A Mysterious Concourse 213 



deep roaring as of the distant voice of many waters 

 was heard, gradually growing in volume. All hands 

 came uncalled on deck, and watched with considerable 

 anxiety the approach of this uncanny roU of white ; 

 it drew nearer and nearer, until presently we passed 

 through it with only a very slight motion of the vessel, 

 for by an optical illusion it appeared a great deal 

 higher than it really was. The width of the line of 

 foam was about sixty feet, and in it could be seen an 

 amazing variety of sea debris, while it also seemed 

 to be alive with fish of aU kinds. 



But the chief wonder was a few cables' length 

 behind the strange line of white. It proved to be 

 on nearer inspection, a mass of land vegetation con- 

 sisting of several huge trees inextricably entangled 

 by their branches and snake-like convolutions of 

 giant creepers. It looked like a floating island, but 

 — all alive. So wonderful did it appear, so full of 

 movement, that a boat was got out in order that the 

 skipper might go and examine it, and while I live I 

 shall never forget the amazing sight it presented upon 

 a close view. 



Long before we got to it, the boat's way was im- 

 peded by the vast numbers of Bonito converging upon 

 it and making the sea appear as thick with fish as it 

 does in the middle of a herring shoal. We pressed 

 on, however, noticing how every stroke of the oars 

 was followed by a crimson stain melting into brown, 

 until we reached the central mass. It was so densely 

 crowded with fish, large and small, with sea-snakes, 

 with crabs, with creatures for which one could find 

 no name, that it seemed like one vast mass of living, 

 writhing forms. At a distance one could see the shapes 

 of the trees and their interlocked branches ; alongside 

 all seemed alive. 



