i8o THE OCEAN 



the water. Many of these men and boys are 

 so expert that for a small sum they will dive 

 into shark-infested spots and with knife in 

 hand attack and kill these great man-eaters. 

 Such duels between man and fish are ex- 

 tremely exciting, but it is seldom that the 

 shark gets the best of the encounter, for the 

 man's superior intelligence, his knowledge of 

 the shark's habits and his skill in diving and 

 swimming enable him to dive beneath the 

 great fish where a thrust of the knife can be 

 delivered in safety. 



In order to reach greater depths and to re- 

 main longer under water man has for cen- 

 turies attempted to devise means of diving in 

 comfort beneath the sea. One of the earliest 

 and most practical inventions was the Diving 

 Bell. This consisted of a great metal, or 

 wooden chamber of more or less bell-like 

 form, which was lowered beneath the water 

 and within which human beings could remain 

 safely at considerable depths. If you place 

 a glass, or a tumbler, upside down over a dish 

 or a basin of water and push it to the bottom 

 you will see that the water does not fill the 



