2l6 



a found like the fplafhing of rain, which being 

 heard by the captain, he inftantly exclaimed 

 *' Ha ! bravo ! land^ land ! here are the little 

 fplafpers^ 'we carit be far from the land /"— 

 This fmall race of flying fi£h, it feems, is never 

 obferved at any great diftance from the fhore, 

 nor in the deeper parts of the Atlantic : where- 

 fore their appearance is alTumed as a fure 

 prognoftic of a fpeedy approach to the land. 



We obferved upon the paflage, that after 

 the great heat of the day, the water of the At- 

 lantic was fomewhat warmer than the circum- 

 ambient air. In latitude 14°, at 10 o'clock 

 at night, the thermometer flood at 72I, and 

 upon being put into a bucket of frefli-drawa 

 fea water it rofe to 73. 



Like all young failors we felt our atten- 

 tion ftrcngly attrafted by the phenomenon of 

 the lights produced in the fea, at night, from 

 the fhip beating her way through the water. 

 We often witnefled them in a very ftriking 

 degree, and were, frequently, led to the fore^ 

 part of the fhip to view them in their brighteft 

 fplendour^ for, there, the fhip appeared to ba 



