BALMY BREEZES OF THE EASTERN ISLES. 15 



and spreading out its uppermost leaves on the sui'face 

 of tlie sea. It was guarded by a bird, that was not 

 bird but half beast ; and when a ship came near, 

 she was always drawn irresistibly toward this spot, 

 and not one of her ill-fated crew ever escaped the 

 beak and formidable talons of this insatiable harpy. 



But such wonders unfortunately fade away before 

 the light of advancing knowledge ; and the prince 

 of Ceylon, who is said to have given a whole vessel 

 laden with spice for a single specimen, could have 

 satisfied his heart's fullest desire if he had only known 

 it was not rare on the Seychelles, north of Mauri- 

 tius. 



The trades soon became light and bafEing. Heavy 

 rain-squalls, with thunder and lightning, were fre- 

 quent ; and three days after, as one of these cleared 

 away, the high mountain near Java Head appeared 

 full a quarter of a degree above the horizon, its black 

 shoulders rising out of a beautiful mantle of the 

 ermine- white, fleecy clouds, called cumuli. 



Although we were thii*ty-five miles from the shore, 

 yet large numbers of dragon-flies came round the 

 ship, and I quickly improvised a net and captured a 

 goodly number of them. 



After sunset, there was a light air ofl'-shore, which 

 carried us to within a few miles of the land, and at 

 midnight the captain called me on deck to enjoy 

 " the balmy breezes of the Eastern isles ; " and cer- 

 tainly to myself, as well as to the others, the air 

 seemed to have the rich fragrance of new-mown clover, 

 l)ut far more spicy. At that hour it was quite clear, 

 but at sunrise a thick haze rose up from the ocean, 



