i8 



year 1907, the bay, which is almost land-locked, became filled 

 with red water, known locally as " flower water." At the time 

 there had been a north-west wind for some days pre\-iously. 

 The fish in the bay were seen floating belly upwards in a 

 disabled condition. Some of them were cast on shore in 

 quantities at the end of the bay, in such numbers that they 

 were " taken away in cartloads." Even the shell-fish, such as 

 Mussels {Donax serra probably), Klip-Koes {Haliotis) were 

 killed off in large numbers, apparently on account of the pre- 

 sence of large quantities of decaying organic matter. 



Mr. McLachlan, at Stumpnose Bay, an open bay some dis- 

 tance to the north of Saldanha Bay, writing on 23rd February, 

 1904, supplied the follo\nng information : " About 35 years 

 ago I saw a boat loaded with Geelbek fish landed here by one, 

 Ian Solomon and crew, which they picked up at sea in the bay. 

 The fish were found swimming, head above water, apparently 

 in a stupefied condition. They filled their boat. These fish 

 were found in dark red water." 



Captain Jackson, writing 15th March, 1905, states that 

 " about 15 or 20 years ago, the water of Table Bay, after dark- 

 ness had set in, appeared like a sea of phosphorus. Many 

 persons were taken ill, and I believe some died after eating 

 fish, especially shell fish. I myself saw several baboons lying 

 dead on the beach near Simon's Town with clam shells in their 

 paws." The occurrence of such luminous water was doubtless 

 due to the presence of large numbers of Noctiluca to which 

 the " phosphorescence " of the sea is largely due. The last 

 observation is, however, probably quite apart from the occur- 

 rence of " phosphorus " in Table Bay. The baboons may 

 have been poisoned by eating the " white mussel " [Donax 

 serra), which at certain seasons appears to be poisonous. 



Another somewhat analogous occurrence is frequently 

 observed on the West coast. This is the presence of what is 

 known among the fishermen there as " dark water." On one 

 or two occasions in the survey work of the Pieter Faure such 

 water was observed, and proved on examination to contain 

 diatoms in such number as to give a dark tinge to the sea, and 

 this may be the explanation of the fishermen's "dark water." 

 Unlike the " red water," it is not avoided by fish and, when 

 it occurs the seine-net fishermen immediately put out their 

 nets with confidence that they have a good chance of procuring 

 a catch. At other times they seldom do so without some 

 visible signs of the fish, though they occasionally make such 

 " blind treks " at night when fish are scarce. The presence of 

 these minute forms of vegetable life in the open seas, as is 

 well known, tends to keep the water pure and favourable for 



