Ch.x.] the wateespout. 1.53 



possible ; and to draw or use the microscope quite so, even 

 if the lively movement of the ship had left the observer in 

 such a state of bodily comfort as to enable him to continue 

 work. But the unstable equilibrium of every article in the 

 cabia kept the mind constantly in a state of alarm, and the 

 necessary operation of wearing ship from time to time was 

 fatal to minute animals and everything that could not be 

 securely fastened ; and when this operation occurred in 

 the middle of the night, and I heard my glasses, saucers, 

 microscope, &c., rushing from side to side of the cabin, in 

 total darkness — every one too busy to attend to my cries for 

 a lantern — a deluge of rain pouring down outside, my con- 

 dition may be readily imagiued. I gathered up the debris 

 of Fiery Cross animals ; but for a week all. serious work, 

 even to writing up my diary, had to be suspended; and 

 every one who has been in similar circumstances knows how 

 dif&cult it is to recover time lost iu this manner. 



For three days and nights we ran through the dangers of 

 the China sea without sights, and were not sorry at the end 

 of that time to get a glimpse of the sun and stars, and once 

 more to verify our position. On the 7th August a succes- 

 sion of rapid orders upon deck made me look out of my 

 cabin windows, when the cause was 'visible in the form of a 

 waterspout, little more than a cable's length from our 

 quarter. It had just formed at a distance of not more than 

 two ships' lengths astern, and had slowly crossed the vessel's 

 wake. The long, black, flexible pipe was clearly defined 

 upon the murky background, slightly undulating — now 

 straight, now somewhat serpentine — the broad, funnel-shaped 

 top descending from a dense cloud, and the termiaatiag point 

 partially concealed in a whirlpool below. From the upper 

 part, and from the edges of the spout, could be seen the 



