164 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



fishing for so-called ' ' boatsmen. " These little animals 

 resemble the Nautilus; they have an oval flat body, gelat- 

 inous in substance, and are more than two inches in 

 diameter; they carry what appears at a distance to be a 

 sail, transparent like glass and shaped like the wing of a 

 butterfly. This sail, their only means of locomotion, is 

 placed exactly like the yard-sail of a ship and indeed 

 these strange mollusks will never be found heading the 

 wind, but always gliding alongside. We have seen these 

 animals at times in enormous numbers, almost covering 

 the surface of the sea as far as the naked eye could reach. 

 Birds of prey and fish do not seem to harm them, for they 

 are protected by a poisonous, slimy substance, the very 

 touch of which will cause a painful swelling of the fingers. 



About noon, we had a light breeze from the South-South- 

 East, which disappeared with the sun, and a deathlike 

 calm prevailed throughout the night. The -air became 

 as quiet as the breath of a sleeping child. It was my 

 "Sylvester night," during which I could give audience 

 to my thoughts till three o'clock in the morning without 

 being disturbed. Head and heart ran the race, now tak- 

 ing past, now future subjects, for their temporary med- 

 itation. Meanwhile I found delightful and yet cynical 

 pleasure, when a breath of reasoning would blow to ashes 

 the frail, yet beautiful air-castles which the heart and an 

 imaginative mind had luxuriously erected in the sandy 

 desert of an uncertain future. However, they generally 

 were quickly rebuilt and joyfully accepted by their san- 

 guine architects, while old reason planned another dis- 

 aster for them. Thus it went on and would have gone 

 on indefinitely had not all three grown sleepy in the long- 

 vigil. But no sooner had I closed my eyes than I com- 

 menced dreaming of Home. Dear, joyous pictures pass 

 in review, and again I recognized the play of my evening- 

 companions, those merry goblins, but especially the un- 

 avoidable, un-tiring teaser, my own heart. 



Beginning with the first of this month we have had 

 quite a change of wind, at times very brisk Southwest 

 or Southeast breezes, which continued till the fourth, and 



