must be remembered, are of a very rough nature
compared with those made on shore--is want of steadiness. The sea is
never quiet, and no machine has as yet been invented to counteract the
movement of a ship, and obtain a perfect level.

Mr Vernon, the clergyman passenger I spoke of, told me an anecdote of
Galileo, showing that, great as he was as an astronomer, he might make a
great mistake by forgetting to take all points into consideration. He
fancied that he had discovered a method of determining longitudes at sea
by observing the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. He accordingly went
to the King of Spain and offered to manufacture telescopes to enable his
navigators to sail across the ocean without fear or hesitation. His
telescopes were unexceptionable, and his method excellent, but it
depended entirely on the perfect steadiness of the observer; and, as
even the biggest ships of the mighty monarch of Spain could not be
taught to keep quiet, the great astronomer's telescopes were perfectly
useless.

I was much struck with the fine deep Prussian blue of the waters, which
had changed from the cobalt bine of more northern latitudes, as also
with its extraordinary power to froth and effervesce. The water, as it
was dashed about the decks in the morning from the buckets, sparkled
like champagne; but perhaps that was owing more to the nature of the
atmosphere than to any peculiarity in the water.

I found that I had several erroneous notions of my own to correct. I
always fancied that a porpoise was a great fat lumbering sleepy animal,
simply because people are accustomed to say "as fat as a porpoise." In
reality he is a gracefully formed, remarkably fast, sociable,
warm-hearted, or rather warm-blooded fellow, with a coat of fat like a
paletot on his back, to keep out the chill of the icy seas. He is more
like a hunter than a pig; and, as to "rolling and wallowing," those are
expressions used by poets who never saw a porpoise dashing away at
twenty or thirty knots an hour, or a whole shoal bearing down upon a
ship like a troop of light horse, and escorting her for miles and miles,
careering away, darting round and round her as if she were only going at
the speed of some heavy baggage waggon; and humbling the pride of those
who have been before hugging themselves with the pleasing idea that she
has been moving along at a tremendous speed. The back fin is triangular
and near the tail; and as the active fish plunge