io6 I N A G U A 



kept continually filled with fresh water by the spray which 

 dashed over the rocks. The sun, beaming on it all day, kept it 

 heated to a perfect temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, 

 exactly at blood heat or slightly cooler. It was such a pleasure 

 to use this natural pool that I found all sorts of excuses to swim 

 in its crystal depths. I seldom used soap in it, however, because 

 it seemed to irritate the hundreds of small fish which made it 

 their home. These fish were all the colors of the rainbow, blues 

 and golds, gleaming silver, reds and purples, and there were 

 even a number of little fellows with vivid black and yellow 

 stripes. These last were very friendly and nibbled at my bare 

 back and toes. In this activity they were joined by a host of 

 pale brown fish the exact color of the rocks. Like ghosts they 

 slithered along close to the bottom, squirming beneath the 

 shadows of my legs, tickling with their fins. 



When I first found the pool it contained four beautiful sea 

 anemones which looked for all the world like big pink carna- 

 tions. I pried them from their resting places and placed them all 

 together in one corner where they seemed to thrive quite con- 

 tentedly, a living bouquet. There was one resident, however, 

 that I had to dispose of, a big black velvety sea urchin with 

 needle-sharp spines six inches long. I pried it loose, too, and 

 moved it to another pool where it seemed to do very nicely. 

 Perhaps the most marvelous thing about this seaside bathtub 

 was the constant change of inhabitants. With every high tide 

 fish came and went, though how they got in and out was some- 

 thing of a mystery, for only the thinnest sheets of spray lapped 

 over the rock edges. Along with the fish there were always 

 appearing and disappearing an incredible assortment of inverte- 

 brates, ghostly shrimp and prawn with sides so transparent and 

 clear that one could see their anatomies working and what they 

 had for lunch; hermit crabs carrying sea shells festooned with 

 moss and algae, a few bristly worms that lurked in the crevices 



