on its hills. Its exports are few, and chiefly consist of wax, honey, and dragons' blood; while a small grape supplies a poor thin wine to its Portuguese cultivators. We saw Madeira, that grave of England's consumptive children, in the distance, but could form no idea of its extent or elevation. As the wind had died away, we were becalmed many hours under the lea of this land. The sky was cloudless, and the sea so clear and transparent, that the eye could penetrate many fathoms into the depths below. About 3 P. M. the thermometer fell rapidly, and all hands were ordered on deck, to prepare for a coming squall. Fortunately the wind was in our favour, and the sudden appearance of Mother-Cary's chickens, congregating under the stern of our vessel, confirmed the captain in his former belief that the fine morning was only a foxy one, and we might still expect a continuance of boisterous weather. A few words about the stormy petrel of these seas may prove acceptable to some of my younger readers. The procellaria pelagica is a pretty little bird, about six inches in length; with head, back, and tail, of a coal black tint, and with a broad transverse bar of white on the rump. The scapulars and secondary quills are tipped with white. It delights to skim the waves of the boundless Atlantic, and flies so near the surface as to appear as if running upon the water. These birds feed principally upon the small marine molusca, &c., that are cast upon the surface. I have observed them in the most awful storms, when it was scarcely

D

possible for a man to stand upon deck from the fury of the gale.

"Up and down! up and down!

From the base of the wave to the billow's crown,

And amidst the flashing and feathery foam,

The Stormy Petrel finds a home :

A home, if such a place may be

For her who lives on the wide, wide sea,

On the craggy ice, in the frozen air,

And only seeketh her rocky lair

To warm her young, and teach them to spring

At once o'er the waves on their stormy wing!"

The stormy petrels congregate under the sheltered sides of vessels, where they are in a great measure protected from the wind, and find plenty of food raised up by the action of the rudder, and upon the refuse thrown overboard from the cook's galley.— They have the power of ejecting from their stomachs an oily and fœtid matter. These birds are easily caught with a pin or fly-hook, baited with a piece of fat pork, trailed over the side or in the wake of the ship, from a thin line. Sailors have a superstitious veneration for these little wanderers of the deep, as they fancy their appearance prognosticates foul weather. But I have observed them on the finest days, and even when we were becalmed upon the line.— Ornithologists have described four varieties. One, the procellaria leechi, has a fine forked tail, and was first discovered by Mr. Bullock in the Island of Saint Kilda, whither many of the species resort in the

breeding season. The nest of the procellaria pelagica is placed among loose stones, where a single egg of pure white is laid in the month of May. They have been found in many parts of the islands north of Scotland, and on the coast of the Isle of Man, but quit these stations in October or November, for warmer latitudes. Having passed the Deserters, another picturesque group of islands connected with Madeira, the next fresh object that engrossed my attention was the holothuria physalis, or little men-of-war, as they are commonly called by nautical people, from their resemblance to a vessel under canvas. We must have sailed through thousands of them in an hour.— They all had their little sails expanded, and were steering in the same direction as our ship. Their sail is a thin, semi-transparent membrane, extending diagonally from one side of the animal to the other.When examined in a tub of water, on deck, it appeared to be almost white; but in certain lights, and in its native element, its edges are tinged by the most brilliant blue and crimson reflections. From the body are suspended numerous hair-like tentacula, or feelers, that are constantly engaged in entangling the food upon which the animal lives. When disturbed in the water, the sail is rapidly folded up, and the little man-of-war sinks out of sight. We caught many of them in a bucket; but I was charged not to handle them incautiously, as they would sting me, or paralyse the arm for some hours after. I was surprised to see these frail and delicate little creatures mounting

securely over the lofty billows, though a brisk breeze was carrying us along at the rate of seven or eight knots an hour. I must not omit in my catalogue the beautiful flying-fish (exocetus volitans), so often described by travellers. Five days after our departure from Porto Santo, we got into their track, and saw shoals of them springing into the air, a height of ten or twelve feet. They would then flutter horizontally some distance, and then drop heavily into the ocean. The large pectoral fins act as wings to this animal; and as the swimming or air bladder is of unusual size for so small a fish, their extreme buoyancy in the atmosphere is easily accounted for. The flying-fish has many enemies. The dolphin, albacore, boneta, &c., are waging incessant war with them in the sea; and no sooner do they take to flight, than the prowling frigate-bird, or wide-awake, is ready to dash down among them, and drive them once more to seek shelter in their own native element. Some of our crew were very anxious to attract a few on board of our vessel; and during the night one or two of them got into the chains, and held a lantern out for that purpose; but after an hour's patient watching, the plan was given up, though said to be at times a very successful one. The following night, three or four fish flew across the ship, and three of them striking the sails, fell dead upon deck, and were served up the next morning for breakfast. The one I partook of was about ten inches long, and though nicely dressed, had little flavour or firmness to recommend it as an article of diet. We

have a few instances on record of the flying-fish visiting our English seas. Pennant informs us that a fish of this genus was caught in June, 1765, at a small distance below Caermarthen, in the river Towy; and Jenning states that a second specimen was taken in July, 1823, in the Bristol Channel, ten miles from Bridgewater. In August, 1825, many were seen off Portland Island, by a vessel outward bound. The air in the swimming-bladder of the flying-fish has been supposed to be pure oxygen; but Baron Humboldt found it to consist of ninety-four parts of azote, two of carbonic acid, and only four of oxygen.

The close and dawn of day within the tropics present many magnificent sights to a spectator on shipboard. The brilliant constellations visible in more southern latitudes-the brief though fearful storm— the soul-depressing calms so often encountered on the line, and the strange and solitary birds that hover around your course, hundred of miles from any known land-all supply food to the imagination, and tend to elevate the mind to the Great Author and Governor of all things. It may be a little out of place here to speak of what we saw on the return voyage; but I cannot refrain from alluding to the vast fields of seaweed that for two days so surrounded our vessel, as almost to impede its progress through the water.This floating fucus is supposed to be detached by storms from the sub-marine rocks on which it is said to grow; but that which we fished up presented all the appearance of belonging to a healthy growing