UNDER SEA WITH HELMET AND CAMERA 



(roughly) the points of the compass. Practically none of the boats navi- 

 gated by the negroes are equipped with compass. These fair conditions 

 do not prevail, however, throughout the year. There are at times steady 

 rains and shifting winds, hurricanes and dead calms. The inter-island 

 traffic continues, nevertheless. How it is done would make an interesting 

 study. 



I was enhghtened on one point which was entirely new to me. This 

 I will call "tide navigation" and it seems well worth recording. A geodetic 

 survey of the Bahamas reveals that the islands rise from earth formations 

 similar to what on land would be called plateaus, the islands representing 

 peaks on these plateaus. Currents caused by the rise and fall of tides go in 

 many directions. We, on the Atlantic Coast, are accustomed to thinking 

 of the tide flowing Westward and ebbing Eastward. The Bahamans, how- 

 ever, living on their "plateaus," surrounded by water of great depth, think 

 of the tide rising, as it does, all around their group of islands almost 

 simultaneously, and falling in like manner. The result can be visualized 

 by imagining a table set in a tank so arranged that water can be made to 

 rise and fall over the top of the table. On the table are placed a number 

 of bricks and fragments of various sizes, irregularly spaced to represent 

 roughly the islands in the Bahama group. As the water rises, currents will 

 flow between the bricks in many directions. These currents will reverse 

 as the water falls. The native navigators, with generations of experience, 

 have learned to "ride" these tidal currents when they are becalmed. They 

 must anchor at times and wait for a favorable current. But often by their 

 knowledge of conditions, they can take advantage both of the ebb and 

 flow of the tide to reach their destinations. It is slow traveling at best 

 but why should they care? They do not know that the pursuit of hap- 

 piness depends upon going to two or three cocktail parties in an afternoon, 

 then to a dinner party followed by movies and a dance at a night club. 



A departure from Nassau of one of the smaller boats was one of the 



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