THE OCEAN. 333 



Great transparency, in various places, belongs also to the tropical deep. This is its 

 feature around the Bahamas that solitary and singular cluster of several hundred 

 rocks in the Atlantic, aptly compared to one of the beautiful nebulae in the heavens, 

 which to ordinary sight seems an indivisible patch of cloud, but when viewed through a 

 telescope is found to be a collection of stars. " The number," says Moore, " of beautiful 

 islets, the singular clearness of the water, and the animated play of the graceful little 

 boats, gliding for ever between the islands, and seeming to sail from one cedar grove to 

 another, form altogether the sweetest miniature of nature that can be imagined. The 

 water," he adds in another place, " is so beautifully clear around these islands, that the 

 rocks are seen to a very great depth ; and as we entered the harbour they appeared to us 

 so near the surface, that it seemed impossible we should not strike on them." In verse, 

 addressed to the Dowager Marchioness of Donegal, as well as in prose, the writer has 

 celebrated the waters of the Bahama coves and coasts : 



" Believe me, lady, when the zephyrs bland 



Floated our bark to this enchanted land, , 



These leafy isles, upon the ocean thrown, 

 Like studs of emerald o'er a silver zone 

 Never did weary bark more sweetly glide, 

 Or rest its anchor in a lovelier tide ! " 



It is in the tropical seas, towards the heart of the torrid zone, that several remarkable 

 phenomena are witnessed in perfection : the phosphorescence of the ocean the flying-fish 

 chased by the dolphin successive regions of steady breezes, and calms interrupted by 

 sharp and sudden squalls and enormous deluges of rain, which generally descend in 

 equatorial districts in a perfectly still state of the atmosphere. No spectacle is more 

 imposing and magnificent than the luminous appearance of the sea at night in these 

 latitudes. The path of a vessel seems like a long line of fire, and the water thrown up 

 in her progress, or dashed by the waves upon deck, flashes like vivid and lambent flame. 

 Sometimes myriads of luminous stars and spots float and dance upon the surface, assuming 

 the most varied and fantastic aspects. This phosphorescent or shining appearance of the 

 ocean is by no means uncommon, but most frequent in the equatorial seas ; and is usually 

 ascribed to animalcula, which exist there in inconceivable numbers, and to the semi- 

 putrescent matter of plants and fishes, developing electricity. As Humboldt entered the 

 torrid zone, the phosphorescence of the ocean seemed to augment greatly the mass of light 

 diffused through the air, so that he was able to read, for the first time, the minute divisions 

 of a small snuif-box sextant, without the assistance of a taper. A most remarkable 

 display of this phosphoric light is thus related by Mrs. Somerville : " Captain Bonnycastle, 

 coming up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the 7th September, 1826, was roused by the 

 mate of the vessel, in great alarm, from an unusual appearance. It was a starlight night, 

 when suddenly the sky became overcast, in the direction of the high land of Cornwallis 

 county, and an instantaneous and intensely vivid light, resembling the Aurora, shot out of 

 the hitherto gloomy and dark sea, on the lee bow ; which was so brilliant, that it lighted 

 every thing distinctly, even to the mast-head. The light spread over the whole sea between 

 the two shores ; and the waves, which before had been tranquil, now began to be agitated. 

 Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene as that of a blazing sheet of awful and most 

 brilliant light. A long and vivid line of light, superior in brightness to the parts' of the 

 sea not immediately near the vessel, showed the base of the high, frowning, and dark 

 land, abreast. The sky became louring, and more intensely obscure. Long tortuous 

 lines of light showed immense numbers of very large fish, darting about as if in consterna- 

 tion. The spritsail-yard arid mizen-boom were lighted by the reflection, as if gas-lights 

 had been burning directly below them ; and until just before daybreak, at four o'clock, 



