134 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
of molluscs, many worms, and hosts of other 
animals lie buried in the mud, or creep or 
wriggle slowly over it. Crabs, lobsters, and 
prawns with long legs and long feelers prowl 
about hunting for their food; great, many- 
armed cuttlefishes dart hither and thither, and 
fishes with gaping mouths and cruel-looking 
teeth swim very leisurely, for their bones are 
spongy and their muscles soft, perhaps be- 
cause in these still waters there has never 
been any need for great exertion. 
Life is most abundant at a depth of about 
2000 fathoms, and it varies in richness ac- 
cording to the character of the ooze. But no 
locality and no depth has yet been discovered 
which does not harbour living animals of 
some kind. 
Verily, if modern scientific research has de- 
prived us of our mermaidens and our sea- 
king’s palaces, it has given us no unfair ex- 
change in revealing to us this eerie, cold, 
dark, still world below the waters. 
Not the least of our gains is this, the dem- 
onstration that there are no slums in Nature. 
In these inaccessible haunts, in this world 
of darkness, there is the same order, the same 
fitness, the same finished perfection, the same 
