BATHYSPHERE DIVE THIRTY-FIVE 259 



in intensity as wc descended, a nondescript color that held 

 within itself all of the uncertainty of an unknown world. 



As I watched through the central window, the Director 

 turned on the searchlight and we saw still a different phase 

 of this aquatic world. The searchlight's beam charged out 

 through the water to a considerable distance. Most unex- 

 pected was the associated color that went with the greenish 

 light. All along the upper and lower edge of the beam was 

 a wide area of rich, deep, intense blue overlaid with a slight 

 touch of violet. At the end of the beam, where it disap- 

 peared into the distance, the blue was even more vivid, and 

 as we were lowered farther into the sea it became still 

 deeper, but always retained its richness and texture — a 

 texture of the softest of delicate royal velvets. 



Interesting as the light beam was, it was nothing when 

 compared with what it brought forth outside, and, even 

 more important, with what we saw when it was turned off. 

 Somewhere about 700 feet, as we looked downward 

 through the windows into the darkness below, a flash of 

 light reached our eyes, its brilliancy accentuated by the 

 blackness. It was unexpected, and for a moment I be- 

 came inarticulate (a common condition in the bathy- 

 sphere) . From this depth on, lights were constantly visible, 

 sometimes single and shining continuously or flashing on 

 and off, sometimes in groups that moved along without 

 changing their relationships to one another, which indi- 

 cated that they belonged to a single fish or other animal. 

 At other times the lights moved about independently of 



