86 LIVING LIGHTS. 



appeared so foreign to any thing I had ever seen, and so wonder- 

 ful, that I stopped the ship just on its outskirts, so that I might 

 try to form a true and just conception of what it really was. By 

 this time all the officers and engineers had assembled on deck to 

 witness the scene, and were all equally astonished and interested. 

 Some little time before the first body of light reached the ship, 

 I was enabled, with my night glasses, to resolve in a measure 

 what appeared to the unassisted eye a huge mass of nebulous 

 matter. I distinctly saw spaces between what again appeared to 

 be waves of light of great lustre. These came rolling on with 

 ever-increasing rapidity till they reached the ship ; and in a short 

 time the ship was completely surrounded with one great body of 

 undulating light, which soon extended to the horizon on all sides. 

 On looking into the water, it was seen to be studded with patches 

 of faint, luminous, inanimate matter, measuring about two feet 

 in diameter. Although these emitted a certain amount of light, 

 it was most insignificant when compared with the great waves of 

 light that were floating on the surface of the water, and which 

 were at this time converging upon the ship. The waves stood 

 many degrees above the water, like a highly luminous mist, and 

 obscured by their intensity the distant horizon ; and, as wave 

 succeeded wave in rapid succession, one of the most grand and 

 brilliant, yet solemn, spectacles that one could ever think of was 

 here witnessed. In speaking of waves of light, I do not wish to 

 convey the idea that they were mere ripplings, which are some- 

 times caused by fish passing through a phosphorescent sea ; but 

 waves of great length and breadth, or, in other words, great bodies 

 of light. If the sea could be converted into a huge mirror, and 

 thousands of powerful electric lights were made to throw their 

 rays across it, it would convey no adequate idea of this strange 

 yet grand phenomenon. 



" As the waves of light converged upon the ship from all sides, 

 they appeared higher than her hull, and looked as if they were 



