mpression which it had produced. Before lying
down in our accustomed places, we made our usual arrangements as to the
watch, unnecessary as it seemed, during the calm.

CHAPTER NINE.

DARK WATERS.

SUFFERING AND DELIRIUM--THE MIDNIGHT BATH--A STRANGE PERIL.

"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere--
But not a drop to drink."

Several times in the course of the night, I was awakened by confused
noises, like the blowing of porpoises, or the spouting of whales; but
the sky had become overcast, and it had grown so dark, that on getting
up and looking about, I could see nothing of the creatures producing
these sounds. My slumbers were broken and uneasy, and in the morning I
found myself suffering from a dull, heavy pain in the head, accompanied
by a slight nausea, and a general feeling of languor and weakness. Even
to get upon my feet required something of an effort, which I made,
impelled rather by a dim, confused sense of duty, than by any
spontaneous impulse or inclination: had I consulted inclination alone, I
believe I should have remained passive, and let things take their
course.

The occurrences of the last night had given rise to some faint
expectation that by daylight we should discover land in sight to the
southward, where we had seen the great light. But nothing was visible
in that or any other quarter. Possessed by some hope of this kind,
Arthur had been up, searching the horizon, since the first streak of day
in the east. He showed me a large green branch which he had picked up
as it floated near us. By the elegantly scolloped leaves, of a dark and
glossy green, it was easily recognised as a branch of the bread-fruit
tree; and from their bright, fresh colour, and the whiteness of the
wood, where it had joined the trunk, it must have been torn off quite
recently. The calm still continued. Immense schools of black-fish, or
porpoises, or some similar species, could be seen about half a mile
distant, passing westward, in an apparently endless line. The temporary
beneficial effect of yesterday's scanty supply of food and drink, had
passed away entirely, and all seemed to feel in a greater or less
degree, the bodily pain and weakness, and the lassitude and
indisposition to any kind of effort, by which I was affected. To such
an extent was this the case, that when Arthur proposed that we should
row towards the school of fish in sight, and try to