Oh. XXIII.] SCENE IN SINGAPOEE HAEBOITE. 395 



light, which only makes its appearance when smooth water 

 is disturbed, and is only seen in calm weather. This indeed 

 appears identical with what we see nearer home, as on the 

 shores of Ostend and in the estuary of the Mersey. This 

 form of luminosity I have observed on only three occasions, 

 but each time under similar circumstances; and I have 

 reason to believe that the cause is the same on all occasions, 

 whether in the eastern seas or in the Mersey. On the 6th 

 of July, being on the coast of China, in lat. 27°, the weather 

 in the afternoon became dead calm, and after sunset I 

 remarked that the sea was beautifully luminous, but alto- 

 gether without conspicuous sparks or points of hght. 

 Wherever the ripples caused by the advancing ship rolled 

 away, they were crested with bright green light, and the 

 ship's hull appeared to be enveloped in a luminous sheath. 

 On this occasion the effect did not last long, and I did not 

 examine the water microscopically. 



The next time I noticed this form of luminosity was in 

 Singapore Harbour, on November the 6th. The wind was 

 east, thermometer 76°, weather fine. The water was like 

 glass, smooth and beautiful, and exhibited no light except 

 when disturbed ; but every oar-stroke of the boat in which I 

 was rowed produced eddying circles of brilliant hght, and a 

 lovely soft green glow crowned every ripple from the bows. 

 The scene was perfectly fairy-like. As we pulled among the 

 shipping, under a brilliant tropical star-ht sky, we left a fiery 

 wake which widened behind us. Every splash in the water 

 was like a shower of diamonds, and a myriad of minute 

 sparks leaped up when I took water in my hands and poured 

 it back into the sea, and the aggregate of these multitudinous 

 and briUiant scintillations made up this dehcate luminosity, 

 which I never saw so beautifully exhibited as upon this 



