180 THE OCEAN. 
them, in every gale, as if they had been the mali- 
cious authors of it. If this unoffending little bird 
does afford any indication of a coming storm, dis- 
covered by its more acute perceptions, which, never- 
theless, I very much doubt, why should not those 
who navigate the Ocean, receive its warning with 
gratitude, and make preparations for security, instead 
of following it with profane and impotent curses? 
“ As well might they curse the midnight lighthouse 
that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or 
the buoy that warns them of the sunken rocks below, 
as this harmless wanderer, whose manner informs 
them of the approach of the storm, and thereby 
enables them to prepare for it.” 
A frequent relief to the tedium of a long voyage 
is found in the shoals of playful Dolphins (Del- 
phinus delphis, &c.) which so often perform their 
amusing gambols around us. They may be discerned 
at a great distance; as they are continually leaping 
from the surface of the sea, an action which, as it 
seems to have no obvious object, is probably the 
mere exuberance of animal mirth. When a shoal is 
seen thus frolicing at the distance of a mile or two, 
in a few moments, having caught sight of the ship, 
down they come trooping with the velocity of the 
wind, impelled by curiosity to discover what being 
of monstrous bulk thus invades their domain. When 
arrived, they display their agility in a thousand 
graceful motions, now leaping with curved bodies 
many feet into the air, then darting through a wave 
with incredible velocity, leaving a slender wake of 
whitening foam under the water; now the thin back- 
