300 The Natural Hiflory. of the Book X. 
: The Whole is made more grateful ftill by the Sight of numerous © . 
Tribes ‘of Fifhes, which either feed upon, or wantonly: {kim the Sur- 
- face of the deep Water, or lie groveling at the Bottom. fe 
There ‘the bulky Conch, as it moves, is feen to furrow the glittering 
Sand ; and the Warlike Sea-Egg flowly waves its thoufand Spears. 
4 Scene of this Nature cannot be better reprefented than in the 
Words of Milton : 
Thefe 
With their Fins, and fbining. Scales 
Glide under'the green We aves in Sculls:that oft 
Bank the Mid-fea‘: Part jingle, .or with Mate. 
Graze the Sea-weed, their Pafture, i eee Groves 
Of Coral fray, or [porting with quick Glance 
ne to i Sup es ius Ooats Bropp'd with Gold. 
Asithé Inguiriespwe have made in the foregoing, Books have futh= 
ciently convinced us, that. Nature hath provided. terreftrial Anunals, 
fome with Strength, others with Swiftnefs, and even the weakeft and 
feebleft of the exanguious Tribes (feemingly the moft helplefs and im- 
perfegt)..with fome Skil. or Gontrivance, to preferve its.Specics ; fo we 
{Fall be no lefs agreeably. furprized. to find that the fame Divifie Power 
is not lef confpicuous in the Make of the Inhabitants of the wide-ex- 
tended Ocean, from the huge Leviathan to the {malleft Fry. Each In- 
dividual is not. only adapted, by its Blood and Juices, to the Element 
they are in; not only taught to propagate their Species, but alfo to 
preferve them from their Enemies; for the Lamb flies not the Wolf 
with gréater Dread than the Flying-Fih doth the Dolphin, and that in 
like Manner its Enemy the devouring Shark, 
.. It is remarkable in the Flying-Fi/b, that thefe, whilft fmall and un- 
fit for Ufe, are never feen near the Shores; and the few that accident- 
ally appear, avoid the Bait or Net with a furprifing Shynefs; but when 
full grown, and in PerfeGtion, they croud to a convenient Diftance from 
the Shores, and by, their Tamenefs court, as it were, the deftroying 
Hand of Man; for they will neither fly out of his Way, as they do 
from the Dolphin, nor will they dive into the Deep ; but fuffer them- 
felves to be taken up with the Hand, or with a {mall Hoop-net, which 
is the common, and moft expeditious Way of taking them. 
_ Many have been the fruitlefs Inquiries to find out the certain Pe- 
riods and Caufes of the various and oppofite Sea Currents, fo remark- 
able near this Ifland. As I have obferved thefe to be higher and 
ftronger at the Full‘and Change of the Moon, as well as more rapid, 
and more inclined to the Northward, this induced me to believe 
that, tho” the primary Caufe of the Current, as well as the higher Flow 
of the Water, at fuch Times, is 6wing to the Influence of the Moon ; 
yet the Byafs of this Current, more to the Northward than to any other 
Part, 
