waves, sometimes singly, sometimes in great numbers, when pursued; but in avoiding one danger they are exposed to another, for it is said that the man-of-war bird has been seen to pounce upon them while in the air. Their flight is generally in a direction contrary to the wind, and seldom exceeds a hundred yards; nor do they rise high, though Captain M. says he has seen them fall on his deck. He showed me their enemies too, the bonito and the albacore, which, he says, are both of the mackarel tribe. They swim with great rapidity, and are so strong, that they sometimes, in the midst of the most rapid course, leap five or six feet perpendicularly above the surface, and plunge again head foremost into the waves.

4th.-I have been looking at Mother Carey's chickens, the least of all the petrels, I believe ; and the fulmar, which is certainly the most beautiful, for its plumage is of a snowy whiteness, and, as Mrs. P— observed, seems unsoiled by Pthe water, though constantly diving.

7th. It seems a very long time since we have seen land, but I am not yet tired of a sea life. Much as I love all the works of nature, I never felt such admiration for any thing as I do for the Its extent, its depth, and the grand and almost terrific sound of its waves-it fills one's

sea.

mind with awe; and it is wonderful to think that, powerful and uncontrollable as it appears, man should be able to pass over it to the most distant regions, and to guide his ships through its stormy and turbulent waves.

In speaking of the sea, Captain M. remarked how admirably the consistence of water, or as he calls it the viscidity, is adapted to its various · purposes, and to the support of floating bodies, "How little," said he, " do we observe the objects which are always before our eyes we see without surprise masses of dust raised by the wind, and carried to a great distance; and we see also that water, though much lighter than dust, is not carried off by the winds in the same manner. If it were, every strong breeze from the ocean towards the land would bring an inundation; navigation would be impossible, and the banks of rivers and seas would be uninhabitable, The adhesion of the particles of water to each other is the cause of its preservation in masses; it would otherwise evaporate like æther, or be dispersed like dust. Such is the simplicity employed by Nature in all her works."

8th. We have twice seen the stormy petrel, but as yet it has not been the forerunner of storms; it is black, with a very little white near the tail. One of the officers told me it is called

petrel, after St. Peter, from his having walked on the sea.

9th. We have been looking at a grampus, or a small kind of whale, and at a shoal of porpoises, that passed close alongside of the ship. The grampus was blowing water up in the air, in the most amusing manner, making beautiful jets d'eau that sparkled in the sun. The captain told me that in sucking in their food the whale tribe draw in a great deal of water, which they have the power of spouting out through a hole in the head.

13th.-Yesterday we crossed the tropic of Cancer. There is already a great change in the sea, which was so beautifully smooth while we were in the torrid zone, that we danced almost every evening; but now it is rough and disturbed, and at times the waves break so violently that I see nothing but foam. I like very much to look at them in that state.

15th.-Mrs. P and I have seen several dolphins; one of them was struck with the harpoon, and, while hanging upon deck, it was continually changing into an endless variety of colours. The back was blue, then green; its breast a brilliant orange or yellow, spotted with blue and lilac; and its fins were just like a peacock's neck. Indeed, the captain called it the "peacock of fishes."

The sea is now quite rough; the tranquil water we had while near the line is gone; and I some

times find my head too unsteady to be able to write.

16th. We have seen a great deal of sea-weed for some days; they suppose it to be drifted here by the Gulf-stream. I asked the captain to explain to me what the Gulf-stream is; and he told me that the trade-wind, which constantly blows across the Atlantic ocean from the eastward, forces the sea into the Gulf of Mexico, and makes it rise there above its natural level. From the Gulf it escapes by the narrow channel between the West India islands and Florida, and takes a north-easterly direction along the coast of North America, as far as the island of Newfoundland. It is there turned off to the southeast, and runs to the Azores, or perhaps to the coasts of Europe and Africa, before it spreads out and entirely loses itself in the surrounding ocean. The first accurate account of this great current was published by Dr. Franklin, who had discovered that, after being heated in the torrid zone, it cools so gradually that its temperature continues always higher than that of the ocean through which it flows-so much so, that ships can tell when they enter it or leave it, by dipping a thermometer into the sea. Its velocity is very great, as it is said to run at the rate of four

or five miles an hour, when it first leaves the Gulf.

A good deal of the sea-weed was hauled up for Mrs. P to examine. It seems to be all of one species-the floating fucus, she calls it; it is curious what quantities of it are matted together, like a tangle of ropes, and what a number of very small crabs take up their abode in it.

18th. More sea-weed, but of different kinds. This day the captain shewed us some of the vineleaved fucus, which is one of the most curious species. He says it is sometimes brought up, by the sounding lead, from the bottom of the ocean, where, even at the depth of one hundred and ninety-two feet, its leaves are as green as grass. He says this is considered as one of the few instances of plants vegetating in obscurity, without becoming white; for, though light is transmitted through the sea, yet it is much weakened by passing through such a depth. We have also seen the giant fucus, and one of the officers said he had once measured a piece that was eight hundred feet long.

The captain says, that the reason why we find such an extraordinary quantity of sea-weed in this part of the ocean, is, that the Gulf-stream finally expends its force about here; and therefore the weed which it conveys must accumulate, and remain till it perishes, or till it sinks; and he shewed us several specimens in different states of decay. "Yes," said Mrs. P-, " its