I
I *
12 Cruise o f the Alert.
from , his long experience and constant observation, was most
valuable. He pointed out to us a considerable tract of land m
the vicinity of the town which used to be thickly planted with
vines, but which is now only devoted to the cultivation of sweet
potatoes. During the last seven years the vine crops have been
steadily decreasing, owing to the ravages of ^Phylloxera
vastatrix, and wine-making is now at a low ebb. ^ The number
of trees in the island was also rapidly diminishing, owing to
the demand for fue l; and although efforts are made, by the
cultivation of pine forests, to supply that want, the demand yet
exceeds the supply. In a few years Madeira will no longer be,
as its name implies, a land of wood. Although so late m the
season, numbers of flowers were still in full bloom ; the Bougainvillea
its dark-red bracts, and the yellow jasmine adorning
the trellis-work ; further up the hill the belladonna lily attracted
attention, and on the heights were the old familiar furze blossoms,
reminding us of the land we had left behind us.
On October I2th we weighed anchor, and proceeded to the
southward. All that night and the following day we steamed
quietly along in smooth water, with a long, shallow ground swell
(of which, however, the old craft took advantage to display her
extraordinary rolling powers), and late in the afternoon, just
before dark, caught sight of Palmas, one of the Canary Islands,
whose peak, 7,000 feet high, loomed conspicuously through a
light bank of clouds. It was distant seventy miles. On the
m.orning of the 15 th we experienced for the first time the
influence of the north-east trade wind, which wafted us along
pleasantly at the rate of about seven knots. Up to this the only
sign of animal life had been a solitary storm petrel, but on the
following day a shoal of flying fish (Exocetus volitans) appeared,
to pay their respects and greet us on our approach to the tropical
zone. During the night, the wind, which had hitherto only
behaved tolerably, fell light ; and as the morning of the 17th
dawned, we found ourselves flapping about in almost a complete
Lt/e at the Ocean Surface. 13
calm. There were several merchant vessels in sight, with one
of which, a fine-looking full-rigged clipper ship, we communicated
by signal, when the usual dumb interchange of civilities took
place ; she informing us that she was the Baron Collinson, seventeen
days out from Liverpool, and we in return giving the latest
news we were aware of, viz., the failure ot the Glasgow Bank.
During the afternoon, a shark, which seemed to be the Sqnalus
glaucus, hovered about our stern. It was accompanied by at
least four “ pilots” {Naucrates ductor), whose conspicuous dark-
blue body stripes showed out in striking contrast to the sombre
hues of the shark, whose body formed the background.
It is during those tropical calms, usually so wearisome to the
seaman, that the lover of natural history reaps his richest harvest.
On the present occasion the tow-net brought up quantities of a
minute conferva consisting of little bundles of delicate straw-
coloured fibres, about one-eighth of an inch in length, and resembling,
on a small scale, the familiar bundles of “ faggots ” as one
sees them hawked in the streets. Under a high magnifying
power the individual fibres composing these bundles were seen
to consist of jointed segments marked with dots and transverse
striae as a diatom. When placed in spirit, they at once broke
up into a shapeless fluffy mass. The surface water was thickly
impregnated with them, yet not so as to impart any obvious discolouration.
About dusk the trade wind suddenly returned, and
a heavy shower of rain brought to a close a day of great interest.
On the I 8th of October, many of us fore and aft were diligently
expending our ingenuity in fishing for bonitoes, of which several
(apparently the Thinnuspelamis) were to be seen about the ship ,
but, to our great chagrin, only one, a small specimen, was captured.
The tow-net still brought up quantities of the conferva before
mentioned, and multitudes of minute unattached specimens of
the Spirorbis numniulites.
On the following day, as we lay all but becalmed, the storm-
petrels {Thalassidromapelagica) appeared in great numbers, .settling