l6 DAHLAK 



the sea), that they travel normally with the famous triangular 

 dorsal fin on the surface, and so on. There's not an atom of 

 truth in any of this. 



But when you're sitting in front of a cool beer a hundred 

 yards from the Red Sea on a warm Massawan night, how 

 can you with a few words destroy a conviction that has its 

 roots in antiquity? 



I got back late to the hotel, retracing the long wet walk. 

 The stars were opalescent and the mud on the beach stank 

 of rank seaweed. I was dog-tired. I told myself it was the 

 climate, although it may have been anxiety for the morrow. 

 For the Formica was to arrive the next day, and a task that 

 might take weeks or months was due to begin. 'To-morrow,' 

 I told myself, T shall be swimming in this sea, under this sea.' 



I lay awake for a long time in my hot bed. Outside, beyond 

 the veranda, the crickets were shrieking on the papyrus and 

 in the tall palms ; shutting my eyes I felt for a moment that 

 I was back in Lombardy, in August. 



The Formica arrived the next day, 27th January. She had had 

 a disastrous trip through continual squalls and stormy 

 weather, yet she had continued to plough southwards while 

 even the biggest ships remained in port. When she finally 

 reached the Red Sea she stopped among the first of the coral 

 islands beyond the gulf of Suez where at last she found peace 

 on a quiet sea. At Shadwan my companions had their first 

 dip in tropical waters, unable to wait longer for their first 

 sight of the sea-bed. They had been amazed and excited. 

 It was at Shadwan too that Cecco (Dr. Francesco Baschieri 

 Salvadori, Lecturer at the Zoological Institute of Rome 

 University) made quick friends with a devil fish {Pterois 



