150 REMINISCENCES OF 



and other marine fowls, which are constantly soaring 

 by thousands over every sea, seize upon all unprotected 

 animals, dead or living, which remain within their 

 reach. The three former birds will follow the ship for 

 days during calm weather, to share the offals thrown 

 over by the cook ; and so ravenous is their appetite, that 

 they are frequently caught with the hook and line baited 

 with meat, and trolled in the wake of the vessel. I have 

 frequently seen them bathing their feathers in the 

 grease which floats around the refuse of the camboose, 

 and skimming it up with their spoon-shaped bills with 

 every demonstration of pleasure. Those bodies that 

 sink by their gravity fall a prey to the fish, and those 

 that are too minute to attract the attention of the 

 larger animals, are speedily devoured by the molluscse. 

 Thus the waters are preserved in a high degree of pu- 

 rity, and probably there does not remain sufficient pu- 

 trescent matter in a cubic league of water to render 

 luminous a cubic yard. In passing over an extent of 

 ocean greater than the whole circumference of the 

 earth, I did not see a single dead animal of any kind. 



The purpose for which this phosphorescence is de- 

 signed, is lost in conjecture; but when we recollect that 

 fish are attracted to the net by the lights of the fisher- 

 men, and that many of the marine shells are said to leave 

 their native element to crawl around a fire built upon the 

 beach, are we not warranted in supposing that the ani- 

 mals of which we have been speaking, are provided 



