CHAP. III.] TENEBIFFE TO SOMBRERO.

189

gulf-weed ; with many crustaceans, several of the nudibranchi-

ate mollusca characteristic of the gulf-weed fauna, such as Scil^
Iceapelagica and Glaucus Atlantic us, ia\(\. many planarians.
On the following morning the dredge was put over at S a.m.,
and line veered to 3000 fathoms ; and at 10 o'clock we sounded
in 2135 fathoms, sending down the slip water-bottle and a ther-
mometer. The thermometer registered l°-7 C, and the sample
of the bottom in the " Hydra " tube was still redder and more
unpromising than in the sounding of the day before.
The dredge came up at 1.15 p.m. with a small quantity of red
mud, in which we detected only one single, but perfectly fresh,
valve of a small lamellibranchiate mollusk (Fig. 15). In the

Fig. ib.—Avicula (sp.). Greatly enlarged. (No. Iti.)

mud there Avere also some sharks' teeth of at least two genera,
and a number of very peculiar black oval bodies about an inch
long, with the surface irregularly reticulated, and within the
reticulations closely and symmetrically granulated ; the whole
appearance singularly like that of the phosphatic concretions
which are so abundant in the greensand and trias. My first

impression was that both the teeth and the concretions were
drifted fossils ; but on handing over a portion of one of the lat-

ter to Mr. Buchanan for examination, he found that it consisted

of almost pure peroxide of manganese.
The character both of the exterior and interior of the nodule
strongly recalled the black base of the coral which we dredged
in 1530 fathcims on the ISth of February ; and on going into
the matter, Mr. Buchanan found not only that the base of the
coral retaining its external organic form had the composition
I.— 13
190 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. III.

of a lump of pyrolusite, but tliat the glossy black film covering

the stem and branches of the coral gave also the reaction of
mang-anese. There seemed to be little doubt that it was a case
of slow substitution, for the mass of peroxide of manganese
forming the root showed, on fracture in some places, the con-

centric layers and intimate structure of the original coral. The

coral, where it was unaltered, had the ordinary comj^osition,
consisting chiefly of calcic carbonate. Water was obtained by
the slip water-bottle from 300 fathoms with a specific gravity
of 1-02510 at 21°-1 C. ; from 400 fathoms, of 1-021:75 at 20°-9

C. from 500 fathoms, of 1-02619 at 20°-5 C. and at 200 fath-

; ;

oms, of 1-2515 at 21°-6 C. The water from the bottom (2435

fathoms) had a specific gravity of 1-02576 at 22° C, and the
surface water of 1-02526 at 24°-4 C.
On Saturday, the 8th, a sounding was taken in 2385 fathoms,
and the tube brought up a samj^le of mud of a bright, light
chocolate color, with a mere trace of calcic carbonate —nearly a
pure red clay. We were laying our course so as to include a
sounding of Lieutenant Lee in lat. 19° 2' 36'' N., long. 59° 33'
20" W., of 3300 fathoms, and it seemed that we were gradual-
ly passing off the plateau —which Captain Nares has called, in

recognition of the vessel from which its position was first de-
—
termined, the " Dolj^hin Rise " into the depression indicated
by the deep sounding, and that again we had a change in
the nature of the bottom coincident with increase in depth.
A series of temperatures were taken, with the results tabu-
lated :

Surface
CHAP. III.] TENEBIFFE TO SOMBRERO. 191

Some of our party, using the towing-net and collecting gulf-

weed on the sui-face from a boat, Ijrought in a number of things
beautiful in their form and brilliancy of coloring, and many of
them strangely interesting for the way in which their glassy
transparency exposed the working of the most subtle parts of
their internal machinery ; and these gave employment to the
microscopists, in the dearth of returns from the dredge. Our
position was now lat. 19° 57' ^., long. 53° 26' W. ; Sombrero
distant 558 miles.
Sunday was a lovely day. The breeze had fallen off some-
what, and the force was now only from 2 to 3. The sky and
sea were gloriously blue, with here and there a soft gray tress

on the sky, and a gleaming white curl on the sea. A pretty

little Spanish brigantine, bright with green paint and white
sails, and the merry, dusky faces of three or four Spanish girls,

came in the morning within speaking distance and got her

longitude. She had been passing and repassing us for a couple
of days, wondering, doubtless, at the irrelevancy of our move-
ments, shortening sail, and stopping every now and then in

mid-ocean with a fine breeze in our favor. On Monday morn-

ing we parted from our gay little companion. We stopped
again to dredge, and she got far before us, and we saw with
some regret first her green hull, and then her white sails, pass
down over the edge of the world.
The sounding on Monday, the 10th, gave 2675 fathoms, with
a bottom of the same red clay, with very little calcareous mat-
ter. The bottom temperature was 1°*6 C, that of the surface
being 23°-3 C. The smaller dredge was sent over at 7.15 a.m.
with 3000 fathoms of line, four hempen tangles, and a leaden
weight of 28 pounds, about three fathoms below the dredge.
The dredge was hauled up at 4.50 p.m. with only a very small
quantity of red mud sticking about the chain and the mouth of
the dredge. There could be no doubt, from the appearance of
the dredge-bag, that it had contained a quantity of the perfect-
192 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. III.

ly smooth and uniform clay-mud sucli as liad been brought up

in the sounding-tube, and that the greater part had been wash-
ed out in hauling up. A small fish, as yet undetermined, but
with the peculiarity of having eyes so small as to be nearly mi-
croscopic, was found in one of the corners of the dredge-bag.
It is very possible, however, that it was taken into the dredge
on the way up. We had been struck for some time past with
the singular absence of the higher forms of life. Not a bird
was to be seen from morning till night. A few kitti wakes {La-
rus tridactylus) followed the ship for the first few days after

we left Teneriffe, but even these had disappeared. A single

petrel (Thalassidromajoelagica) was seen one day from one of
the boats on a towing-net excursion, but we had not yet met
with one of the southern sea-birds. For the last day or two
some of the large sea-mammals and fishes had been visible. A
large grampus {Orca gladiator^) had been moving round the
ship, and apparently keeping up with it. Some sharks hung
about, seeking what they might devour, but we had not suc-
ceeded in catching any of them. Lovely dolj^hins {CoryplKKna
hippurus) passed, in their varying iridescent coloring, from the
shadow of the ship into the sunshine, and glided about like liv-

ing patches of rainbow. Flying-fish {Exocetus evolans) became

more abundant, evidently falling a prey to the dolphins, which
are readily deceived by a rude imitation of one of them, a white
spinning bait, when the ship is going rapidly through the water.
The following is the result of a temperature sounding at in-
tervals of 50 fathoms from the surface to 800
Surface 23°-3 C. 450 fathoms 1° IC.

23-0 500 " 5

50 fathoms 8
-1 550 " 2
100 21 5
-8 600 " 5
150 17
-4 G50 " 4
200 15
-6 700 " 4
250 13
-3 800 " 4
300 12
350 10 -3 2675 bottom
400 8 -6