It was my good fortune to enter the sea on the last quarter of the moon, the advantage being that in the dark nights I witnessed the phosphorescent light effect at night in its greatest splendor.

The sea, where the sloop disturbed it, seemed all ablaze, so that by its light I could see the smallest articles on deck, and her wake was a path of fire.
On the 25th of June the sloop was already clear of all the shoals and dangers, and was sailing on a smooth sea as steadily as before, but with speed somewhat slackened.

I got out the flying-jib made at Juan Fernandez, and set it as a spinnaker from the stoutest bamboo that Mrs.Stevenson had given me at Samoa.

The spinnaker pulled like a sodger, and the bamboo holding its own, the _Spray_ mended her pace.
Several pigeons flying across to-day from Australia toward the islands bent their course over the _Spray_.

Smaller birds were seen flying in the opposite direction.