GRAMPUS, ETC.— A SUNDOG. 53 



high columns of water, but none came very near to us. The 

 captain informed me that at times they did appear close by the 

 side of the vessel. The Grampus is also occasional here, but they 

 are much more abundant farther north. At one time during the 

 day several horse mackerel appeared by the side of the vessel, 

 and amused us for a time as they kept up with her, swimming 

 abreast and in perfect line with each other. They would dash 

 through the spray, appearing and disappearing with surprising 

 readiness ; but we soon lost sight of them. The captain told us 

 that about this part of the coast he was almost always followed by 

 a party of four or five of these huge fish. As the strength of the 

 wind was spent, I stood looking over the prow of the ship, watch- 

 ing the most perfect rainbows formed in the water by the shining 

 of the sun through the spray as it dashed from the sides of the ves- 

 sel. Occasionally I thought that I could detect a second bow be- 

 hind the other (ahead of it I mean), but it might have been the 

 optical delusion caused by my straining my eyes by too much and 

 too close looking. Of course nearly everybody on board is to-day 

 suffering from the usual nial de mer accompanying sea voyages, 

 as too many know at their own cost. 



Thursday the 23rd. The fine breeze of yesterday kept up all 

 night, and brought us a long distance on our way ; in the morning 

 the breeze calmed down, however, and left us a cool and balmy 

 though cloudy day, with only occasional glimpses of sunshine. The 

 captain foretells stormy weather from the appearance of a sundog 

 this morning. These solar appearances are supposed to be caused 

 by the presence in the air of minute six-sided ice crystals, which 

 refract and decompose the rays of light passing through them ; 

 they are seen usually at a visual angle of 22°, and are quite fre- 

 quent in the polar regions of cold countries generally. 



Friday the 24th. This was another such a day as yesterday. 

 The morning finds us not far from the island of Great Mecattina, 

 with a fair breeze pressing us onward. In the morning one of the 

 species called pigeon hawk (yHypotriorchis columbarius) flew about 

 the vessel several times, and at last lit upon some portion of the 



