UNDER-SEA PHOTOGRAPHY 155 



tested, pictures made through the optical glass win- 

 dows to see that everything worked, I had to do 

 likewise to myself. Get my head into a box with win- 

 dows, the helmet my arms and legs the outside con- 

 trols. I bought a second-hand helmet, and it was so 

 heavy I could not lift it and put it on my shoulder 

 unaided. Then with a back and forth air pump and 

 a hundred-foot hose I was ready to try out the whole 

 plan. I had two rather above the average native 

 boys, and in a launch I hired for the work, we went 

 exploring for location. Walking on the coral at low 

 fide convinced me I could not do it under sea. It 

 was so brittle and sharp, cutting like a razor if I fell 

 on it. So the first thing to find was a sandy bottom 

 with a forest of coral within reach. After cruising 

 miles we found a channel some fifty feet wide, nice 

 sandy bottom, a forest of coral on each side and thou- 

 sands of beautiful tropical fish everywhere. The 

 water started at ten and gradually deepened to thirty 

 feet and then pitched down I don't know how far. 

 The first attempt was in water twelve feet deep. 

 We anchored the launch carefully across the chan- 

 nel, lowered the cameras to the bottom, threw the 

 tripods overboard, then in my bathing suit, tennis 

 shoes to keep my feet from being cut by the coral, 

 I would get on the side of the launch, holding on to 

 the gunwale, and one native boy would put the hel- 



