AVALON, THE BEAUTIFUL 



the tides, from Seal Rocks to the west end. These 

 schools were not broken up until the advent of the 

 voracious tuna; and when they arrived the ocean 

 soon seemed littered with small, amber-colored 

 patches, each of which was a densely packed mass 

 of sardines or anchovies, drifting with the current. 

 It has not yet been established that swordfish feed 

 on these schools, but the swordfish were there in 

 abundance, at any rate; and it was reasonable to 

 suppose that some of the fish they feed on were in 

 pursuit of the anchovies. 



Albacore feeding on the sm-face raise a thin, low, 

 white hne of water or multitudes of slight, broken 

 splashes. Tuna raise a white wall, tumbling and 

 spouting along the horizon; and it is a sight not soon 

 to be forgotten by a fisherman. Near at hand a 

 big school of feeding tuna is a thrilhng spectacle. 

 They move swiftly, breaking water as they smash 

 after the little fish, and the roar can be heard quite 

 a distance. The wall of white water seems full of 

 millions of tiny, glinting fish, leaping frantically from 

 the savage tuna. And when the sunlight shines 

 golden through this wall of white spray, and the 

 great bronze and silver and blue tuna gleam for an 

 instant, the effect is singularly exciting and beautiful. 



All through August and much of September these 

 /schools of tuna, thousands of them, ranted up and 

 down the coast of Catalina, thinning out the amber 

 patches of anchovies, and affording the most mag- 

 nificent sport to anglers. 



These tuna may return next year and then again 

 they may not return for ten years. Some time again 

 they will swing round the circle or drift with the 



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