8 A WONDERER UNDER SEA 



completely at home. Never in city, house, or room have 

 I ever experienced such a feeling of comfortable and com- 

 plete habitation; it seemed as if I was returning — not ven- 

 turing. Over-enthusiastic friends eagerly explained this 

 with the exciting phrase beginning **When, in a former 

 incarnation/* etc. But unfortunately I do not feel equally 

 at home in a northern oak or coniferous forest while my 

 ancestors nevertheless seem to have been almost wholly 

 of the good old British mixture of Viking, Anglo-Saxon, 

 and Norman. 



All of which is preamble to the fact that from my 

 second dive onward, submersion seemed as reasonable and 

 my environment in general as familiar as if I could again 

 call upon ancestral memory, this time stretching it some 

 millions of years to the time when with considerable scien- 

 tific accuracy we might quote: 



"When you were a tadpole 

 And I was a fish — " 



But all this aside, when we descend beneath the surface 

 of the waters we are most assuredly returning to an olden 

 home, comparable in no way to aerial penetration, and 

 infinitely more remote and fundamental than our air- 

 breathing life today upon the dry land. 



Our progress upon land is learned — as infants we creep 

 upon all fours, then stand unsteadily, walk consciously, 

 and finally relegate impetus and balance to the sub- 

 conscious corners of our mind. We can go round and round 



