THE VOYAGE. 15 



face, and then he would hastily throw himself under again, 

 with an energetic slap of his flukes. 



One dark, foggy night, while we were &quot; on the Banks,&quot; 

 we witnessed a rather remarkable exhibition of marine pyro- 

 techny. The whole water, as far as we could see, was lustrous 

 white, while nearer the eye it was full of spangles, and every 

 disturbance, as that caused by the movement of the ship, or 

 the ripples from the wind, or the surging of the sea, was 

 marked by fire flashes. Very singular spots, from the size of 

 one s hand to minute sparks, frequently floated by, looking 

 like stars in the milky-way. We noticed also several schools, 

 numbering hundreds, of what seemed little fishes (perhaps an 

 inch long), that darted here and there, comet-like, with great 

 velocity. I tried, without success, to catch some of these. It 

 w^as evident that, besides the ordinary phosphorescent animal- 

 cula, there were various and distinct varieties of animated 

 nature around us, such as are not often to be observed. 



Some kind of sea-bird we have seen, I think, every day, 

 and when at the greatest distance from land. Where is their 

 home 1 is an oft-repeated question, and, What do they eat 1 

 They are mysteries, these feathered Bedouins. To-day, land 

 and long-legged shore birds are coming on board of us. They 

 fly tremulously about the ship, sometimes going off out of 

 sight and back again, then lighting for a few moments on a 

 spar or line of rigging. Some have fallen asleep so ; or suf 

 fered themselves, though panting with apprehension, to be 

 taken. One of these is a swallow, and another a wheatear. 

 Some kind of a lark, but not recognisable by the English on 

 board, was taken several days since. It had probably been 

 lost from the Western Islands. 



We have seen but very few vessels ; but the meeting with 

 one of them was quite an event in sea life. She was coming 

 from the eastward, wind north, and running free, when we 



