ATTRACTIVE PURSUITS. 73 



sent so many singular forms so many delicate 

 shades of colour? Besides these are the Pyro- 

 somes, shaped like an enormous finger of a glove, 

 which cover the sea with their innumerable hosts ; 

 and those charming Glauci, of an ultramarine blue, 

 with a silver band on the back, which resemble so 

 many pelagic lizards, with those Hyales, which, 

 protected only by a shell extremely thin, fragile, 

 light, diaphanous, and horny, yet delight in the 

 stormy waves of the Southern Ocean. One is 

 tempted to take these beautiful mollusca, on seeing 

 them display their purple fins, for so many turtle 

 in miniature, and, in fact, it is by that name they 

 are designated by sailors." 



In pursuit of these attractive objects, Peron 

 spent nearly the whole day on the shore, plunging 

 into the water in the midst of the surf, always at 

 the danger of his health, and sometimes of his 

 life, and with the shadows of evening returning 

 laden with numerous specimens, of which his 

 friend sketched the most remarkable. 



Nor did he confine himself to these researches. 

 He spent much time in visiting the interior of the 

 island and examining the aborigines. Though 

 ignorant of their language, he had so much tact 

 in catching the meaning of the natives, and in 

 expressing himself by lively gestures, that to a 

 great extent he was able to communicate with 



