Ch. I.] A CALM AT SEA IN THE TEOPICS. 11 



mote would have seemed a flaw; but from out of which, from 

 time to time, shoals of flying fishes, like flocks of little white 

 birds, emerged, with a splash and a whuT Uke a covey of 

 partridges, dropping one hy one into the water again Uke a 

 shower of canister or grape, and leavuig only a few ripples 

 which presently subsided, and the water was once more like 

 a clear sapphire. The sky was filled with noble cumuli of 

 various shades of white, arranged in successive piles or 

 layers from the zenith to the horizon, flat below, massively 

 rolling above ; and so crystal-clear was the atmosphere that 

 those most distant were as well defined as those nearly over- 

 head ; and even the clouds below the horizon, and of which 

 only the flocculent convoluted tops were visible, were sharply 

 cut against the distant sea-line. It was lilce a noble temple, 

 whose floor was lapis-lazuli, and whose roof was infinity. 

 But' once before had I witnessed a parallel scene, but with 

 the colours reversed, when far up the recesses of Mont 

 Blanc, the deep unwonted blue of the cloudless sky was cut 

 by the clear, trenchant outlines of spotless aiguilles which 

 towered up all round from the pm^e white floor of the snowy 

 glacier. 



Events interesting to the observant natiu'alist can hardly 

 fail to happen each day while traversing the ocean, and it is 

 not to be supposed that during this time nothing was seen 

 worth recording ; but I have thought it better to collect the 

 various circumstances worthy of notice in a separate chapter, 

 on the surface life of the ocean, than to speak of them in a 

 piecemeal and isolated manner, which also would stand in the 

 way of any interesting generalisations. Scarcely a day passes, 

 however, without some addition to one's stock of observation 

 and information, whether it be a fish swimmiug the sea^ a 

 bird winging the air, or some floating delicate animal which 



