AN OCEAN CENTIPEDE. 
87 
harbour when the water is smooth and polished, during 
the absence of all wind. It is from three to four inches 
in length, has its body made up of a hundred joints 
apparently, has hundreds of centipede-like legs along 
its entire sides, is covered with a short fine hair or fuzz, 
and swims quickly and with a zigzag track. The natives 
fear their bite greatly, and invariably destroy them when 
they can. They have bright red eyes, and are altogether 
most disgusting-looking wretches. One of the boatmen 
dipped me up several, which I transferred to a bottle full 
of spirits of wine, much to their annoyance. The}' died 
hard, and emitted a bluish fluid, which the natives said 
was poison. These latter gloated over their spasmodic 
and proti'acted eftbrts to escape from the spirits, pretty 
much as old sailors admire the expiring agonies of a 
dying shark.” 
On the 23d of March, Stevens concluded that he 
had waited long enough for the sick to recover, and 
got up the anchor on our return. We had a fair passage 
to Selio Island, where we were to have fallen in with 
the Hancock and Kennedy, but, seeing nothing of them, 
had to start off on a hunt. We found them, at the 
end of twenty-four hours, snugly stowed away under the 
lee of a number of pigeon-islands, and, after telling 
them the news, asked theirs in return. 
We found that they had passed through several ad- 
ventures during our absence, some unpleasant and one 
quite amusing: but let them speak for themselves. 
“Dr. Alexander, of the Hancock, was attacked by 
sharks while wading on a reef in search of shells, and 
came near being carried off’. Fortunately the water was 
