 comparatively shallow, with a muddy bottom all the way. It is but a short night's 

 run for a steamer, but I was three days and three nights jjerforming the distance. 



"When about forty miles (as I suppose) from Mergui, where the breadtli of the 

 sea, between the main and the islands, is about ten or twelve miles, on the niglit of 

 the 10th of February, I was overtaken by a violent storm of thundiu- and liglitning, 

 accompanied by strong winds and torrents of rain, which lasted nearly all niglit. 



" The wind blew from the south, i.e. from Mergiu ; but had it been favourable, wo 

 could not have ventured to hoist a sail, on a pitch dark night, in a round-bottomed 

 canoe, during such a .storm. So we 'dropped the stone' as the Burmese say, or let 

 go the wooden anchor, weighted with a stone, crouched all together {i.e. tho two 

 Burmese boatmen, my native servant and myself) under the covered part of the boat 

 for shelter from the' driving rain, and 'wished for day.' The storm was followed 

 the next day and the succeeding night by an absolute calm. Not a breath in tho 

 sweltering air, not a ripple on the oily sea ! The boat lay motionless, drifting with 

 the sluggish tide when that was favourable, anchored when it was contrary, for it 

 was too heavy a boat for two men to row. Nothing moved but tho sun, and he, all 

 too slowly. Not a sound reached the car, and the haze shut out the sight of the land 

 on oil her side. 



" When night fell again, and tho stars shone out bright and clear, the same calm 

 continued, aud we lay still and motionless as ever. But with the growing darkness 

 there came a sound upon tlu; car, a strange and peculiar sound, though from what 

 quarter it came, it was diflieult to determine, for it was not borne on the air from 

 a distance ; had it been so, I might have fixed upon tho direction whence it came, 

 but it was above, below, and around. The air was all sound, and tho sound was all 

 of one kind and pitch, a droning, drowsy sort of sound, and unintermitting. It is 

 difficult to convey in words a correct idea of the sound, no articulate sound would 

 resemble it. M. "de Thoron, as quoted by Mr. Spicer, compared what /te heard, to tho 

 music of an organ listened to, outside a church, where, I suppose, all distinction 

 between one note and another would be lost, and a confused vibration would be tho 

 result. What I heard might, somewhat fancifully, be so described. He says the 

 noise was ' grave and prolonged,' so was this. The nearest approach to a true 

 description of the sound (as, at least, it seemed to me) which I can give, is to imagine 

 a huge drum beaten, at short and regular intervals, a long -way off, and tho sound 

 coming across the water in sustained waves of varying intensity. The sound, however, 

 can be pretty closely imitated by closing the lips, keeping the teeth apart, and then 

 trying to utter the letter M in the deepest possible tone, and with prolonged breath, 

 the result will be an inarticulate 7fum. 



" I could not imagine whence such an unusual sound proceeded, nor could I learn 

 from the boatmen what it was. At that time I was not aware that fish had ' voices,' 

 or that they could utter sounds of any kind. I was slow therefore to attribute tlie 

 sound to them, although I felt sure, after a while, that it rose out of tho sea all 

 round me. Now, however, I am satisfied (and havo been for some time) that tho 

 mysterious sound proceeded from the fish in tho sea, though from fish of what kind 

 I do not know; and that M. de Thoron and myself have witnessed tho same 

 phenomenon in two very dili'erent parts of tho world there can, I think, be very 

 little doubt."— Science Gossip, 1870, p. M7. 



Charles Kiugsley describes the sound usually supposed to be made by fish, in 

 the case of the Bocas Islands, off Trinidad, as follows: " Tlie uuiso 1 heard is 



