180 THE OCEAX. 



them, in every gale, as if they had been the mali- 

 cious authors of it. If this unoffending little bird 

 does afford any indication of a coming storm, dis- 

 covered by its more acute perceptions, which, never- 

 theless, I very much doubt, why should not those 

 who navigate the Ocean, receive its warning with 

 gratitude, and make preparations for security, instead 

 of following it with profane and impotent curses? 

 " As well might they curse the midnight lighthouse 

 that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or 

 the buoy that warns them of the sunken rocks below, 

 as this harmless wanderer, whose manner informs 

 them of the approach of the storm, and thereby 

 enables them to prepare for it." 



A frequent relief to the tedium of a long voyage 

 is found in the shoals of playful Dolphins {Del- 

 phinus delphis, dr.) which so often perform their 

 amusing gambols around us. They may be discerned 

 at a great distance ; as they are continually leaping 

 from the surface of the sea, an action which, as it 

 seems to have no obvious object, is probably the 

 mere exuberance of animal mirth. When a shoal is 

 seen thus frolicing at the distance of a mile or two, 

 in a few moments, having caught sight of the ship, 

 down they come trooping with the velocity of the 

 wind, impelled by curiosity to discover what being 

 of monstrous bulk thus invades their domain. When 

 arrived, they display their agility in a thousand 

 graceful motions, now leaping with curved bodies 

 many feet into the air, then darting through a wave 

 with incredible velocity, leaving a slender wake of 

 whitening foam under the water; now the thin back- 



