DUR GHELLA AND ITS INHABITANTS 19I 



from where I could study the further slope of the sea bed 

 that sank into the depths. I saw the biggest rhinoceroses 

 walking through the marine park looking like babies' 

 prams ; watched mackerel catch dead fish that I threw down 

 to them, in the way that seals catch titbits at the zoo, and 

 discovered the trails of molluscs and coloured worms. I 

 noticed how bored the sharks were as they lounged around 

 in their unchanging world of water and fish, fish and water. 

 One day when I floated up to the surface I received a sur- 

 prising escort from a gathering of small fish of the brightest 

 blue with an orange band on their bodies and an orange 

 tail, about as long as a hand. There were hundreds of them. 

 I could not see at two yards and they circled round me in a 

 gay roundabout without touching me. In this way they 

 accompanied me to the surface. I kindly fell in with their 

 wishes and sat on an underwater rock. There I became a 

 monument, a submerged cathedral with a cloud of frenzied 

 swallows flying round me. 



I had left aside the underwater gun for too long, which was 

 all very pleasant but not very serious. We were out there to 

 look, discover and get to know things, but above all we had 

 undertaken to capture specimens. So I gave the gun a good 

 greasing, changed the worn-out line, had the harpoons 

 welded to the arrows and returned to the kill with a double- 

 spring charge. 



The hunting instinct was as much inbred in me as it was 

 in Cecco and we were more than ready, after the interval of 

 observation, collection and underwater photography, to get 

 back to battle. 



On the first day of hostilities we laid down a precise plan 

 of campaign. Giorgio would throw one or two bombs and 



