feet. In the sunlight the color is rich brownish orange 
or, as one of the ladies thought, tawny orange. I now saw 
Portuguese Men-o'-war for the first time — three or four 
of them, floating lightly on the waves, turning slowly round 
and round, flashing and disappe aring in the sunlight like 
bits of glass or ice. I also saw some flying fish at a 
distance and two whales spouting. 
There were no birds excepting two Herring Gulls — 
one young, the other a fully adult bird. The latter came 
directly over the stern of the steamer and,tilting slightly 
on its long, gracefully-curved wings, looked down at me 
* 
enquiringly while I looked up at him through my glass. 
Both these birds were evidently roaming aimlessly about- over 
the ocean and neither attempted to follow our ship. I was 
surprised to see them here. 
We had a full moon this evening and its effect on 
the water was simply startling. As the slight swells 
thrown off by our bows curled over and broke, their foam¬ 
ing crests and slopes gleamed with an intensity that fairly 
thrilled the eye and yet had the peculiar softness of 
silver light. Highly burnished silver in strong sunlight 
would be scarce brighter and yet infinitely more dazzling, 
for this effect was altogether pleasing and soothing to 
