THE OCEAN BOTTOM

Bruce Herald, Volume V, Issue 214, 3 June 1868, Page 3

THE OCEAN BOTTOM

(From the Panama ' Star and Kerala/; Mr. Green, the famous diver, tella singular stories of his adventures, when making search in the deep waters of the ocean. Ho gives some new sketches of what he saw at the " Silver Bank," near Hayti : — " The banks of coral on which my rtiving were made are about forty miles in le-i^th. On tiiis b:mk of coral is presented to the divcf one of Ihejinosfc Heautiful ffnd subiimo scenes fcha eye ever behela. The water varies^rom ten t.i one hundred feet in deptAnd so c«r that tlio aivcr can see" r from two^a three Mndred feet when submerged, with but little oftsfcruction to the sight. The bottom of the ocean in many places i 3 as smooth as a marVe floor ; in otheiß it is studded with coral columns, from ten to one hundred feet in height, and from one to eighty feet in diameter. The tops of fcho»s moro lofty support a myriad of pyramidal pendants, each forming a myriad more, giving r«r.iity to the imaginary abode of some water nymph. In oilier places the pendants form arch after arcn, and •..-.• the diver stands on the bottom of the ocean, and gazes through in the deep windirg avenues, he finds that they fill him with as gaered an awe as if he were in some old cathedral which had lon^ been buried beneath old ocean's wave. Here and there the coral extends to the surface of the water, as if the loftier columns were towers belonging to those stately temples that are now in ruins There were countless varieties of diminutive trees, shrubs, and plants, in every crevice of the corals where water had deposited the earth. They were all of a faint hue, owing to the pale light they received, although of every shade, md entirely different from plants that I am familiar with that vegetate upon dry land. One in particular attracted my attention ; it resembled a sea fan of immense size, of variegated colors, and the most brilliant hue. The fish which inhabit these ' Silver Bwiks ' [ found as different in kind as the scenery was varied. They were of all forms, colors, and sizes — from the insignificant goby to the globe like eunfish ; from ths dullest hue to the changeable dolphin ; from the spots of the leopard to- the hues of the sunbeam; from the harmless minnow to the voracious shark. Some had heads like squirrels, others liks cats and dogs, some of small size resembled the bull terrier. Some darted through the water like me 2 teors, wnile others could scarcely be seen to move. To enumerate and explain all the various kinjds of fish I beheld while driving on these bank* would, were I enough of a naturalist so to do, require more than my limits allow, for lam cou« vi.-iced that most of the kinds of fish which in* uabit the tropical seas can be found there. The ?un-fish, star-fish, white shark and shovel-nose *hark, were often seen. There were also fiih which resembled plants, and remained as fixed \a their position as a shrub; the only power they possessed was to open and shut when in danger Some of them resembled the rose when in ful bloom, and »ere of all hues. There were the ribbon fish, fpjm four or live inches to three feet in length; their eyes were very large, and protrude like those of a frog. Another fish ia spotted like a, leopard and from three to ten feet in length. They- build their houses like beavers, in which they spawn, and the male or female watches the egjj until it hatches. I saw many specimens of green turtle, some five feet long, which I Bhoslti think wo«id weigh from 400 to 500 pomwk."