THE GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT 



777 



THE BLU1C-EYED PERCH 



ranged it would not appear more arti- 

 ficial, as at every move of the glass-bot- 

 tom boat something new is seen through 

 the window, as though prearranged. The 

 scenery changes every moment, and as 

 there is a slight ground swell, just suffi- 

 cient to lift the curtains of the weed and 

 move them to one side, then back again, 

 strange things constantly appear. Now 

 the vista is green. Presto! the tidal scene- 

 shifter makes it purple of a gorgeous 

 bue ; then comes the cavern of the sea, 

 "In gulfs enchanted where the Siren 

 sings," faced with a most delicate green, 

 in which swim blue and gold fishes. 



BEUE-EYED PERCH 



Drifting out a little, into water thirty 

 feet deep, we see that Santa Catalina is a 

 big offshore Sierra, as we can now look 

 down the precipitous slopes into water of 

 an indigo-blue shade, the most exquisite 

 blue imaginable, with a background here 

 and there of dim shadowy shapes. Prich- 

 ard, the well-known submarine artist, has 

 gone down in diver's armor at Tahiti and 



painted such scenes, and only those who 

 have been divers or who have gone on a 

 cruise on a Santa Catalina glass-bottom 

 boat can appreciate their real beauty. 

 Lying on one side is a mass of peculiar 

 mazarine blue. In a moment we make it 

 out as a school of blue-eyed perch of 

 California, a fish about a foot long, with 

 eyes like torquoise. In the peculiar light 

 that sifts down through the kelp they ap- 

 pear blue, and are all headed in the same 

 direction and lying near the bottom. 



In mid-water are countless kelp fishes, 

 graceful swimmers, while below them 

 there are others still more radiant in yel- 

 low, white, brown, and red. They lie 

 upon the rocks as shown in the photo- 

 graphs. Sometimes a shark sails slowly 

 along with its remoras or sucking fishes 

 following or fastened to it. They will 

 often wander away and look curiously 

 up into the big window down into which 

 peer scores of faces in a row. 



The big glass-bottom boats, which hold 

 one hundred passengers, travel up and 

 down the coast. They visit the sea-lion 



