68 NATURAL HISTORY. 



the second of these three was fastened to, having been 

 driven by the wind, this canal followed it without 

 breaking or quitting the place where it drew in the 

 water, and passing behind the first canal, they were 

 sometimes crossed like a St Andrew's Cross. At the 

 beginning they were all three about the thickness 

 of my finger, but afterwards the first of the three 

 increased considerably. But the last which was form- 

 ed scarcely remained longer than that which we saw 

 on the north side. The second on the south side re- 

 mained about a quarter of an hour, but the first on 

 that side remained a little longer, and it was this 

 which terrified us the most. At first its canal was 

 as thick as my finger, afterwards as thick as my arm, 

 then as my leg, and at last as the trunk of a large 

 tree, which a man might compass with his arms. 

 We distinctly perceived water through this transpa- 

 rent body which ascended in a serpentine form. 

 Sometimes it diminished a little in size, sometimes at 

 top, and sometimes at bottom ; then it resembled ex- 

 actly a soft tube with some fluid matter pressed with 

 the fingers, either upwards, to make this liquor de- 

 scend, or at bottom, to make it ascend. After thia it 

 diminished so much that it was thinner than my arm; 

 afterwards it returned as thick as my thigh, and then 

 became very thin. At last, I saw that the water ele- 

 vated on the surface of the sea began to lower, and 

 that the end of the canal which touched it divided and' 

 grew narrower, when a variation of the light removed 

 It from our view." 



