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 nearly allied to that produced by a mixture of red lead with water. Our sailors were so forcibly struck with the extraordinary effect it produced on the water, that they cried out, "this is, indeed, the Red Sea;" and our boatswain in his coarse way observed, "it is as red as the blood from a butcher's shambles; if we were to tell this in England we should not be believed." In the evening, as it grew dark, the mollusca (which we had intentionally preserved) became luminous, having, when undisturbed, that kind of appearance which quick-silver assumes when spread on the back of a looking-glass; on their being agitated they emitted a bright silvery light, and being taken out with the hand and thrown on the deck, or any other object, they retained their highly luminous appearance for more than half a minute. This circumstance appears to me very satisfactorily to account for many extraordinary appearances of the sea that have been noticed in former voyages, particularly in the neighbourhood of Cape Fartak, on the coast of Arabia, of which mention has been made in several journals of our ships which have frequented that coast. The general observation has been, "that the sea looked at night as white as milk," which fact is also noticed by Agatharchides, (De mare rubro, p. 58) who remarks, that hereabouts "the sea appears white, as at the mouth of a river, exciting astonishment with respect to the cause which produces it." In the evening we came to an anchor under the south-east point of the low land of Hurtoo. On the 8th of February we passed between Chumma and Pilot-Island, and anchored at night, close to the north-west point of Hurtoo, under a low island, affording excellent shelter against a southerly wind.

On the following morning we got under weigh, and steered towards the north-west end of Valentia Island. At noon the weather became calm, and I took the opportunity of making an excursion to a small sandy island, connected by a reef with the northern extremity of Valentia Island, which was at no great distance from the ship. In the afternoon, the sea breeze again sprung up, and we made sail. At four o'clock our schooner, which was a-head, passed over a dangerous shoal, with less