14 THE OCEAN. 



mast-head, one still discerns nothing in the wide cir- 

 cumference but the same boundless waste of waters, 

 that the mind grasps anything approaching an ade- 

 quate idea of the grandeur of the Ocean. There is 

 a certain indefiniteness and mystery connected with 

 it in various aspects that gives it a character widely 

 different from that of the land. At times, in pecu- 

 liar states of the atmosphere, the boundary of the 

 horizon becomes undistinguishable, and the surface, 

 perfectly calm, reflects the pure light of heaven in 

 every part, and we seem alone in infinite space, with 

 nothing around that appears tangible and real save the 

 ship beneath our feet. At other times, particularly 

 in the clear waters of the tropical seas, we look down- 

 ward unmeasured fathoms beneath the vessel's keel, 

 but still find no boundary ; the sight is lost in one 

 uniform transparent blueness. Mailed and glitter- 

 ing creatures of strange forms suddenly appear, play 

 a moment in our sight, and Avith the velocity of 

 thought have vanished in the boundless depths. The 

 very birds that we see in the wide waste are mys- 

 terious ; we wonder whence they come, whither they 

 go, how they sleep, homeless, and shelterless as they 

 seem to be. The breeze, so fickle in its visitings, 

 rises and dies away ; " but thou knowest not whence 

 it cometh and whither it goeth ;" the night-wind 

 moaning by, soothes the watchful helmsman with 

 gentle sounds that remind him of the voices of be- 

 loved ones far away ; or the tempest shrieking and 

 groaning among the cordage turns him pale with the 

 idea of agony and death. But God is there; lonely 

 though the mariner feel, and isolated in his separa- 



