384 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS METEOROLOGY. 



waters of this part of the ocean teem with nascent organisms.* 

 They sometimes swarm so thickly there that they change the 

 colour of the sea, making it crimson, brown, black, or white, 

 according to their own hues. These patches of coloured water 

 sometimes extend, especially in the Indian Ocean, as far as the 

 eye can reach. The question, " "What produces them ?" is one 

 that has elicited much discussion in seafaring circles. The 

 Brussels Conference deemed them an object worthy of attention, 

 and recommended special observations with regard to them. 

 746. Capt. W. E. Kingman, of the American clipper ship the 

 Coloured patches. " Shootiug Star,'^ roports in his abstract log a 

 remarkable wliite patch, which he encountered in lat 8° 46' S., 

 long. 105° 30' E., and which, in a letter to me, he thus 

 describes : " Thursday, July 27, 1854. At 7h. 45m. P.M., my 

 attention was called to notice the colour of the water, which Avas 

 rapidly growing white. Knov/ing that we were in a much fre- 

 quented part of the ocean, and having never heard of such an 

 appearance being observed before in this vicinity, I could not 

 account for it. I immediately hove the ship to and cast the lead ; 

 had no bottom at 60 fathoms. I then kept on our course, tried 

 the water by thermometer, and found it to be 78;^-^, the same as 

 at 8 A.M. We filled a tub, containing some sixty gallons, with 

 the water, and found that it was filled with small luminous 

 particles, which, when stirred, presented a most remarkable 

 appearance. The whole tub seemed to be active with worms 

 and insects, and looked like a grand display of rockets and 

 serpents seen at a great distance in a dark night ; some of the 

 serpents appeared to be six inches in length, and very luminous. 

 We caught, and could feel them in our hands, and they would 

 emit light until brought within a few feet of a lamp, when, upon 

 looking to see what we had, behold, nothing was visible ; but, by 

 the aid of a sextant's magnifier, we could plainly see a jelly-like 

 substance without colour. At last a specimen was obtained of 

 about two inches in length, and plainly visible to the naked eye ; 



* "It is the realm of reef-building corals, and of the wondrously-beautiful 

 assemblage of animals, vertebrate and invertebrate, that live among them or prey 

 upon them. Tiie brightest and most definite arrangements of colour are here dis- 

 played. It is the seat of maximum development of the majority of marine genera. 

 It has but few relations of identity with other provinces. The Red Sea and Persian 

 Gulf are its oflsets." — From Professor Forbes's Paper on the " Distribution of 

 Marine Life," Plate:^31st, Johnston's Physical Atlas, 2nd ed. ; Wm. Black'yood 

 and Soufi, Edinburgh "and Loudon, 1854. 



