174 I N A G U A 



the grass bags. 



Daylight revealed a strange and wild vista. Curving along 

 the sweep of the Bight of Ocean was a great line of magnificent 

 stone cliffs rising and falling into the distance. Against these 

 the brilHant blue of the ocean beat in a frothy white line, throw- 

 ing spray high into the air, pulsing and roaring. The water was 

 unbelievably clear and the bottom was easily visible a hundred 

 feet down. It was strewn with gigantic boulders and crags ap- 

 parently crumbled from the cliff walls. Between these were 

 moving a number of dark shadowy forms, the bodies of large 

 sharks and slow lumbering groupers. In one spot a group of 

 immense blue parrotfish hovered about an algae-covered boul- 

 der, revealed by flashes of deep indigo as they twisted to munch 

 the filmy covering. About a mile away a bright scar showed 

 where a small landsHde had sHpped from the cliff and tumbled 

 into the sea. On the land side the jagged rocks swept away in a 

 series of rolling hills toward the interior where they were 

 covered with an impenetrable scrub. 



The sun was well above the horizon when I reached the 

 new gash on the upper rim of the cliff's face. Cautiously I 

 edged my way down until I was on a level with the center. A 

 great chunk had fallen away, undercut by the waves. The 

 stone underneath was white and filled with sand, slightly soft 

 but firm, and resistant to the fingers. A small object imbedded 

 in the rock attracted my attention. With a penknife I extracted 

 it carefully and rolled it between my fingers, crushing off the 

 loose grains. It was the shell of a land snail, a long curved spiral 

 of delicate form, exactly like those which covered the grasses 

 of the valley and which occurred elsewhere on the island, cling- 

 ing to vegetation in great multitudes. The place where I found 

 the fossil was at least thirty feet from the crest of the cliff. 



These snails are not creatures of the sea; their entire lives 

 are spent on dry land far from the sound of salt water. This 



