Ii8 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



ness of the moonlight, and start off again together into 

 the darkness. A shark would play about the ship, with its 

 beautiful little attendant, the purple-bodied pilot-fish. The 

 exquisite coryphenes, or sailor's dolphins, were the ship's 

 constant companions, their backs now of the deepest azure, 

 almost black, and then suddenly, with a writhe, flashing 

 with silver or gleaming with mother-of-pearl, lounging 

 through the water with so indolent an air that to harpoon 

 them seemed child's play. One of the crew, however, 

 trying this easy task, fell off the taffrail with a splash. 



On May I they caught the welcome trade-wind blow- 

 ing from the east, and this fresh breeze carried them 

 cheerily in sight of the West Indies. They rapidly passed 

 the southern point of Abaco, one of the Bahamas, and 

 Gosse saw for the first time on its precipitous shores the 

 fan-like leaves of the palm tree. While in sight of Abaco 

 two beautiful sloops of war passed them, beating out, and 

 a little schooner, all of which hoisted the British flag at 

 the gaff-end. It was three years since the exile had seen 

 this pleasant sight, and he hailed with deep emotion the 

 colours of that " meteor flag " which has " braved a thou- 

 sand years the battle and the breeze." Next day the 

 White Oak had an excellent run, and rushing before the 

 freshening trade, threaded an archipelago of those count- 

 less " kays," or inlets, which animate the Florida Reef. 

 " The water on this reef," says the journal, "is very shoal, 

 which is strongly indicated by its colour ; instead of the 

 deep-blue tint which marks the ocean, the water here is of 

 a bright pea-green, and the shallower the water, the paler 

 is the tint. To me it is very pleasing to peer down into 

 the depths below, especially in the clear water of these 

 southern seas, and look at the many-coloured bottom, — 

 sometimes a bright pearly sand, spotted with shells and 

 corals, then a large patch of brown rock, whose gaping 



