46 Fish Stories 



leaves in every direction, the tidal currents may indicate. 

 At very low tide, their splendid fronds lie on the surface, 

 and are often caught by the wind and lifted above it, flash- 

 ing brilliant tints of amber and old gold, against the blue 

 of the ocean, that appears here and there like some splendid 

 mosaic pavement. 



*' 'Twas where o'er the sea 

 Delicious gardens hung, green galleries, 

 And marble terraces in many a flight, 

 And fairy arches flung from cHff to cliff, 

 Bewildering, enchanting " 



Drifting over this forest of the ocean at midday when 

 the sun is overhead and all its beauties are intensified, on 

 the coast of Southern California, the offshore islands rise, 

 as in the case of Santa Catahna, a literal mountain, from 

 a base not far away, a mile deep, to half a mile above it. 

 Indeed, the average depth of the Pacific is three miles, so 

 the islands are finger-like pinnacles, mountains of extraor- 

 dinary tenuity rising from the sea. At Santa Catalina, 

 San Clemente and the Coronado Rocks, they are so precipi- 

 tous where the deep blue waters of the Kuro Shiwo lave the 

 shores, that a ship would in places strike her bowspirit on 

 the rocks before her keel struck. 



The ocean forest, the green and amber weed, the long 

 crimpled, resilient, fluted leaves, float over this blue current, 

 standing out in contrast to it, blending with it, and taking 

 on a thousand charms from the association ; and, in looking 

 down into the galleries and loops, one sees the gleam of 

 turquoise, the fire of the opal and countless tints, radiant 

 and beautiful. 



The islands are surrounded by this forest — a literal float- 

 ing garden of the sea, and there is often still another forest 

 several hundred feet farther out, where the great Nereo- 

 cystean leaves rise and swing in the tidal currents. This 

 forest is as truly inhabited as are the glades of the land. It 



