46 JUNGLE PEACE 



knew the moment he would enter it. Paddling 

 along just beneath the surface, there was a con- 

 stant temptation to reach down and grasp the 

 waving seaferns and bits of coral which seemed 

 only just out of reach, whereas they were a 

 good thirty feet beneath. Whether floating idly 

 or barging clumsily along in the only fashion 

 possible to us terrestrial humans, we longed for 

 the sinuous power of the dolphins, whose easy 

 sculling imparts such astounding impetus. Now 

 and then we saw a deep swimming fish, but the 

 line of envious fellow voyagers along the ship's 

 rail were denied all this joy by reason of their 

 fear of sharks. They had read in many books 

 and they had listened to many tales, and they 

 do not know what we shared with the little nig- 

 ger boys who dive for pennies the knowledge 

 that the chance of an attack from a shark is 

 about equal to that of having your ears sewed up 

 by devil's darning needles. Over all the world 

 I have swum among sharks ; from Ceylon to the 

 Spanish Main I have talked intimately with 

 scores of native captains and sailors and learned 

 the difference between what they tell to the 

 credulous tourist and what they believe in their 

 hearts. 



