[ 451 ] 
eafily read by It, though I was nine or ten feet 
“ above it from the furface of the water ; as I did 
particularly on the 12th of June, and the 10th of 
“ July, 1704. But I could read only the title of my 
“ book, which was in large letters. As to the ex- 
tent of this light, fomctimes all the wake ap- 
“ peared luminous to thirty or forty feet diftant 
“ from the fliip j but the light was very faint at any 
“ conliderable didance. Some days one might eafily 
“ diftinguilli in the wake fuch particles as were lu- 
minous from thofe that were not : at other times 
“ there was no difference. The wake feemed then 
** like a river of milk, and was very pleafant to 
look on. At fuch times as we could didinguifli 
“ the bright parts from the others, we obferved 
“ that they were not all of the fame figure. Some 
of them appeared like points of light ; others 
“ almoft as large as dars, as they appeared to the 
“ naked eye. We faw fome that looked like 
“ globules of a line or two in diameter; and others 
“ like globes as big as one’s head.' It is not 
“ always that this light appears, though the fea 
“be in great motion ; nor does it always hap- 
“ pen when the diip fails faded : neither is it 
“ the Ample beating of the waves againd one an- 
“ other, that produces this bright nefs, as far as I 
“ could perceive. But I have obferved, that the 
“ beating of the waves againd the fhore has fome- 
“ times produced it in great plenty ; and on the 
“ coad of Brazil the diore was one night fo very 
“ bright, that it appeared as if it had been all on 
“ fire. 
M m m 2 
The 
