22 INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE. 



but the most curious creature was an Annellide, that 

 inhabited a hollow stick, lined with a tough mem- 

 brane, exactly in the manner of Phryganea. 



It was noon before the welcome sea-breeze came 

 in, and then it was so slight that we could scarcely 

 feel its gentle breathing. It was sufficient, however, 

 to impel us gradually nearer to the land, and thus to 

 reveal the minuter beauties of the scene, whose 

 grander features we had been admiring at a distance. 

 Many little flat hays, as such islets are called, lay 

 around, among which our tortuous course led us ; 

 scarcely more than the flat tops of coral rocks, almost 

 level with the sea, on which sand and shells had been 

 accumulated by the waves ; yet pleasant to look on, 

 because covered with low bushes of a refreshing 

 greenness. On their snowy beaches, where the gentle 

 ripple was sparkling, or perched on the irregular blocks 

 of black rock that lay half covered with the tide, sat 

 many Pelicans, preening their plumage, and dashing 

 the water over their wings, or lazily resting after 

 their morning's fishing excursion.* Some sat sleepily 

 on the sea, their forms reflected from its bosom, 

 inert and motionless, except for the alternate rise 

 and fall which were produced by the undulation of 

 the ground-swell. 



At length, the peculiar harsh rattling of the chain 

 cable rushing throvigh the iron-lined hawse-hole, an- 

 nounced that the anchor was dropped, and at the 



" Tranquillo silet, immotaque attolitur unda 

 Campus, et apricis statio gratissima meigis." 



ViiiG. uEiuid. V. 1'. 



