Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/456

 We crossed the equator. The Guianas, a French settlement, lay twenty miles to the west, and on which we could have found refuge easily. But the wind was blowing fearfully, and the waves were so high, that no ordinary boat could live in them. Ned Land saw that, no doubt for he made no remark to me. For my part I made no allusion to his plans, for I did not wish to urge him to make an attempt which could only end in failure.

I amused myself very easily in the interval, by interesting studies. During the 11th and 12th April, the Nautilus remained at the surface, and the nets brought in a miraculous draught of zoophytes, fish, and reptiles. Some zoophytes had been dragged up by the chain—these were chiefly phyctallines belonging to the actinedian family, and amongst other species were the Phyctalis protexta, a native of this part of the ocean, a little cylindrical trunk striped with vertical lines and studded with red dots, which cover a marvellous show of tentacles. The molluscs consisted of those I have already mentioned, such as turntillas, olive prophyras, pteroceras, like petrified scorpions; and cuttle fish, which are very good to eat.

I noted various species of fish on these shores, which I had not hitherto studied. Amongst the cartilaginous specimens were the petromyzous-pricka, a kind of eel, fifteen inches in length, greenish head, fins violet, the back a bluish-grey colour, the belly is brown, of a silvery hue and speckled, the pupils of the eyes are surrounded with a golden circle. A curious animal this, which the current of the river Amazon had carried out to sea—for it is a fresh-water fish. There were “tubercular” rays, with pointed nose, a long and loose tail, armed with along toothed sting; little sharks, about three feet long, commonly known as pantouffles; lophic-vespertilios, a sort of reddish isosceles