THE VOYAGE. 



surprise and alarm in his stolid, black face, and then he would 

 hastily throw himself under again, with an energetic slap of his 

 flukes. 



One dark, foggy night, while we were " on the Banks," we 

 witnessed a rather remarkable exhibition of marine pyrotechny. 

 The whole water, as far as we could see, was lustrous white, while 

 near the eye it was full of spangles, and every disturbance, as 

 that caused by the movement of the ship, or the ripples from the 

 wind, or the surging of the sea, was marked by fire flashes. Very 

 singular spots, from the size of one's hand to minute sparks, fre- 

 quently floated by, looking like stars in the milky-way. We 

 noticed also several schools, numbering hundreds, of what seemed 

 little fishes (perhaps an inch long), that darted here and there, 

 comet-like, with great velocity. I tried, without success, to catch 

 some of these. It was evident that, besides the ordinary phos- 

 phorescent animalculae, there were various and distinct varieties 

 of animated nature around us, such as are not often to be 

 observed. 



Some kind of sea-bird we have seen, I think, every day, and 

 when at the greatest distance from land. Where is their home ? 

 is an oft-repeated question, and, What do they eat ? They are 

 mysteries, these feathered Bedouins. To-day, land and long- 

 legged shore birds are coming on board of us. They fly tremu- 

 lously about the ship, sometimes going off out of sight and back 

 again, then lighting for a few moments on a spar or line of rig- 

 ging. Some have fallen asleep so; or suffered themselves, 

 though panting with apprehension, to be taken. One of these is 

 a swallow, and another a wheat-ear. Some kind of a lark, but 

 not recognizable by the English on board, was taken several days 

 since. It had probably been lost from the Western Islands. 



We have seen but very few vessels ; but the meeting with one 

 of them was quite an event in sea life. She was coming from 



