For the first and only time in my experience, we sighted St.
Paul's Rocks, a tiny group of jagged peaks protruding from the
Atlantic nearly on the Equator. Stupendous mountains they must
be, rising almost sheer for about four and a half miles from the
ocean bed. Although they appear quite insignificant specks upon
the vast expanse of water, one could not help thinking how
sublime their appearance would be were they visible from the
plateau whence they spring. Their chief interest to us at the
time arose from the fact that, when within about three miles of
them, we were suddenly surrounded by a vast school of bonito,
These fish, so-named by the Spaniards from their handsome
appearance, are a species of mackerel, a branch of the SCOMBRIDAE
family, and attain a size of about two feet long and forty pounds
weight, though their average dimensions are somewhat less than
half that. They feed entirely upon flying-fish and the small
leaping squid or cuttle-fish, but love to follow a ship, playing
around her, if her pace be not too great, for days together.
Their flesh resembles beef in appearance, and they are warm-
blooded; but, from their habitat being mid-ocean, nothing is
known with any certainty of their habits of breeding.
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