THE BAHAMAS AND BERMUDAS 299 



much in the dark in regard to their early origin as 

 ever. The enclosed will give you a little sketch of what 

 I have seen. I had a beastly time, thanks to unusually 

 heavy trades which made pelagic work very difficult, so 

 I did but little. It was aggravating, as I hoped to do 

 lots, having two artists on board who simply ate their 

 heads off! Has not the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science appointed a committee to act 

 on the boring of coral reefs? If so, who is the active 

 man and what do they propose doing? 



TO HUXLEY 



Cambridge, Dec. 24, 1893. 



The old year is so far gone that I must not forget to 

 send you my best wishes for the new. I am trying the 

 experiment of staying at home this winter and putting 

 my affairs to rights, which have got badly mixed from 

 my frequent and prolonged absences. I hope the doctor 

 will let me remain here, but I fear some fine morning 

 he will pounce upon me and ship me South. I hoped 

 this winter to continue my explorations of the coral 

 reefs of the West Indies, and my experiments on the 

 bathymetrical distribution of the surface fauna. I don't 

 believe a word of all the pretty theories my German 

 friends have. It 's very strange how they always man- 

 age to find something at any depth they wish. My 

 machinery never works that way, and as I have tried a 

 hundred times to their once, I feel naturally very skep- 

 tical. But my scheme could not be managed this year, 

 — no yacht to be had. 



My Bahamas notes are now well written out, and 

 I hope to get out this first contribution to the history 

 of the West Indian coral reefs during the summer. 



