CHAPTER XXX 



AFRIC'S CORAL STRAND RED (SEA COAST] 



(i) "BIG-GAME FISHING" 



As the big 1 liner steers an intricate course through 

 outlying- coral-reefs, the voyager speedily realises that 

 he approaches a New World. The sea-birds around his 

 ship first bespeak that fact, and the translucence of the 

 depths beneath transcends anything that may be seen 

 in Europe. At five fathoms or even at a dozen 

 minute details of the sea-bed are recognisable. Then, on 

 the mirror-like expanse of the inner seas sheltered by 

 reefs outside he sees strange blotches which, like islets 

 of the Sargasso, dot the tranquil surface. The precise 

 nature of these islets is revealed so soon as one of them 

 is seen to dissolve under a series of violent eruptions 

 as though a torpedo had exploded in its midst. Each 

 " islet " is merely a mass of surface-basking sardines ; and 

 this particular assemblage some submarine beast of prey 

 of terrific speed and power is gulping down by bucketfuls. 

 Should the spectator be an angler, the ambition to hold 

 one of these predatory monsters on rod-and-line follows 

 spontaneously. 



Neither technical knowledge nor experience entitle 

 the author to enlarge on this subject of "big-game 

 fishing." I merely took a hand at it for a few odd days, 

 and formed the opinion that when the world shall 

 have resumed a peaceful course, this wild sport (despite 

 drawbacks presently to be specified) may come to rank 



among the more exciting that rod-and-line have to offer. 



2 B 



885 



