22 
INCIDENTS OF THE VOYAGE. 
but the most curious creature was an Annellide, that 
inhabited a hollow stick, lined with a tough mem- 
brane, exactly in the manner of Phryganea, 
It was noon before the welcome sea-breeze came 
in, and then it was so slight that we could scarcely 
feel its gentle breathing. It was sufficient, however, 
to impel us gradually nearer to the land, and thus to 
reveal the minuter beauties of the scene, whose 
grander features we had been admiring at a distance. 
Many little flat kays, as such islets are called, lay 
around, among which our tortuous course led us ; 
scarcely more than the flat tops of coral rocks, almost 
level with the sea, on which sand and shells had been 
accumulated by the waves ; yet pleasant to look on, 
because covered with low bushes of a refreshing 
greenness. On their snowy beaches, where the gentle 
ripple was sparkling, or perched on the irregular blocks 
of black rock that lay half covered with the tide, sat 
many Pelicans, preening their plumage, and dashing 
the water over their wings, or lazily resting after 
their morning’s fishing excursion. * Some sat sleepily 
on the sea, their forms reflected from its bosom, 
inert and motionless, except for the alternate rise 
and fall which were produced by the undulation of 
the ground-swell. 
At length, the peculiar harsh rattling of the chain 
cable rushing through the iron-lined hawse-hole, an- 
nounced that the anchor was dropped, and at the 
* “ Tranquillo silet, immotaque attolitur unda 
Campus, et apricis statio gratissima mergis.” 
ViRG. Mndd. V. 127. 
