FATTNA AISTD FLORA OF THE FAMttAlSTDS, 361 



tantalizing to steam tlu'ougli sucli numbers of delicious fish, and 

 yet to be unable to secure any beyond an odd specimen or two 

 whicli chanced to come on board. 



A little later, and we were able to walk like Peter Schlemihl 

 without shadows during the mid-day ; and in spite of the 

 thermometer registering about 85°F. in the shade I found the 

 heat most agreeable, although many of the passengers found the 

 change very trying. 



Our Captain had intimated to us in the saloon that if we 

 passed St. Paul's Rocks during the day-time he would stop the 

 ship for an hour to enable us to catch some of the fine fish which 

 abound round this rocky island. I was also gratified to be able 

 to extract a promise from him that in the event of this happy 

 combination of circumstances being realized he would lower his 

 gig and let me ramble over the island. 



This cluster of rocks, situated about 550 miles from the 

 nearest main-land, and about 50 feet above the surrounding- 

 ocean, was visited by Darwin in 1832. The scientific staff of the 

 " Challenger " spent about two days in 1873 examining the fauna 

 of this remote spot ; since then, no one seems to have landed on 

 them. Nor did we, to our great disappointment. After taking 

 the sun on the morning of the 8th our Captain decided to give 

 them a wide berth, seeing we should pass them about 2 a.m. if 

 we continued on the same course, so our proposed visit came to 

 nothing. 



From Lat. 8°irS. to Lat. 2°6'N. the sky remained more or 

 less cloudy, and occasionally we had tropical downpours of rain. 



The atmosphere was loaded with moisture ; the average 

 temperature of both sea and air was the same, namely 82°F. We 

 experienced a decided change when we reached Lat. 5°54'N., the 

 surface temperature of the sea falling to 78-3°F. ; a pleasant 

 northerly breeze brought home to our minds the agreeable fact 

 that we had passed the doldrums. 



There was a still further decrease in the surface temjperature 

 of the sea following day at noon, our position being 9°20'N., 

 28°14'W., when only 75'6°r. was recorded, which was lowered 

 1° at sunset; the temperature of the air being 70"6°F. 



