CHAPTER IV 



no-man's-land five fathoms down 



Human life is bounded by less than two hundred 

 degrees of temperature, about five miles of altitude, 

 and by the presence of a delicate mixture of gases 

 called atmosphere. To win into a new phase of 

 life outside these realms is to be born again in a 

 new incarnation, and to relive the enthusiasm of 

 far distant aquatic ancestors. Nearly four-fifths of 

 the surface of the earth is covered with water, 

 and although two-thirds of our body consists of 

 the self -same fluid, yet we are so intolerant of 

 this wonderful substance that we can breathe it 

 only as gaseous clouds, paddle about on the surface 

 of the liquid, and skate upon the solid. Five 

 minutes immersion spells certain death. 



I have been fortunate enough to go St. Peter one 

 better, and to walk about on the bottom of the sea 

 during this winter in Haiti. In the course of three 

 hundred odd strolls, one of the most astounding 

 things was the color of this new world. With 

 constant use of the helmet and clear glass windows, 

 there came after a while a forgetfulness of the new 

 medium I had entered. High and low tide came 

 to have no meaning; the shore, as a definite thing, 

 became non-existent, and my mind completely 



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