THE MARVEL OF A TIDE 321 



welling up from the depths for it carried bands of warm and 

 cold. As the tide increased the cold became more pronounced 

 until I was shivering. So I called a recess for a half hour. 



When I again dropped below a great change had taken place. 

 The current had become so violent that I had difficulty in 

 keeping my position, even in the shelter of the boulders. Prac- 

 tically all the fish had disappeared. Those that were still about 

 were swimming close to the rocks or were snuggled down in 

 depressions where they were slowly undulating their tails. 

 Great numbers had retreated into crevices and fissures in the 

 clifi^ where they hung motionless. No big fish were in sight, 

 except a half dozen large blue parrotfish that were bunched 

 together in the shadow of a crag. The water had become a 

 veritable avalanche and its speed was so great that even the fish 

 did not consider it prudent to fight against it but took refuge 

 in a philosophical retreat. 



I did not descend again until just a few minutes before the 

 tide began to change. The water which had flowed so swiftly 

 before was barely moving. It was nearing the full flood. The 

 aqueous dust storms had all subsided and the limit of visibility 

 had extended thirty feet or more. Only the long curving rows 

 of sand ripples remained to remind one of the deluge. I could 

 stand without danger of being swept away. 



In ten minutes all motion ceased and a perfect calm settled 

 over everything, except at the surface where the waves still 

 rolled over the rocks. The greatest change, however, was in 

 the fishes. They no longer hung hidden in deep holes or lay 

 quiescent in hollows on the bottom. The grunts were back 

 again from their indefinite errands, though the amber-jacks 

 that pursued them did not returji. Most of the fish were busily 

 feeding. A number of brilliant triggerfish had mysteriously 

 appeared from nowhere and were ghding from place to place 

 munching on small tidbits which they scraped from the algae- 



