A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 223 



of the water, its freedom from sediment and roiling; six 

 miles from shore and a full mile from the bottom insured 

 this. So there was no diffusion of light, no trails, no refrac- 

 tion. When sparks or larger lights moved they were as 

 distinct as when they were motionless. But reflection was 

 noticeable, as upon the eye or skin from a sub-ocular or a 

 lateral photophore, or upon my face when a shrimp ex- 

 ploded close in front. 



Now and then I felt a slight vibration and an apparent 

 slacking off of the cable. Word came that a cross swell had 

 arisen, and when the full weight of bathysphere and cable 

 came upon the winch, Captain Sylvester let out a few 

 inches to ease the strain. There were only about a dozen 

 turns of cable left upon the reel, and a full half of the 

 drum showed its naked, wooden core. We were swinging 

 at 3028 feet, and. Would we come up? We would. 



Whatever I thought about the relative value of inten- 

 sive observation as compared with record-breaking, I had 

 to admit that this ultimate depth which we had attained 

 showed a decided increase in the number of large fish — 

 more than a dozen from three to twenty feet having been 

 seen — and a corresponding greater number of lights, 

 though not in actual size of their diameters. 



Now and then, when lights were thickest, and the 

 watery space before me seemed teeming with life, my 

 eyes peered into the distance beyond them, and I thought 

 of the lightless creatures forever invisible to me, those 

 with eyes which depended for guidance through life upon 



