found that the needles were true. He evidently thought it useless to
communicate to them his scientific speculations, so he explained to them
that it was the North star which was moving in its circle, and not the
compass. One is compelled to admit that in these little matters of
deceit the Admiral always shone. To-day, among the seaweed on the ship's
side, he picked up a little crayfish, which he kept for several days,
presumably in a bottle in his cabin; and perhaps afterwards ate.

So for several days this calm and serene progress westward was
maintained. The trade-wind blew steady and true, balmy and warm also;
the sky was cloudless, except at morning and evening dusk; and there were
for scenery those dazzling expanses of sea and sky, and those gorgeous
hues of dawn and sunset, which are only to be found in the happy
latitudes. The things that happened to them, the bits of seaweed and
fishes that they saw in the water, the birds that flew around them, were
observed with a wondering attention and wistful yearning after their
meaning such as is known only to children and to sailors adventuring on
uncharted seas. The breezes were milder even than those of the Canaries,
and the waters always less salt; and the men, forgetting their fears of
the monsters of the Sea of Darkness, would bathe alongside in the limpid
blue. The little crayfish was a "sure indication of land"; a tunny fish,
killed by the company on the Nina, was taken to be an indication from the
west, "where I hope in that exalted God, in whose hands are all
victories, that land will very soon appear"; they saw another ringtail,
"which is not accustomed to sleep on the sea"; two pelicans came to the
ship, "which was an indication that land was near"; a large dark cloud
appeared to the north, "which is a sign that land is near"; they saw one
day a great deal of grass, "although the previous day they had not seen
any"; they took a bird with their hands which was like a jay; "it was a
river bird and not a sea bird"; they saw a whale, "which is an indication