NO-MAN'S-LAND FIVE FATHOMS DOWN 



bridged the gap between the last view of the palms 

 and mangroves, which blurred out as I submerged, 

 and the first clear glimpse of the same littoral 

 slope so forever wet that one never thought of it as 

 even damp. A dew-drenched lawn is wetter by far 

 than anything I have ever sensed beneath the 

 waves. 



Color again ! 



When our first ancestors had temporary sur- 

 cease from the worry of securing food and fighting 

 off enemies, they began to take note of color. 

 Some man was the first to bring flowers into his 

 cave and stick them into a crevice. And when 

 he found bright-colored stones he bored holes in 

 them and tied them around his neck and fingers. 

 Thus the first interior decorator was a cave-man. 

 The flowers faded, so, like Lorelei, he came to 

 prefer the stones until he learned to daub with 

 pigments on the rocky walls of his home; 



"Unusually clever he. 



Unusually brave. 

 And he drew delightful Mammoths 



On the borders of his cave." 



Of all places in the world a coral reef is 

 unquestionably the newest and the strangest from 

 which to draw satiety in color. 



When I first began going down beneath tropical 

 waters in my diving helmet, I found myself re-living 

 the cave-man's evolution. Whether the nearest 



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