THE BOOK ABOUT THE SEA 

 GARDENS 



CHAPTER I 

 INVITATION 



DOWN in the deep sea the imagination of man 

 has always created palaces of mystery. The 

 Sea King holds his court among his mermen, mer- 

 maids comb their long tresses with combs of gold 

 or lure mariners to destruction. Harpies that were 

 half women and half bird infested the shoals of 

 the ancient world, and Poseidon, driving his white- 

 maned horses through the terrible element, is 

 perhaps the oldest of the gods. Strangely enough, 

 the history of Venus begins when she rose from 

 the sea, and Davy Jones, suspected of being a 

 Welshman, tends his locker wherever a ship may 

 sink. Few, however, have been able to create 

 anything convincing out of the tales which men 

 invented to terrify themselves with in the days 

 when the earth was youngi' We have never any 

 clear idea about the undersea life of legend; we 



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