APPROACH TO LAND. 
9 
natui'alist explores the bottom for protoplasms, clia- 
tomes, and rhizopodes, or skims the surface with his 
towing-net. 
When traversing the great oceans, besides keep- 
ing the towing-net always going whenever the ship 
is not sailing too fast, and Avhenever the weather is 
favourable, I always note down on a track-chart 
every species of bird, fish, or mollusk, I happen 
to see. If all naturalists did this on their voyage 
our knowledge of the geographical distribution of 
marine life would be greatly extended and im- 
proved. 
In course of time the voyage, which had become 
' somewhat monotonous and even tedious, came to an 
end, and we all felt the interest excited by the ex- 
pectation of the first sight of land. Our approach 
to it was indicated by the ap^jearance of fragile- 
looking fishing-rafts; by currents having a tendency 
to take us out of our course ; by the colour of the 
sea, which began to assume a greenish hue ; and by 
floating trees and plants, which, detached from their 
native soil, were carried towards us. 
