8

SUCKING-FISH-CROSS THE TROPIC OF CANCER.

colour, sometimes appearing at the depth of several feet, and occasionally rising to the surface, when their brilliancy forthwith vanished. These, we conjectured, might be the same substances (of whatever nature) which, in the dark nights, have heretofore exhibited such splendour in the water.

June 2. This morning we got into the N. E. trade wind, which continued to freshen for several hours. A sun-fish, (the tetrodon mola of Linnæus) was harpooned from one of our boats, and brought on board. It measured five feet and a half in length, and four and a half in width. While it was towed alongside of our ship, several sucking-fish (echineis remora of Linnæus) accompanied it, adhering to different parts of the body. One of these singular animals was taken by a spear. It was eleven inches in length, in form resembling a trout, of a brown colour, without scales, slimy and loathsome to the sight. When put into a vessel of water, it immediately attached itself to the side by its suckers, which are twelve in number, placed in the throat within a flat oval surface, two inches in length, and barely an inch and a half in breadth. By these the creature sticks with surprising firmness to whatever it assails. Fishes of the same kind, though much larger, are a grievous annoyance to the whales, and often cause them to bound out of the water, to shake off their tormentors by the fall.

June 5. This evening we have crossed the tropic of Cancer. A flying-fish (exocatus volitans) having lighted on board, we had an opportunity of examining its curious formation. This specimen was in size and shape much like a herring; the sides and belly were bright as burnished silver, with a tinge of blue along the back-the eye large; the two pectoral fins rising from the gills had each twelve rays, six and a half inches long, connected by a delicate transparent membrane; with these it can readily direct

FLYING-FISHES-THE BLACK WHALE.

9

itself forward or backward, swim in the water or dart through the air. These fish abound in the Atlantic, and are sometimes seen singly, sometimes in shoals; often in their brief flight falling upon the decks of vessels. They sometimes continue on the wing for two or three hundred feet, then suddenly, if in flocks, disappear altogether; nor do they seem to feel any difficulty in flying against the wind. Their course, when we have observed them in our vicinity, was always from the ship, their motion apparently undulating with the billows, and nearly parallel with the surface. They have many enemies in both elements; rapacious fishes and birds of prey. Our mate told us that he once saw a man-of-war eagle-an albatross (Diomedea exulans), pounce downward upon a flying-fish, while, at the same instant, a thunny, or albacore, sprang from below to seize it. Neither seemed to see the other, and so eagerly did they aim at their common prey, that the thunny's head bolted into the open beak of the albatross. The latter struggled hard to carry off its unexpected prize, which, however, proved too weighty, and fell back into the water. Meanwhile the flying-fish escaped with life

from both the deaths that threatened it.

June 6. At noon we were under a vertical sun; our latitude being 22° 46' N. The thermometer in the shade stood at 72°, but in the sun the mercury rose to 106°.

June 7. The cry of "a whale!—a black fish!”—occa- · sioned much commotion, in lowering down the boats, and for a while pursuing it; but the prey escaped. At dinner the second mate related the following incident, confirmed by the testimony of the captain. On a late voyage, when near to the coast of South America, an immense whale suddenly rose at the side of the ship to such an height out of the water, and flung himself (unconscious

10

PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR.

of its presence, having come up with great impetuosity from the deep) with such force athwart the bow of the vessel as to cut it sheer off. Being but a small whaler, she filled and sunk so speedily that the crew had barely time to take to their boats. They were soon after received on board of a companion-ship which was fishing hard by.

June 9. We have been much gratified by seeing what the sailors call a Portuguese man-of-war, and a galley-fish. These beautiful creatures are of various sizes; this was about as large as a hen's egg. The animal resembles a bladder, transparent rose-coloured, with a kind of keel formed in festoons, plaited like a ruff, on the upper part. This appendage, being raised above the water, serves for a sail, while numerous tentacula, proceeding from the under side, enable it to steer its course, seize its prey, or to cast anchor, as it were, and fix itself on the moving surface of the waves. It is said to be exceedingly venemous, and one of the mates told us that he had frequently been stung by it while bathing. Though we handled that which was brought on board very freely, none of us felt any annoyance from it. Linnæus denominates this kind of mollusca, holocuria physalis.

Towards evening there was again a sudden and loud cry, "There she goes !-she spouts !-a sperm! I see her fluke!" and in an instant both starboard and larboard boats were lowered, manned, and out in pursuit of a whale. They returned disappointed of their object. The captain and his party, however, had themselves a very narrow, providential escape; for, while their boat was lowering, the davits (posts to which the tacklings for that purpose are attached) gave way, when boat and men in it were precipitated upon the sea, but immediately rescued, with some slight personal injuries only, though the captain had no

expectation but that the boat must have been stoved to pieces by the fall, and some lives lost, if not all.

June 10. (Lord's day.) Mr. Tyerman preached in the morning, from Matt. xvi. 26: "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” and Mr. Jones, in the afternoon, from Psalm 1. 15: "Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." The latter service was somewhat interrupted by the appearance of a vast shoal of what the sailors call black fish. Judging by the space which they occupied, there must have been several hundreds. Two boats were sent after them, and soon returned, each with a prize. These were of that species of whale called delphinus delphis, or the bottle-nosed dolphin. The length of the larger was twenty feet, and its girth at the shoulder eleven. The colour of the whole body was black, except a small white spot mid-way between the shoulders and the tail; the latter was divided into two plane of the horizon, and

lobes, forked, lying in the thirty inches from tip to tip. The form sloped both ways, from the shoulders to the head, and also to the tail. The nose was truncated and remarkably blunt and angular. Two-thirds up the face was the blow-hole, through which the animal breathes. When the skin was removed this orifice would admit the open hand. The mouth was wide, provided with lips; and the jaws were armed with teeth, sharp, bent rather inward, projecting an inch and a half from the gums, an inch in diameter at the root, and two inches asunder. The tongue was the size of that of a fullgrown ox; the roof of the mouth hard, rough, and of a dark green. The eyes were larger than those of an ox. Two pectoral fins, hard and strong, about two feet and a half in length, and pointed, bent inward; these were

12

THE SOUTHERN CROSS.

articulated with the shoulder-blades by the ball-and-socket joint, as the upper part of the arm in the human subject. On the back was a protuberance of solid fat, like a fin, two feet high, diminishing towards the tail. The flesh was black-red; the heart about the bulk of an ox's; the lungs and liver large in proportion. In the stomach were found the remains of various fishes, as the John-dory, (zeus auratus), a conger-eel (muræna conger), and the squid (sepia octopodia), or cuttle-fish, with several of their fine transparent eyes. The weight of the greater of these creatures must have been nearly a ton and a half. The fat was from one to two and a half inches thick, under the forehead seven inches. The blubber of both yielded ninety gallons of oil, of which the larger furnished twothirds. The stomachs were preserved and dried to make drum-tops, for which it is said their texture is admirably adapted.

At night, (the sky being clear after much cloudy weather,) for the first time, we descried the constellation crux or the cross. The four stars composing this glory of the southern hemisphere are of large but varying magnitudes, and so placed as readily to associate with the image of the true cross, the lowest being the brightest. Another beautiful constellation attracted our notice, nearly in the zenith. This was the northern crown, in which seven stars brilliantly encircle two thirds of an oval figure. We were reminded-and though the idea may seem fanciful, yet it was pleasing to ourselves amidst the still night, and on the far sea-that while we kept in constant view the cross, that cross on which our Saviour died for our redemption, we might venture to hope that the crown, the crown of life, which "the Lord, the righteous judge," hath promised to "give unto all them