134 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



of molluscs, many worms, and hosts of other 

 animals lie buried in the mud, or creep or 

 wriggle slowly over it. Crabs, lobsters, and 

 prawns with long legs and long feelers prowl 

 about hunting for their food; great, many- 

 armed cuttlefishes dart hither and thither, and 

 fishes with gaping mouths and cruel-looking 

 teeth swim very leisurely, for their bones are 

 spongy and their muscles soft, perhaps be- 

 cause in these still waters there has never 

 been any need for great exertion. 



Life is most abundant at a depth of about 

 2000 fathoms, and it varies in richness ac- 

 cording to the character of the ooze. But no 

 locality and no depth has yet been discovered 

 which does not harbour living animals of 

 some kind. 



Verily, if modern scientific research has de- 

 prived us of our mermaidens and our sea- 

 king's palaces, it has given us no unfair ex- 

 change in revealing to us this eerie, cold, 

 dark, still world below the waters. 



Not the least of our gains is this, the dem- 

 onstration that there are no slums in Nature. 

 In these inaccessible haunts, in this world 

 of darkness, there is the same order, the same 

 fitness, the same finished perfection, the same 



