SHOAL OF MEDUSAS. 
20 
js very joinmon to see a mass of motionless waters crossed 
by thre ids of water, which run in different directions, and 
we may daily observe this phenomenon on the surface of 
lakes ; but it is much less frequent to find partial move- 
ments, impressed by local causes on small portions of waters 
m the midst of an oceanic river, which occupies an immense 
space, and which moves, though slowly, in a constant direc- 
tion. In the conflict of currents, as in the oscillation of 
the waves, our imagination is struck by those movements 
which seem to penetrate each other, and by which the ocean 
is continually agitated. 
We passed Cape St. Vincent, which is of basaltic forma- 
tion, at the distance of more than eighty leagues. It is not 
distinctly soon at a greater distance than 15 leagues, but 
the granitic mountain called the Foya de Monchique, situated 
n 5 a L , ( a l ,c ’ ^Perceptible, as pilots allege, at the distance 
ot_ _<> leagues. 11 tins assertion be exact, the Foya is 700 
toises (1363 metres), and consequently 116 to'ises (225 
metres) limber than Vesuvius. 
From Corunna to the 3Gth degree of latitude we had 
scarcely seen any organic being, excepting sea-swallows and 
a lew dolphins. We looked in vain for sea-weeds (fuci) 
and mollusca, when on the 11th of June we were struck 
with a curious sight which afterwards was frequently renewed 
in the southern ocean. We entered on a zone where the 
whole sea was covered with a prodigious quantity of medusas. 
The vessel was almost becalmed, but the mollusca were 
borne towards tho south-east, with a rapidity four times 
greater than the current. Their passage lasted near three 
quarters of an hour. We then perceived but a few scat- 
tered individuals, following the crowd at a distance as if 
tired with their journey. Do these animals come from 
t he bottom of fclie sea, which is perhaps in these latitudes 
some thousand fathoms deep f or do they make distant 
voyages in shoals? We know that tho mollusca haunt 
banks; and if the eight rocks, near the surface, which 
captain Voboime mentions having seen in 1732, to tie north 
of Porto Santo, really exist, we may suppose that this innu- 
merable quautity of medusas had been thence detached • for 
u-e were but 28 leagues from tho reef. We found, beside 
tin:- Medusa aurita of Paster, and the Medusa nelagica of 
