318 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



Hebraic significance of all that is abundant, satis- 

 factory and complete! And as for precedent I 

 can indicate in olden times "The Seventy" the title 

 of the seventy-two translators of the Septuagint, 

 and (it seems only yesterday), who of us will for- 

 get, who have seen and heard them, — the thousands 

 upon thousands of long, slender stems, with up- 

 raised muzzles alert and ready like the fangs of 

 faithful watch-dogs, stretching on and on in an 

 unending, unbroken, unbreakable line, over hills 

 and through valleys, like the towers of the Great 

 Wall— les soixante-qmnze ! 



My intention in regard to an island of water was 

 simultaneous with my turning from the jungle to 

 the ocean — exemplifying my passion for small, re- 

 stricted things. In many ways an island is much 

 more significant than a continent, a solitary tree 

 than a jungle, the life history of a single family of 

 living creatures, or of one species, or, better still, 

 individual, than casual studies of an entire phylum. 

 This accounts for my biased researches in times 

 past.^ I fear that the same characteristic would 

 always rob a jail of its horror — there are reasons 

 why I would rather be the Prisoner of Chillon 

 than the Wandering Jew. 



When I began studying the oceanographic voy- 



* Natural History of Pheasants, N. Y. Zool. Soc. 



"Four Square Feet of Jungle," Zoologica, II, p. 107. 



"The Bird of the Wine-Colored Egg," Jungle Days, p. 182. 



"Birds of a Single Tree," Zoologica, II, p. 55. 



"A Jungle Labor Union," Edge of the Jungle, p. 149. 



"A Chain of Jungle Life," Jungle Days, p. 3. 



"The Three-toed Sloth," Zoologica, VII, p. 1. 



