A WONDERER UNDER SEA 7 



most of the perils and horrors to be man-made, fire-side 

 imaginings, having the vitaUty of cloud-dragons and mi- 

 rage-monsters, ramping and raging in cold type, working 

 their evil chiefly between the covers of books, the outcries 

 of their victims seldom heard above the rustle of news- 

 papers. But after all, this was a conquering of difficulties, 

 mental and otherwise, only of degree, not of kind. Many 

 men had already penetrated and loved the equatorial 

 jungles. 



But adventuring under sea is an unearthly experience, 

 and in all except one sense we are actually entering a new 

 world when we put on a diving helmet and float down to 

 the white coral sand. If we are kept from wandering 

 through the waters of the world by tales of omnipresent, 

 man-eating sharks, barracudas and octopi, then to be con- 

 sistent we must keep off our streets because of the in- 

 finitely more deadly taxicabs, we must wear masks to keep 

 free of malignant germs, and we must never go to the 

 country because of wasps, deadly nightshade, and lethal 

 toadstools. When we once realize the truth of these ap- 

 parently silly comparisons, we will wander at will amid 

 temperate tapestries and portieres of seaweed, and stroll 

 around and climb over and return day after day to the 

 exciting reefs of tropical shores. In my present existence 

 there is only one experience left which can transcend that 

 of living for a time under sea — and that is a trip to Mars. 



When I first entered the majestic jungles of Guiana I 

 forgot to keep on the alert for danger because I felt so 



