A Sounding Apparatus — Swallows at Sea. 7 



readily made by altering the trim of this water-kite. When I 

 first tried this apparatus, and before I had succeeded in trimming 

 it satisfactorily, it caused great amusement to the blue-jackets by 

 the playful manner in which it manoeuvred under our stern, now- 

 diving deeply towards our rudder post (the shimmer of the white 

 wood in the deep blue water reminding one of a dolphin), and 

 now whimsically rising rapidly to the surface with an impetus 

 that shot it fully six feet out of the water. 



On the 4th of October, the captain made some experiments 

 with the " Lucas deep-sea sounder." It consists of a strong brass 

 drum carrying 2,000 fathoms of fine steel wire, and fitted with a 

 cyclometer which registers on a dial the number of fathoms of 

 wire run out. The sinker, which weighs 20 lbs., is made of lead, 

 and has at its lower extremity a bull-dog snapper, which, on 

 striking the ground, shuts up suddenly, so as to enclose a sample 

 of the sea bottom. The apparatus is supposed to be capable of 

 sounding to a depth of 500 fathoms in a vessel going 5 knots, 

 and to 50 fathoms when going 12 knots. It is said to be a 

 modification of an invention of Sir VV. Thompson's. We subse- 

 quently used this largely, and found it to be a most convenient 

 and expeditious method of sounding to depths of 500 fathoms, 

 with the ship almost stationary. The wire could be wound up 

 again while the ship was under way. 



During the forenoon of this same day we saw, to our astonish- 

 ment, a land swallow, which flew about the ship for a few minutes, 

 and then went on his way rejoicing. He would have had to travel 

 254 miles to make the nearest land, which was the island of Porto 

 Santo. 



An erratic fragment of gulfweed [Sargassum Bacciferuni) was 

 entangled in the tow-net on the 5th of October, when we were 

 105 miles north-cast of Madeira, a circumstance which is of interest 

 as regards the distribution of the plant, the locality cited being 

 considerably beyond the northern limit of the great eddy between 

 the Gulf Stream and the Atlantic equatorial current, commonly 



