Page:Physical Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology.djvu/425

Rh in "great heaps;" there multitudes of living things, countless in numbers and infinite in variety, are hourly conceived. With space enough to hold the four continents and to spare, the tepid waters of this part of the ocean teem with nascent organisms. They sometimes swarm so thickly there that they change the colour of the sea, making it crimson, brown, black, or white, according to their own hues. These patches of coloured water sometimes extend, especially in the Indian Ocean, as far as the eye can reach. The question, "What produces them?" is one that has elicited much discussion in seafaring circles. The Brussels Conference deemed them an object worthy of attention, and recommended special observations with regard to them.

746. Coloured patches.—Capt. W. E. Kingman, of the American clipper ship the " Shooting' Star," reports in his abstract log a remarkable white patch, which he encountered in lat. 8° 46′ S., long. 105° 30′ E., and which, in a letter to me, he thus describes: "Thursday, July 27, 1854. At 7h. 45m. p.m., my attention was called to notice the colour of the water, which was rapidly growing white. Knowing that we were in a much frequented part of the ocean, and having never heard of such an appearance being observed before in this vicinity, I could not account for it. I immediately hove the ship to and cast the lead; had no bottom at 60 fathoms. I then kept on our course, tried the water by thermometer, and found it to be 78½°, the same as at 8 a.m. We filled a tub, containing some sixty gallons, with the water, and found that it was filled with small luminous particles, which, when stirred, presented a most remarkable appearance. The whole tub seemed to be active with worms and insects, and looked like a grand display of rockets and serpents seen at a great distance in a dark night; some of the serpents appeared to be six inches in length, and very luminous. We caught, and could feel them in our hands, and they would emit light until brought within a few feet of a lamp, when, upon looking to see what we had, behold, nothing was visible; but, by the aid of a