IN THE PACIFIC. 249 



steamers) to the company's agent. His excuse 

 was that he did not stop because we did not 

 heave-to or lower a boat, which of course we 

 should have done had I any idea of the im- 

 portance of his news. It is not in accordance 

 with the custom of her Majesty's ships to stop 

 a mail steamer belonging to another nation, 

 without having good reasons for doing so. 



A day or two after this occurrence we observed 

 two fine water- spouts, which did not approach 

 within gunshot of us, but near enough to see 

 clearly of what they were composed. In 

 common with many others, I had always been 

 under the impression that these so-called water- 

 spouts consisted of a column of water, drawn 

 up from the sea, and meeting a corresponding 

 depression in the clouds overhead ; the agitated 

 condition of the sea at the base of the column 

 would tend to confirm this view, which, how- 

 ever, is an erroneous one. I watched very 

 closely the formation of these phenomena, which 

 are produced by a whirlwind, causing the cloud 

 to draw to a point, which, presently assuming a 



