326 I N A G U A 



some rock-dweller to venture too far. They were not very 

 numerous, but most were capable of great speed. Among this 

 group were a comet-fish about three feet long, not including 

 the long filament attached to the end of its tail, an equally 

 long trumpet fish which chased a tiny butterfly fish into the 

 shelter of a crag, and the long sHm torso of a barracuda. 



For a half hour the water at the base of the submarine cliff 

 remained quiet and motionless. The fishes ghded about, mov- 

 ing and turning in an easy effortless way. Then faintly, imper- 

 ceptibly, the tide began to swing. At first I did not notice it, so 

 gently did it start. But soon I became aware that the algae no 

 longer drooped listlessly. They began to point their delicate 

 fronds in the direction of the distant and invisible island of 

 Mariguana. I noticed that the sea fans on the rocks were bend- 

 ing too, and that, unlike the sea fans on the great reef, they 

 were all aligned at right angles to the shore instead of parallel 

 to it. Here the tide, not the surf, was the dominating force. 

 Out on the sand the long ripples began to reform, reversing 

 the position of their slopes, gradual on the upstream side, steep 

 on the lee. The parrots, demoiselles, and other rock feeding 

 species began to drift over to the sheltered side of the boulders 

 where they temporarily resumed their interrupted feeding. 

 The easy relaxation of the past half hour began to disappear. 

 The underwater gale was approaching, and in preparation the 

 fishes and even some of the invertebrates, including a half 

 dozen wandering hermit crabs, began to vanish into little holes 

 or fissures where they drifted into that wide-awake yet appar- 

 ently restful sleep of the creatures without eyeUds. The trunk- 

 fish and swellfish came out of the sand to settle down on a 

 smooth spot where the swellfish buried themselves until little 

 more than their eyes were showing. I could not help but won- 

 der what sort of perilous life the creatures of this outermost 

 point must lead, forever hedged in by marauding, patrolling 



