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 (Medieval). 
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 Macrocysétzs, 
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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