THE BOOK ABOUT THE SEA GARDENS 



ravenously hungry, a shark will not attack a man 

 in the water until it is sure that he is absolutely 

 helpless. A splash will often frighten him away 

 for good, though he may return again and again 

 to see if the swimmer is dead yet or sufficiently 

 weakened to eat. I believe sharks very seldom 

 attempt to eat anything that is perfectly healthy. 

 It is perhaps the cemetery as well as the scav- 

 enger of the sea, though it includes the not-quick- 

 enough among the already-dead. 



Although one may see large fish of many kinds, 

 the things which attract the visitor most are the 

 tiny fish, and the shallowest water is naturally 

 the best to see them in. There is an exquisite 

 little creature called the bottle fish of an intense 

 Prussian blue. It is somewhat of the jack shape, 

 and never exhibits any enthusiasm about any kind 

 of fodder. A perfect live sapphire so brilliant 

 that it seems at times to be lit from within, it is 

 easily the most astonishing of the small marvels. 

 The bluehead* is of the slippery-dick order, with 

 a bright blue head, two black bands dividing a 

 sky-blue band, and a green tail. It bites vora- 

 ciously, as at times does also the cockeyed pilot 

 in its vertical stripes of black and yellow; this 

 is sometimes called the butterfly fish, but is not 

 so named in Nassau. Their mouths are so small 

 that it is very hard to catch them, but the tiniest 

 * Sometimes called the rainbow fish. 

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