BE CHE-DE-MER. 2 7 r 



comprehend. Beclie-de-mer fishing has not often been an 

 experience of my own, but it is a grand break-away for a time 

 from the daily routine of office, library, or plantation. 



To spend one's days in a rock-bound haven where the waters 

 are eternally at rest, no matter what storms may raise the sea 

 which rolls outside the coral barrier ; to run about barefoot 

 upon silvery sands, where the cool sea-breeze all the year 

 round conquers the sultriness of the tropic sunshine ; to paddle 

 about on the still waters of a calm lagoon, whose limpid waves 

 display beneath them an infinity of strange and beautiful 

 forms ; to sleep softly and to dream sweetly, sung to rest by 

 the ceaseless sounding of the distant sea and rustling of the 

 night wind among the feathery palms ; to know nothing of 

 what is going on in the outer world, and to care as little ; to 

 have no ideas beyond those included within the horizon of 

 vision ; to climb to the summit of some lofty tree and to see at 

 one glance all which constitutes for ourselves the material 

 universe is indeed to revel in nature, and nature as she only 

 exists in Coral Lands. 



There is this advantage in Mche-de-mer fishing, that upon the 

 great desert reefs, where it most abounds, the fishers never 

 need be idle. In calm weather they gather the red kind off 

 the top of the reef, just inside the foam of the breakers ; in 

 stormy times they dive for the black species inside the lagoon. 

 From its size and colour it is plainly visible to a depth of at 

 least 10 fathoms, even when the water is much ruffled by the 

 wind the more so, as it lives only on the smooth, sandy white 

 bottom. The material required for the prosecution of this 

 business is of the most simple character merely a boat, a few 

 axes to cut building materials and firewood, a supply of long 

 knives for all hands, and, in some cases, two or three of the 

 great cast-iron boilers (or trypots), such as arc used on board 



