174 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



form in which he had received them. Perone re- 

 peated them to his men, who, carrying out the same 

 principle, passed the orders on, until it almost in- 

 variably happened that the bucket was brought 

 back to us by Rapbaele, the slave and drudge of the 

 crew. This fellow, although strong and robust, was 

 lazy to excess, and always tried to do as little as 

 possible of any labour that had to be done ; but then 

 he was a Neapolitan, and on account of this alone, 

 he had to endure ridicule of every kind, and was 

 constantly exposed to the jibes of the other sailors, 

 who were proud of being Sicilians and natives of 

 Palermo, and hence, whenever there was any extra 

 job to be done, it was invariably thrown upon this 

 poor wretch, notwithstanding the innumerable arti- 

 fices to which he had recourse to avoid the threatened 

 imposition. 



When these arrangements were completed, no 

 further delay interfered with the prosecution of our 

 studies. Every morning when the weather was 

 good, one of ns went out in the boat with Perone — 

 an opportunity which was not neglected for laying in 

 a supply of fish for the day's consumption. The 

 boat was generally brought close to the Isola delle 

 Femine, on account of the excellent fishing; ofround 

 in the vicinity. I saw the sea here under an aspect 

 entirely new to me. The ocean does not exhibit 

 those absolute and profound calms which are ob- 

 served in inland seas where the surface of the water 

 is often as smooth as a mirror, permitting the eye to 

 distinguish the minutest details at an incredible 

 depth. I was at first often deceived by this 



