34 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
the cruise. We managed to hook up some sargassum weed, and 
enjoyed studying its animal population. These constituted the 
first specimens collected during the voyage and included sev- 
eral bryozoans, plumularian hydroids, pyecnogonids, etc. 
The remainder of the six days’ run to St. Thomas was un- 
eventful, but delightful and thoroughly restful. We became 
acquainted with our genial skipper, Captain Spinney, who had 
been in command of the ‘‘ Parima’’ when I went south before. He 
extended many courtesies to our party throughout the trip. 
Life at sea in these latitudes is a deliciously lazy one. The 
weather is usually fine, the air soft and not hot, the water the 
bluest of blue, and the sky blue for the most part, but girdled 
around the horizon with the beautiful columnar ‘‘tropic’’ 
clouds. We watched the countless small schools of flying-fish 
rising suddenly, skipping along the crests for a hundred yards 
or so, and then plunging into the water. By night we leaned 
over the rail and watched the sparkling of the phosphorescence 
caused by innumerable pelagic organisms. Often there was 
music in the evening in the gloom of the lightless decks. Miss 
Mullin’s voice usually led, and a very sweet voice it was; while 
Stoner accompanied with skillful strumming of the mandolin, 
of which he is master. Quiet groups dozed in the deck-chairs 
or engaged in low-toned conversation. Then to bed and sound 
sleep until another perfect day dawned with its round of rest 
and enjoyment. Eating was the only serious business that had 
to be attended to, and every man and woman did the menu full 
justice. 
Truly it was a life abandoned to a ‘‘dulce far niente’’ mood, 
and the time passed most pleasantly until on the morning of 
Friday, May 3d, the high hills of St. Thomas loomed ahead, 
and we were reminded that the world was not all blue sea after 
all. Then there were letters to write and preparations to be 
made for landing at this, one of the newest of the possessions of 
Uncle Sam. 
It was a first visit to a tropical land for most of the party, 
and the beautiful town of Charlotte Amalia, with its abundant 
palms and variously tinted houses rising tier above tier over 
the harbor front, was one of the most picturesque places we 
