The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1854-02-23
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

tratioe Of The roracity Of these .Sea-.7ttornies-
Another adeentare-Tae .vaatilus-Honders Of tn
Osedn.
The following is letter received from
: brother, now sojourning at New Orleans
bu, who, like the nautilus he describes, sci
: dom tarries long in one spot. Presumn.
it will interest our readers, we give it tc
them entire:
As it is Sunday night, with long even
ing before me, thought that | would si'
down and devote it entirely to you. AS
intend to make this long letter, must
contrive to put something in it which will
repay you for perusing it. Well, this morn
ing | sat in the Railroad car, and in ii
minutes found myself standing on the far
end of the pier, gazing out upon the un-
fashionable and illimitable waters Of Lake
Pontchartraln. 1t was an exhilarating
sight to look upon the blue waters, and to
trace the great waves as they rolled with
deep and solemn roar upon the sand. There
is something peculiarly soothing and glo-
rious withal, after having borne for long
time the petty evils which contact with man
entails, to leave them all behind-to forget
these little annoyanees-and to commune
with Him who rules the wave. As the deep
voice of the mighty waves, when they break
and roll upon the sandy shore, fills the ear
with unccasing roar, one feels kind of re-
ligious solemnity-a soothing OF all the
passions-as if i'll the presence of One
" hose power and grandeur is for the first
time fully appreciated. There is con-
sciousness of the presence Of some great
Being SO superior to nan, that one feels
humbled and appalled,, yet experiences
wtha sense Of happiness and security
which language would fail to describe.
There is no place inland where a person can
experience precisely the same feelings as on
the ocean shore. One gets the spirit so at
tuned to the deep, solemn, unceasing roar
of the waves, that it seems impossible to
live happy deprived Of their mysterious
music Day and night increasingly, the
great anthem swells upon the ear, with
hundred tongues proclaiming the grandeur,
and power and glory of the great Creator.
But there would be thousand new and
exciting scenes to you, which | have en-
perienced every day. What is that curious
globular thing which floats so azily past the
vessel. II looks not unlike lady's ret-
culc, with fringes about the mouth, and
rctculated all over, as il covered with net
work. 1t possesses the power to move at
WILL which il effects by means of its fringes.
1t can likewise sink deep into the water, or
float along It's surface. That curious thing
which meets your gaze every few minutes is
.NaduSa So beautiful as it appears, with
its varicgated colors and curious appen-
daees, still it is almost wholly composed Of
water. II you take it in your hand it mets
down into thin jelly. Dry it, and that
with all its beauty and susceptibility Of
giving electrical shocks, is reduced to ten
grains in weight! Still that mass of mater is
highly o-ganized and possesses sense and
feeling and power.
But you cannot occupy your time in look
ing at this Madusa as pretty as it is, for n
great splashiug near by attracts your at
tention, and upon ookingyou perceive what
YOU take at first thought for large drove
/ nd u n
putting together But they are porpoiscs,
There are hundreds Of them, each one OF
which disappears under the surface of the
water for about II quarter OF minute and
then reappears again, at each time eNhaling
a breath with puff, and inhaling another
with snort 4 thousand editors could not
1 puf with the assiduity and smartness that
+ they do, even il they were paid twenty five
cents line, the regular charge of the New
Orleans editors But putting costs porpoiscs
nothing, and they avail themselves OF the
privilege, without any attempt at conceal
ment, as do their analogues on land. fo.
will perceive also that each big male por-
poise is closely followed by smaller female,
who dives under when he does, and arises
simultaneously with HMM fact initiates
him in all things, and adapts herself to all
of his humors, as good and faithful wife
ought to do But 10, these porpoises have
got into school of mullets and sardines,
and what tremendous excitement and
splashing there is! Thousands, aye, mil
: lions, of little fishes are springing out OF the
water at once, while the big porposcs are
lust as busy as they can be, in swallowing
them. without tarryng to go through with
the formality of chewing them first. This
laughable scene you will witness perhaps
every hour-laughable to you and the por-
poises, but death to the sardnes and mullets!
Perhaps you may think that eXaggcrate
when say millions of surdines! | have
seen schools Of these fishes miles long and
wide, and ten feet in depth, and swimming
as close as they could move. Were there
not millions in that school! And what is
strange, where one takes the alarm and
leaps out of the water, RS they swim along,
the rest simultaneously leap too, such is the
velocity with which volitiou is communica-
-. 4 49,. ;,t al r.,p, ana ~, Tho pthnr