44 



Mark, too, ye witty, rich, and gay, 

 How quick those sportive fins could play, 



How gay, how rich was he ! 

 He moves no more — he 's cold to touch — 

 He's dull — dark — dead ! The Dolphin's such, 



And such we all must be ! 



There is a technical fault in the above lines : the 

 grainse, or dolphin-spear, has five barbs ; but the 

 harpooner never uses a lance with more than a 

 single point. However, the word was so agreeable 

 to my ear, that I could not find in my heart to 

 leave it out. 



December 24. (Sunday.) 

 At length we have crawled into the Caribbean 

 Sea. I was told that we were not to expect to see 

 land to-day 5 but on shipboard our not seeing a thing 

 to-day by no means implies that we shall not see it 

 before to-morrow ; for the nautical day is supposed 

 to conclude at noon, when the solar observation is 

 taken ; and, therefore, the making land to-day , or 

 not, very often depends upon our making it before 

 twelve o'clock, or after it. This was the case in the 

 present instance; for noon was scarcely passed when 

 we saw Descada (a small island totally unprovided 

 with water, and whose only produce consists in a 

 little cotton), Guadaloupe, and Marie Galante, 

 though the latter was at so great a distance as to 

 be scarcely visible. At sunset Antigua was in 

 sight. 



