DISCOLOURED SEA. 21 



through a red clay district; but under the shade 

 of the vessel's side it was quite as dark as choco- 

 late. The line where the red and blue water join- 

 ed was distinctly defined. The weather for some 

 days previously had been calm, and the ocean 

 abounded, to an unusual degree, with living crea- 

 tures,* 



In the sea around Tierra del Fuego, and at no 

 great distance from the land, I have seen naiTow 

 lines of water of a bright red colour, from the num- 

 ber of Crustacea, which somewhat resemble in form 

 large prawns. The sealers call them whale-food. 

 Whether whales feed on them I do not know ; but 

 terns, cormorants, and immense herds of great un- 

 wieldy seals derive, on some parts of the coast, 

 their chief sustenance from these swimming crabs. 

 Seamen invariably attribute the discoloration of the 

 water to spawn ; but I found this to be the case 

 only on one occasion. At the distance of several 

 leagues from the Archipelago of the Galapagos, the 

 shij) sailed through three strips of a dark yellowish, 

 or mud-like water; these strips were some miles 

 long, but only a few yards wide, and they were 

 separated from the suiTounding water by a sinuous 

 yet distinct margin. The colour was caused by lit- 

 tle gelatinous balls, about the fifth of an inch in 

 diameter, in which numerous minute spherical 

 ovules were embedded : they were of two distinct 

 kinds, one being of a reddish colour and of a difter- 

 ent shape from the other. I cannot form a conjec- 



* M. Lesson (Voyage de la Coquille, torn, i., p. 255) mentions 

 red water off Lima, apparently produced by the same cause. 

 Peron, the distinguished naturalist, in the Voyage aux Terres 

 Australes, gives no less than twelve references to voyagers who 

 have alluded to the discoloured waters of the sea (vol. n., p. 239). 

 To the references given by Peron may be added, Humboldt's Pers. 

 Xarr., vol, vi,, p. 804 ; Flinders' Voyage, vol. i., p. 92 ; Labillar- 

 diere, vol. i., p. 287 ; Ulloa's Voyage ; Voyage of the Astrolabe 

 and of the Coquille ; Captain King's Survey of Australia, &c. 



