12 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
they came, and the direful shark was rarely absent, 
the constant object of hope and fear to sailors, — 
hope, that they may catch the shark; fear lest, 
hj any mischance, the shark may catch them. 
Nor is this fear quite groundless, as an nnexpected 
plunge overboard may at any time occur. One of 
our crew, attempting to strike a dolphin with the 
harpoon, had posted himself on the taffrail ; but in 
his eagerness, reaching too far, followed his weapon 
overboard' with a splash. I was surprised to see 
how little impression he made in the water, though 
falling from such a height ; he did not even go be- 
neath the surface, but fell just as a cork would fall 
into water. His shipmates gave him the end of a 
rope and hauled him up, amidst some jokes upon 
his zeal for fishing ; though he looked rather serious 
about it. / 
A flying-fish would now and then start from a 
heaving wave, and skim the surface like a bird 
upon the wing ; and many “feathered fowl” were 
ready to repay the complimentary visit, by diving 
into the domain-proper of the fish. The petrels, 
familiar and confiding, trode the yielding billows, 
or hovered around our vessel as night came on, to 
the uneasiness of the seamen, who deemed them 
the presiding spirits of the coming tempest, though, 
I am sure, most libellously. These little birds are 
quite silent by day, except that they sometimes 
utter a faint chirp ; but at night they often make 
an unpleasant screaming. They are the smallest 
of web-footed birds, being scarcely so large as a 
swallow, to which, in their manner of flight, they 
bear a considerable resemblance. 
These little observations, trivial as they were, 
served to beguile the weariness of the “ calm 
