THE BLACK-HEADED GULL 201 
coral reef, and the way in which pools led one into 
another by tunnels was most strange. Then the 
depths of some were great, as I found by sounding 
with a long rod, and some were past all sounding 
and seemed bottomless. It was evening when I 
got there, and soon became dark night, and it was 
then that the peculiar beauty of these pools came 
out, whilst the great flocks of Gulls and some Duck 
found new delights in them as the receding sea gave 
them more feeding-ground. Every pool was lighted 
up by the strange glowing eyes of some cuttle-fish 
—ever-moving, these jewel-like blue-green lights 
went passing round and round, sometimes the one 
becoming two as a turn of its head permitted my 
seeing both eyes, and then with another curve the 
two were one. Sometimes these strange lights 
were very very faint, but as I stood still they came 
nearer and nearer, and with my eyes riveted on 
them a most curious illusion followed. Nearer, 
nearer, stronger, more strong, these strange weird 
eyes advanced and crept up farther and farther, 
till time after time it was hard to believe that 
these glowing orbs had not left the water and were 
advancing right up to my own face. All the time 
the quiet of the place was only broken by the 
curious laughing-like call of the Gulls, and the 
26 
