Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Smithsonian Institution Archives.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
4 inches long & 3 in circumference. They were
not dispersed irregularly over the surface of the
waves but were arranged in long lines 40
yards wide, parallel to each other & separated
apart about 30 or 40 yards. These lines
stretched into the horizon as far as the eye could
reach. Occasionally we met with other lines
thus crossing the former ones at an acute angle.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of that scene.
The animals below the surface gave out a
very diffused light in the midst of which it
surface was shone, like a precious jewel among
lesser gems. The sea seemed in fire with them
two feet was the light they shed. At look could
be read when heads rose the surface, when the agitation
of the waters by the propeller caused them to fire
forth their brightest light. At a distance they
looked like the page of the moon upon the water.
They disappeared with the morning; those few
that were taken after that, appeared to be dead, being
soft & shrunk, with the color & consistency of
plants dissolved in water.
9. Lat. 2.18 N. Long. 12.49 W. Luminous
Cephalophs, resembling those caught before but
fewer