-12- 
1894 
February 21 
Flying fish 
Noon observation: lat. 24"14; long. 65"36; run 286 miles. 
11 A. M . Thus far a sunny day but the sky filled 
with cumulus yet diaphanous clouds driving, low down, before 
the strong, steady trade wind which has blown unceasingly 
since yesterday. The sea is white-capped but the waves are 
of only moderate height and the ship is but little affected 
by them. The water is an even richer, purer blue than it 
was yesterday. There is much more sargossa weed, also. 
To-day it is in rafts or ribbons, some of which are many yards 
across. These are disposed in belts or ribbons which stretch 
straight away as far as the eye can reach. Between these 
belts are spaces of immaculate blue water from one to three 
or four hundred yards in width — blue lanes leading west¬ 
ward to the horizon and beyond. 
Flying fish have literally swarmed at times ever 
since breakfast. They are far more beautiful than I had 
supposed and I never tire of watching them. As a rule they 
spring from the crests of the waves and fly twenty or thirty 
yards only; at first, directly into the wind, then turning 
and skimming down wind, just clearing the tops of the higher 
swells and often failing to do this, even. Some, however, 
rise four or five feet above the water and fly directly 
down wind for one or even two hundred yards. These are 
usually the larger ones for they vary greatly in size. 
