J98 T U E A T L A N T I C . [ c i iA r . III.
gleaming wliite curl ou the sea. A pretty little
Spanish hrigautine, bright with green paint and
Avhite sails, and the merry, dusliy faces of three or
four Spanish girls, came in the morning within
speaking distance and got her longitude. She had
been passing and repassiug us for a couple of days,
wondering doubtless at the irrelevancy of our movements,
shorteuiiig sail, and stopping every uoav and
then in mid-ocean Avith a hue breeze in our favour.
On Monday morning Ave’ parted from our gay little
coiupauiou. We stopped again to dredge and she
got far before us, aud Ave saAV Avith some regret first
her green hull aud then her Avhite sails pass doAvii
over the edge of the Avorld.
The sounding ou Monday the 10th gave 2,675
fathoms, Avith a hottom of the same red clay with
very little calcareous matter. The bottom temperature
Avas l°-6 C., that of the surface being 23°-3 C.
The smaller dredge Avas sent over at 7.15 a .m. with
3,000 fathoms of line, four hempen tangles, and a
leaden Aveight of 28 Ihs. about three fathoms below
the dredge. The dredge Avas hauled up at 4.50 p.m.
Avith only a very small quantity of red mud sticking
ahout the chain aud the mouth of the dredge. There
could he no doubt from the appearance of the dredge-
hag that it had contained a quantity of the perfectly
smooth and uuiform elay-mud such as had been brought
up in the sounding tube, aud that the greater part
had been Avashed out in hauling up. A small fish, as
yet undetermined, hut Avith the peculiarity of having
eyes so small as to he nearly microscopic, Avas found
in one of the corners of the dredge-hag. It is very
possible, hoAvever, that it Avas taken into the dredge
CHAP. in.]
on the Avay up. M^e had been struck for some time
past with the singular absence of the higher forms of
life. Not a bird Avas to he seen from morning till
night. A fcAV kittiwakes {Larus tridactylus) followed
the ship for the first few days after Ave left Teneriffe,
but even these had disappeared. A single petrel
(Thalassidroma pelagica) Avas seen one day from one
of the boats on a towing-net excursion, hut Ave had
not yet met Avith one of the southern sea-birds. Lor
the last day or two some of the large sea-mammals
and fishes had been visible. A large grampus {Orca
gladiator) had been moving round the ship aud
apparently keeping up with it. Some sharks hung
about seeking what they might devour, hut Ave had
not succeeded in catching any of them. Lovely
dolphins {Goryphcenahippurus) passed in their varying
iridescent colouring from the shadow of the ship iuto
the sunshine, aud glided ahout like living patches of
rainboAV. Llying-fish {Exocetus evolans) became more
abundant, evidently falling a prey to the dolphins,
Avhich are readily deceived hy a rude imitation of
one of tliem, a Aidiite spiniiing bait, when the ship is
-■rr;' ffIIl ,|H iT-nrTi ii I
Surface
50 fathoms
100 „
150 „
200 „
250 „
300 „
350 „
400 „
the result of a temperature sounding
fathoms from the surface to 800;
23"- 3C. 450 fathoms . . 7°- 1C.
23 • 0 500 ,, . . . 5 • 8
21 • 1 550 5 • 2
17 ■ 8 GOO >) . . . 5 • 0
15 • 4 650 ii • • ■ 4 • 6
13 • 6 700 ii . . . 4 • 6
12 • 3 800 ii . . . 4 • 2
10 • 3 2675 „ bottom 1 • 6
8 ■ 6
■ill