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Show 18 DISCOLOUltED SEA. Mar. 1832. d ove contained very many. drop of water which I coul rehmt spaces of water thus d throug wo 1 In one day we passe t 1 ve extended over severa stained, one of which a~onelmulsble1a numbers of these micro- .1 What mea cu a square nn es. 1 f the water as seen at some scopical am· ma1 s 1. 'rhe co ou. r o h' h has ' :flowed throug1 1 a l'k that of a nver w lC . . distance, was 1 e h d of the vessel's side, rt d. . t. but under the s a e d d red clay rstnc ' Th li e where the re an · d k as chocolate. e n f was qmte as ar . . 1 d fi d The weather or · · d d1stmct y e ne · blue water JOme was b lm and the ocean . usly had een ca ' some days prevw 1 d with living creatures. In d d t n unusua egree, h aboun e , o a . . of crossino- in nearly t e count rs grven · 0 ' Ulloa's voyage an ac . 1 d ter which was mistaken same lat1· tu d e, so me drs.c o oure wab t ·' ed and I have no 1 oundmgs were o am ' for a shoa : no s . . that this little animalcule was doubt, from the descnptwn, the cause of the alarm .. * d l F o and at no great dis- 1 n the sea around Tierra e ueg ' lr' nes of water of a h 1 d I have seen narrow tance from t e an ' 1 b of crustacea, which . d 1 from t1e num er bnght re co our, The sealers call somewhat resemble in form larhgel pr~weends. on them I do not h 1 f d Whether w a es 1' them w a e- oo · . e herds of great know ; but terns, cormoran~, :;!;:::~sderive their chief unwieldly seals, on some ~ar ~ bs Seamen invariably sustenance from these swrmmmg era . but I attribute the discoloration of the water t? spa~ ;the disfound this to be the case only on one oc~asron. f the Galatance of several leagues from the Archip~lago o elpagos, the ship sailed through three stnps of a dark y '*' M Lesson (Voyage de la Coqm.1 1 e, vo 1• I· ., p. 255) mentiodn' s .r ed w. ahteedr · · p on the 1stmgms off Lima, apparently produced by the same cause. ~: ives no less than r t . the "Voyage Aux Terres Australes, g natura IS ' m who have alluded to the discoloured waters twelve references to voyagers . . . t have written an of the sea (vol. ii., P· 239). It was his mtentwn o be added essay on the subject. To the references given by Peron mar . 92 : Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. vi., P· 804:; Flinder's Yoyag~, v~ . ~· t~~lab~ Labillardiere, vol. i., p. 287; Ulloa's Voyage; Voya~e o t e s and of the Coquille ; Captain King's Survey of Australia, &c. Mar. 1832. DISCOLOURED SEA. 19 lowish, or mud-like, water; these strips were some miles long, but only a few yards wide, and they were separated from the surrounding surface by a sinuous yet distinct margin. The colour was caused by little gelatinous balls, about the fifth of an inch in diameter, in which numerous minute spherical ovules were embedded: they were of two distinct kinds, one being of a reddish colour and of a different shape from the other. I cannot form a conjecture as to what two kinds of animals these belonged. Captain Colnett remarks, that this appearance is very common among the Galapagos Islands, and that the direction of the bands indicates that of the currents; in the described case, however, the line was caused by the 'vind. The only other appearance which I have to notice, is a thin oily coat on the surface which displays iridescent colours. I saw a considerable tract of the ocean thus covered on the coast of Brazil; the seamen attributed it to the putrefying carcass of some whale, which probably was floating at no great distance. I do not here mention the minute gelatinous particles which are frequently dispersed throughout the water, for they are not sufficiently abundant to create any change of colour. There are two circumstances in the above accounts which appear very remarkable : first, how do the various bodies which form the bands with defined edges keep together ? In the case of the prawn-like crabs, their movem~nts were as coinstantaneous as in a regiment of soldiers; but this cannot happen from any thing like voluntary action with the ovules, or the confervre, nor is it probable among the infusoria. Secondly, what causes the length and narrowness of the bands ? The appearance so much resembles that which may be seen in every torrent, where the stream uncoils into long streaks, the froth collected in the eddies, that I must attribute the effect to a similar action either of the currents of the air, or sea. Under this supposition we must believe that the various organized bodies are produced in certain favourable places, and are thence removed by the set of either wind or water. I confess, c 2 |