en, until they are driven against them. A few years ago an
English frigate in doubling the Cape, ran foul of an iceberg with such
force that she sprung a leak, and broke the rudder in splinters.
Luckily a puff of wind that streamed from a cleft in the ice and threw
back the sails, freed the ship from her perilous condition since
another stroke upon the iceberg would have dashed her to pieces.

There is no climate where gurnets are found in such numbers as in the
neighborhood of the Cape. In stormy or cloudy nights the sparkle of
these beautiful sea-fish is the brightest. The troubled waves as they
dash their foam-crested waters against the ship, glitter as though
thousands of brilliant stars were seen among them, and as the rushing
keel divides them in her course, the effect is indescribable, and
recalls to the mind of the spectator tales of fairies and sea-nymphs
that come up from their ocean caves to gaze with bright and curious
eyes on the daring mortals that invade their realm.

After doubling the Cape, we had sailed a whole week with a steady and
favorable wind towards the Isle of Bourbon, when on one clear day
whilst all were assembled on the deck, we were startled by a cannon
shot fired at no great distance, and came booming over the waters like
the voice of thunder. The captain was hastily summoned from his cabin,
but ere he made his appearance a second report broke upon the deep
stillness that succeeded the first. At the same moment a sailor on the
lookout called out from above, that he "saw a light over the bows of
the ship, but could not make out what it was." "Is it a ship,"
inquired the captain, as he began hastily to ascend the mainmast. "No,
sir!" was the answer, "the light is too large to come from a ship's
lantern, and it cannot be the Isle of Bourbon." "It must be a vessel
on fire," exclaimed the captain, as many cannon shots broke upon the
silent air, "Bourbon lies much farther to the north. Aloft there!
crowd on sail--in order to carry help to those unfortunates before it
is too late!"

Whilst the sailors were busy in executing the captain's orders, he
bade the gunners fire the cannon so that the crew of the burning ship
might know that help was near. In half an hour from the first alarm,
we could plainly discern the blazing vessel with the naked eye, and
soon after distinguished the whirling columns of flame as they
towered above the masts. The night, too, had come on, and the
impression made by