AN ISLAND OF WATER 319 



ages of past years, one thing stood out at once — 

 the tremendous distances covered. The ship would 

 stop to sound, make a haul, and then up sails or 

 steam, and away a few hundred miles to the next 

 station, — the very name station being significant of 

 railway speed. This was necessary, for pioneers 

 in any field must be peripatetic. Much good 

 Columbus would have done the world, milling 

 around in one spot in mid-ocean, or Balboa if he 

 had been content to rest at the foot of his Darien 

 peak. There is still need for hundreds of more 

 voyages of widest range before we can know the 

 distribution of ocean life with any accuracy. 



My objects in the Arcturus adventure militated 

 against any prolonged study of a single locality. 

 To learn anything of the Sargasso Sea and the 

 Humboldt Current I must cover hundreds and 

 thousands of miles, and this I had done. But away 

 at the back of my mind was an obstinate intention 

 to have a try at making an island out of an enor- 

 mously tall column of water resting on a limited 

 bit of very wet land. I was conservative in my first 

 attempt and decided to select a place where the 

 pillar of water was less than a mile in height. I 

 say height advisedly, for if anything is worth 

 studying intensively, one must absolutely identify 

 oneself with it. Some of the greatest joys of my 

 life come when I shed the unlovely man-body thing 

 which I am condemned to carry about through life 

 as transportation and periscope to my mind and 

 soul. For the time being I must become pheasant, 

 protozoan, sloth or tree. 



