ments that are now made with our fresh provisions-and our live
stock, the dock has the appearance of a country market, with which
cheerful sight even the captain and the crew seem much pleased*
Feb. 5th.—Several dolphins are following our ship ; their brilliant
colours of green, gold, and purple, shine more bright when set off
by the ultramarine colour with which this part of the sea is
tinctured. That species of the porpoise, which was called by the
ancients a dolphin, is not of such a splendid appearance; and what
procured it this high reputation of being supposed willing and
capable of saving the human species; when a ship is foundering at
sea, now only remains a matter of conjecture.
Perhapsa lover,—in those times,—seeing his fair companion trem-
bling at his side in a distressing voyage, may have told her, that if an ƒ
accident should happen to their ship, those dolphins which they
saw swiftly sporting round them in the waves* and whose plaintive
voice-they had often heard,* would compassionate their condition,
and soon carry them to a happy shore,—the poets after this mada
use of the same fiction to save their heroes from the greatest perils
at sea.
Feb. 9th*—You know by your own experience what pleasure is
felt in reading Ancient History on the very spot where the. actions
related actually occurred,-»-not less pleasure is felt* in this tract
of the ocean, in reading the Voyage of Columbus ; imagination
pictures to itself all that happened to that bold adventurer in
his very extraordinary expedition. But, though Columbus most
ably refuted the arguments of many learned men, who thought it
impossible that his great plan for a voyage of discovery to that extent,
could be executed* yet, when he and his companions arrived
in the Tropics, they became very uneasy, by observing a phenomenon
which is now our delight } this is the trade-wind, which
blows constantly from the east The first adventurers who crossed
* Several species o f fishes in the Tropics are hot destitute of a voiee-. •
the Atlantic ocean* doubted whether they should ever find means
to revisit their native country, until they discovered by experience,
that in shaping a-course on their return, first to a certain degree of
north latitude, (they had no longer any difficulty in sailing to
Europe.
Feb.: 14th.—A shark has passed our ship, but without paying
attention-to? the bait which was prepared for him. I took several
large hooks with chains from Madeira, wishing ;to-catch some of
this, fish* particularly the white shark* of which it is said (as I have
noted in :my;memorandum.book) “ that the young .brood, when in
danger, rush down the throat, and take shelter .in the belly of the
old o n e a n d it is added, as a remark of Mr. Pennant,M that this is
no more incredible, than that the young of the opossum should
find, such an asylum in the ventral pouch of its parent.” But with
all .respect for the Natural History of Mr. Pennant, there seems to
b e , a great difference between an outward pouch* formed like
another bag, where the quadruped carries its young in safety, and
that interior pouch, which is supposed some o f the species of sharks
possess ; for unless the organization of the shark is very extraordinary*
this place of retreat must be very inconvenient for the young
ones, as -likewise must be the passage leading to it, through the
throat of this always voracious animal. Until* therefore, the fact
is better confirmed by a careful dissection, I cannot help looking
upon the jaws of this most ravenous fish, as upon the celebrated cave
of the lion* where so many animals were seen to go -in, but none
ever .to-return
Feb. 15th. —In the afternoon, as the Uaptain and I were standing
on the deck we perceived several lofty waterspouts rising; from the
sea, and after this a large fish ascended out of the water, to appearance
about mid-way, then threw himself with the greatest strength
down again; upon which the Captain called out, There is a thrasher,
a thrasher! .and,.continued he, in the course of twenty years since