60 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



But it was not quite so terrible an affair as that proved to be 

 which is celebrated in the above lines, for it passed us very 

 innocently, or rather we passed it. Now it was only a three- 

 masted ship, with a good substantial hull, not " barred like a 

 grate," and I don't think I should have mentioned it, but for 

 what followed. 



" At length did cross an albatross, 



Through the fog it came — 

 As if it had been a Christian soul, 



We hailed it in God's name." 



It did not come through a fog, however, but across a clear 

 atmosphere, over a billowy sea, sailing swiftly and majestically. 



September 2nd. About sunset a great fleet of porpoises came 

 dancing round us in beautiful fashion. They appeared chasing 

 one another, and leaping out of the water at a considerable 

 height. Between ourselves, I think them a different species 

 from the porpoises of our own seas, being lighter coloured, and 

 more slender in proportion to their length, but the knowing ones 

 called them porpoises, and it is not civil to contradict, when you 

 cannot prove the truth. 



Evening is gone. Night is come. What ! Is that the 

 Southern Cross ? I do hope, for the credit of whoever named 

 the stars, that I have been misinformed ; for if this be the glory 

 of the southern sky, it is poor indeed. You might as well call it 

 a trapezium. I confess it is a very great disappointment to me 

 to find this celebrated constellation so utterly unworthy of the 

 name it has received. I had looked forward to it as something 

 conspicuous — something glorious in the sky, standing alone by 

 itself in the midst of many smaller stars, and shining with a 

 pre-eminent brightness. There always appeared to me some- 

 thing poetically beautiful in the position of this constellation, set 

 amid the darkness of the southern hemisphere, as if it were 

 typical of the light which should at a future day beam upon 

 that hitherto benighted half of the world. Now I am sorry that 

 this fancy is destroyed. Not that I ever thought the stars 

 were really placed in the sky to imitate a cross for any such 

 purpose as I have hinted, but just because a very pleasant 

 little dream is quashed. 



September 8th. Welcome most heartily to east longitude. 

 The last time I was in it was the Sunday before I left London, 



