12 JAMES MURRAY 



When the dredge reached the surface both men went to the opening, the one who 

 had been hauling keeping the line taut to prevent it sinking again. The contents of 

 the dredge, consisting of a thick black mud in which only the larger objects such as 

 sponges, shells, blocks of kenyte, and sea-anemones could be distinguished, were 

 emptied into a bucket. This was made from a 4-gallon kerosene tin provided with 

 two wire handles. The bucket was filled nearly to the top with sea-water in the 

 hope of enabling the animals to remain alive for some time. At first it was conveyed 

 home, a distance of about a quarter of a mile, by slinging it on a bamboo pole carried 

 on the shoulders of two men. This caused too much splashing, and thej bucket was 

 thenceforward carried by the handles. 



Generally all the water in the bucket was frozen into a kind of soft sludge before 

 we reached home. It was placed behind the stove to thaw, but so cold was it on the 

 floor of the hut that it often took a day, or even two days, before it^was ready for 

 examination. 



Any large objects visible on the top of the mud were first taken out. To get out 

 the smaller organisms the thick coherent mud was taken by a handful at a time and 

 put in a small silk net having a mesh of about one-sixteenth of an inch. This was 

 shaken in clean sea-water till the fine mud was all washed away. What remained in 

 the net was emptied into plates and picked over. The larger pieces - of kenyte and 

 shells, sea-urchins, &c., were first separated. Then came the task (very trying in the 

 dim gas-light, which alone penetrated to the biological lab., or the equally dim light of 

 a hurricane lamp) of picking out the smaller things, minute Crustacea, shells, &c., 

 requiring the use of a lens to detect them. All these various objects were sorted 

 according to their size and kinds, and stored in bottles. 



When we had enough jars filled to occupy one of the compartment boxes provided 

 for the purpose, they had to be removed, as there wasn't room in the hut for them. 

 The first was put under the floor of the hut, as likely to be warmer than the outside 

 air, and to escape filling with snow during blizzards. The air-lock under the house 

 was so very difficult of access that the boxes were afterwards put outside, to take 

 their chance of cold and snow. A few jars were broken by the cold, but there was no 

 help for it. The formalin which was used for certain kinds of animals suffered a 

 change from the low temperature, becoming milky, and did not again regain its 

 clearness. 



When not in use the dredge was left at the bottom of the sea. This kept the 

 rope soft, , and the dredge was ready for use whenever the holes were opened. The 

 one-inch lines used lasted throughout the season. This may be partly attributable to 

 leaving them in the sea and never allowing them to freeze solid. The part never 

 immersed was air-dried and flexible. 



The Bay, which was the only place where dredging was possible during almost 

 the entire season, was very shallow, the depth varying from seven to eighteen 

 fathoms. The sea bottom was everywhere covered with a deep layer of very fine 



