VII. 

 THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



E~1AVING Aden, and rounding the great prom- 

 ontory of Cape Guardafui, we turned south 

 along the coast of Africa. Off the cape were 

 strange, oily cross rips and currents on the sur- 

 face of the sea ; the flying-fish rose in flocks 

 before our bows ; high mountains of peaks and 

 flat table tops thrust their summits into clouds ; 

 and along the coast the breakers spouted like 

 whales. For the first time, too, we began to ex- 

 perience what our preconceptions had imagined 

 as tropical heat. Heretofore we had been hot 

 enough, in all conscience, but the air had felt as 

 though wafted from an opened furnace door- 

 dry and scorching. Now, although the tem- 

 perature was lower,* the humidity was greater. 

 A swooning languor was abroad over the spell- 

 bound ocean, a relaxing mist of enchantment. 



' 82-88 in daytime, and 75-83 at night. 



