134 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



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 because 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 according 

 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 exchange in 

 revealing to us this eerie, cold, dark, still world 

 below the waters. 



Not the least of our gains is this, the 

 demonstration 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, 



