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Show 4 VOYAGE FROAI NEW YORK . Dappled and marbled o'er with white, And tipped with azure blue. But the vales and pits that yawn below Arc dull and dark as lead; They bid her every hope forego- Fit chambers for the dead! Now quail 110 more, thou blithesome maid, Beneath the howling blast, Sunshine alternates still with shade, Such fLLry cannot last. 'fhy guardian sylphs shall soon prevail, To dry those tears of sorrow, A smiling sky, a favoring gale, Await thee for the morrow. This prediction was verified; for on the following day the wind was favorable, the weather fair, the sea of the finest ultramarine blue, and nothing could be more delightful than our voyage. We were parti· cularly pleased with our first sight of the flying fishes, which we observed scudding along with wonderfnl agility over the surface of the water. Our Cap· tain assured us, that he had watched one which flew for the full distance of half a mile, before alight· ing. One of them winged its way on board our ship; and a more exquisitely beautiful creature I have seldom seen, about eight inches in length, his eye black, his hack of the brightest dark blue, pure silver below, his wings fibred like a leaf and perfectly transparent. The creature bears not the touch of man-he quivered, and presently died, in my hand. At night the phosphoric illumination around the ship, as she flew before the wind, was extraordinary. Though there was no moon visible, one might easily have supposed that it was moonlight, and the waves sparkled, and almost blazed. The following lines are graphically true, without poetic licence. VOYAGE FllOM NEW YOilK. 'J'I.~~ moon beneath the wtltcrs sleeps, 1 he stars are veiled with clouds The vigorous breeze o'er Oceans s:vceps, And swells the ru stling shrouds. Rcgan.llcss of the gale, the storm, CAMILLA flies ahead, And, lo, around her angel form A mystic glare is spread. The foam sl1c dashes from her side Dispels the gloom of night, ' And seems diffusing far and wide, A supernatural light. The myriad sparks of liquid fire Dance to the virgin's fame i And the billows from her prow retire All flickering with flame. ' 5 As we found our way into the tropics, we observed th.at the atmosphere became clearer and clearer; no mists were perceptible; the sun seldom obscured, and the appearance of the sky and stars, at night, peculiarly bright and clear. The moon, in these latitudes, often assumes an almost vertical position; and ~any of the stars which belong to the southern hemIsphere are visible. Before daylight one morning, the Captain called me upon deck to look at the southern cross, which is certainly a constellation of rare beauty. One of the five stars which form the cross, however, is of inferior magnitude, and not in Wtheh tnie position, which somewhat mars the ima<,>.., n•. . en I turned towards the east, I enjoyed a still finer spectacle. The horn of an almost expirin<> ~noon, Venus, and Mars, were in all their splendor~ and the profusion of azure, lilac, ultramarine, peagreen, orange, and crimson, which mantled the sky, about half an 1l our be cw re sunrise, I never before saw equalled. |