ii8 



DAHLAK 



brought in a wounded state near the boat. It could damage 

 the vessel, or fill it with water, or overturn it. But then it 

 would no longer be the manta but the sharks cruising by that 

 would spell danger. 



The manta is an agreeable monster and not at all horrible 

 or diabolic. It just wants to live and let live. It neither molests 

 nor attacks, and swallows only microscopic shrimps and 

 crabs. But it has a frightening aspect. Not everyone would 

 find it easy to keep cool when confronted with a great beast 

 twenty feet across, with a five-foot mouth, and weighing a 

 ton or more, which has a way of springing out of the water 

 and landing flat again on the surface with the crack of a 

 gun. 



I went down to the beach near Nasi's house with Gigi. We 

 got the boat ready and went south to the islet of Medecheri. 

 It was a splendid day, eight in the morning and the sun 

 already hot, burning and choking the land. The sea, a deep, 

 wonderful blue, was apparently still, but under the shimmer- 

 ing silk surface the current flowed strong. There was a muted 

 sound of swishing underwater currents. 



We sailed on the current (with the engine going) as if on 

 a toboggan. Gigi was back in the stern and I was on the 

 look-out in the prow. Suddenly I caught sight of a continuous 

 churning, like the main stream of a river, half a mile from 

 the right angle of the channel on the right bank. Gigi re- 

 duced speed. I strained my eyes and held my breath. The 

 sea appeared to shrink into a streak about half a mile long 

 but not more than three or four yards wide, wavy and rip- 

 pling. It seemed that a sea Leviathan must be crawling and 

 twisting under the water. The scales on its back glittered here 

 and there. Gigi stopped the engine and we reached the 



