CHAPTER VII 



THE BLACK SEA-BASS 



" Hugest of all fishes in the sea 

 For they were formed by heaven's great king 

 Before all other earthly thing." 



The Voyage of St. Brandon (Mediaeval) . 



AROUND many portions of the Californian 

 coast, especially its islands, there is a submarine 

 forest of great density. The trees are repre- 

 sented by the so-called kelp, the Macrocystis, 

 which attains a length of several hundred 

 feet, rising upward in broad deep-green leaves 

 of gigantic size, which swing in the current 

 undulating like living things, forming a maze or 

 forest, which, while easily seen, is a closed region 

 even to the diver owing to the intricate convo- 

 lutions of the plants. Looking down into this 

 mimic forest when the sun is overhead, the scene, 

 especially when observed through a water-glass, 

 or a glass-bottom boat, is fascinating. Arches, 

 loops, parterres, festoons, colonnades, every pos- 



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