Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The White Rock, Crowned By The Castle Of
San Antonio, Appeared From Time To Time Between The High Tops Of
The Cocoa-Trees Which Border The Shore; And We Soon Recognized The
Coasts Only By The Scattered Lights Of The Guaiqueria Fishermen.
We sailed at first to north-north-west, approaching the peninsula
of Araya; we then ran thirty miles to west and west-south-west.
As
we advanced towards the shoal that surrounds Cape Arenas and
stretches as far as the petroleum springs of Maniquarez, we enjoyed
one of those varied sights which the great phosphorescence of the
sea so often displays in those climates. Bands of porpoises
followed our bark. Fifteen or sixteen of these animals swam at
equal distances from each other. When turning on their backs, they
struck the surface of the water with their broad tails; they
diffused a brilliant light, which seemed like flames issuing from
the depth of the ocean.* (* See Views of Nature Bohn's edition page
246.) Each band of porpoises, ploughing the surface of the waters,
left behind it a track of light, the more striking as the rest of
the sea was not phosphorescent. As the motion of an oar, and the
track of the bark, produced on that night but feeble sparks, it is
natural to suppose that the vivid phosphorescence caused by the
porpoises was owing not only to the stroke of their tails, but also
to the gelatinous matter that envelopes their bodies, and is
detached by the shock of the waves.
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