CHAPTER VI 



Flying Fish and Turtles 



F, 



ROM NOW ON the reader will hear again and again 

 of Allison Armour, a friend of many years' standing. 

 Shortly after the First World War, he converted a small 

 Swedish tramp steamer into the most luxurious floating 

 laboratory in the world, and renamed her the Utoiuana. 

 He did this primarily to aid his friend David Fairchild in 

 transporting useful plants for introduction into the United 

 States. Happily on several occasions he asked me and my 

 family to go along and to add zoological collecting to the 

 botanical work. 



On one of these voyages I had a unique opportunity of 

 observing flying fish. The Utoivana was anchored off 

 Mathewstown on Watlings Island, or San Salvador. Allison 

 and I entered one of the ship's launches to go to a cay off 

 the north end of the island where iguana lizards were said 

 to be found. Where the yacht lay at anchor it was per- 

 fectly calm, but when we got clear of the point an enor- 

 mous oily swell was rolling. We were running along with 

 the swell abeam. Now we would be running aloncr the 

 crest of one of the great rollers and the next moment be 

 in the trough. On these occasions we could look right into 

 the great clear swells as they loomed up on each side of 

 the launch. 



All of a sudden the water broke and a couple of flying 

 fish, frightened by some larger fish which I never saw, 



