ON A FRAIL RAFT.
"Nothing could be seen to show what had become of the man. When the lady recovered, she told us that when the squall struck the boat it was instantly capsized; they managed to make a sort of raft out of the sail and mast, but it was only sufficient to support her alone. Her husband remained in the water, clinging to the raft and swimming, while she was in a half-fainting condition all through the night. She remembered how the waves rolled around them, how the moon rose up out of the waters, and how the birds flew near them, as if wondering what they were. Then she thought she could see the great rock at the entrance of the harbor, and then—she remembered nothing more till we rescued her on the beach where the waves had washed her.
"What became of her husband we never ascertained; but undoubtedly he was weak from exhaustion, and was unable to cling to the raft till it reached the shore. He probably loosened his hold, and sunk in the sea about the time his wife thought she discovered the rock.
"The lady remained in the village till she was able to return to her friends in the city. She never came back to that place; and the accident cast a gloom over the visitors, from which they did not recover for the rest of the season."
GULF-WEED.
As they neared the Straits of Malacca, the steamer passed great masses of a yellowish plant floating on the water. It bore an abundance of berries of the same general color as the plant, and they glistened brightly in sunshine as they lay close to the surface. The Doctor told the boys that this plant was identical with one that grows in the Caribbean Sea, and is borne northward in great quantities by the current of the Gulf Stream. On the Atlantic it is known as "gulf-weed;" it grows only in tropical regions, and the berries upon the plant are hollow, and serve as so many air-bladders to keep the plant afloat.