eral Portuguese vessels in the London Docks. The proceedings always
closed with a Hymn to the Virgin Mary.

In Rome, at the Church of Santa Maria della Navicella, there is a small
marble ship which was offered by Pope Leo the Tenth in execution of a
vow after his escape from shipwreck. The first thing done by Magellan
and his crew after their safe return to Seville was to perform penance
barefooted, clad only in their shirts, and bearing lighted tapers in
their hands, at the shrine of Our Lady of Victory. And it is related of
Columbus, that on safe arrival after a storm at the Azores, 'The Admiral
and all the crew, bearing in remembrance the vow which they had made the
Thursday before, to go barefooted, and in their shirts, to some church
of Our Lady at the first land, were of opinion that they ought to
discharge this vow. They accordingly landed, and proceeded, according to
their vow, barefooted, and in their shirts, toward the hermitage.'

Countless instances might be cited, but these will suffice to show the
estimation in which Mater Cara was held by Catholic seamen.

How it came to be supposed that the smaller _Procellariae_ are only
visible before a storm is not very apparent. In point of fact, there is
no more reason for associating the petrel specially with storms than
there is for the belief expressed in the old Scotch couplet quoted in
the last chapter:

'Seagull, seagull, sit in the sand;
It's never good weather when you're on the land!'

As a matter of fact, seagulls do fly far inland in fine weather, and
especially during ploughing-time. And also, as a matter of fact, the
petrel lives at sea both in fine weather and foul, because he is
uncomfortable on land. It is only the breeding season that he spends on
shore; while the seagull is just as much at home on the land as on the
sea.

The scientific name of the petrel tribe is _Procellariae_, from the Latin
_procella_--a storm. It is a large family, all the members of which are
distinguished by a peculiar tube-like arrangement of the nostrils. Their
feet, also, are peculiar in being without any back toe, so that they can
only with great difficulty rise on the wing from dry land.

Mother Carey's chickens are among the smaller species of this family,
and they have both a shorter bill and a longer leg than their relatives.
But all the _Procellariae_ are noted for ranging further from land than
any other of the sea-birds. Thus they are often visible fr