SUBMARINE LANDSCAPES. 21 



marine life, when we consider that those vast numbers, beyond 

 all human conception, occupy after all only a small part of the 

 green-coloured ocean which extends over twenty or thirty 

 thousand square miles! It is here that the giant whale of the 

 north finds his richest pasture-grounds, which at the same time 

 invite man to follow on his track. A small red crustacean 

 (Cetochilus australis) which forms very extensive banks in the 

 Pacific, and in the middle of the Atlantic about 40° S. lat., affords 

 a similar supply of food to the whales frequenting those seas, 

 and exposes them to the same dangers. 



When the sea is perfectly clear and transparent, it allows the 

 eye to distinguish objects at a very great depth. NearMindora, 

 in the Indian Ocean, the spotted corals are plainly visible under 

 twenty-five fathoms of water. The crystalline clearness of the 

 Caribbean sea excited the admiration of Columbus, who in the 

 pursuit of his great discoveries ever retained an open eye for 

 the beauties of nature. "In passing over these splendidly adorned 

 grounds," says Schopf, " where marine life shows itself in an 

 endless variety of forms, the boat, suspended over the purest, 

 crystal, seems to float in the air, so that a person unaccustomed 

 to the scene easily becomes giddy. On the clear sandy bottom 

 appear thousands of sea-stars, sea-urchins, molluscs, and fishes 

 of a brilliancy of colour unknown in our temperate seas. Fiery 

 red, intense blue, lively green, and golden yellow perpetually 

 vary ; the spectator floats over groves of sea-plants, gorgonias, 

 corals, alcyoniums, flabellums, and sponges, that afford no less 

 delight to the eye, and are no less gently agitated by the heaving 

 waters, than the most beautiful garden on earth when a gentle 

 breeze passes through the waving boughs." 



With equal enthusiasm De Quatrefages expatiates on the 

 beauties of the submarine landscapes on the coast of Sicily. 

 "The surface of the waters, smooth and even like a mirror, 

 enabled the eye to penetrate to an incredible depth, and to 

 recognise the smallest obj.ects. Deceived by this wonderful 

 transparency, it often occurred during my first excursions, that I 

 wished to seize some ann elide or medusa, which seemed to swim 

 but a few inches from the surface. Then the boatman smiled, 

 took a net fastened to a long pole, and, to my great astonishment, 

 plunged it deep into the water before it could attain the object 

 which I had supposed to be within my reach. The admirable 



