34 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



we were at last obliged to lie to all night under 

 our courses *. This gale lasted till noon of the 

 15th. We were then off the mouths of Boniface, 

 that is, the strait which separates the islands of Cor- 

 sica and Sardinia, and along a coast of from twelve 

 to fifteen leagues. It is hardly possible to navi- 

 gate in those seas, without encountering stormy 

 weather. The sea, repelled in contrary directions 

 by a vast extent of coast, and by numerous ridges 

 of rocks and quicksands, agitated by the winds, 

 the direction of which is liable to frequent change 

 from a multitude of straits, is there usually swelling 

 and tumultuous. During the foul weather of the 

 morning, the turtle-doves and quails, in expecta- 

 tion of finding an asylum from the tempest on 

 board the vessel, ventured to alight on her. But 

 this inhospitable retreat saved not these unfortu- 

 nate travellers from death ; they all suffered them- 

 selves to be caught by the hand, so fatigued were 

 they, or confounded by the tremendous uproar of 

 the elements in which they were involved. I ob- 

 served that the turtle-doves arrived in pairs. Shoals 

 innumerable of porpoises furrowed the waters at 

 a little distance 'from the ship, while, on another 

 side, the tortoise pressed heavily on the surface. 



* What precedes, from the beginning of the last paragraph, 

 is related, in the History of the Bird of Storms, by BufFon (Hist. 

 Nat. des Ois.) as an extract from the Journal of a Navigator* 

 It was from my Journal that note was extracted. 



