THE PETREL. 45 



toss water over their backs, to try whether it will run 

 off again without wetting- them. Superstitious, indeed, 

 is the sailor who thinks the petrel the cause of a storm ; 

 it might as well be supposed that the swallows and the 

 ducks are the cause of rain. 



But though these birds wing their way over the ocean 

 so bravely, they are, in fact, sensible of danger, and 

 make all haste to the nearest shelter. They find, if 

 they can, an island or a rock to shield them from the 

 blast ; but failing to do this, they hasten to the first ship 

 they can descry, crowd into her wake and even close 

 under the stern, heedless, apparently, of the rushing 

 surge, so that they can have the vessel between them 

 and the unbroken sweep of the wind. The low wailing 

 note of iveet iveet, which may be heard during the whole 

 of a stormy and starless night, is, of course, depressing 

 to ignorant and superstitious minds. Such, alas ! are 

 those of sailors generally ; and though we owe them 

 much, we do but little to promote their welfare. It 

 ought to be otherwise. Two hundred and eighty thou- 

 sand of these our fellow subjects, passing by unnumber- 

 ed casualties into an eternity for which multitudes on 

 multitudes of them are utterly unprepared, make a for- 

 cible appeal to every Christian's heart. 



