RAMBLES IN THE DEPTHS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2622, 15 June 1904, Page 63

RAMBLES IN THE DEPTHS.

By a Banker. In the previous article of this series we infiulged in an imaginary journey in the air ir. an aerial machine «uc3i as -will perhaps be in -vogue a dozen years hence. Let us again give xein to the imagination, and take a tour in the depths of the ocean, in the perfected submarine '■ oi th»i period. Starting from ouz port, havirg cleared the shallows, we turn the regulator which admits tiie water ballast, and are coon cautiously progressing forward a few feet above the floor j of tbe ocean, which, lighted by our powerful j Jieldo-calcium search lights, is reflected, as a j panorama on' the screens of the periscopes. ■Now we ar<! passing over a richly picturesque j garden of the sea, a very fairyland of beauty. adorned with sea plants of extreme grace and elegance of form — 30iue tinted a ttelicat© rose- - pink hue, or a vivid emerald, or a purpled car- ; K.me, their graceful feathery frond 3 waving j rhythmically to and fro as the water is stirred by the -motion of the fins and fish-tail propeller of our submarine. Now we pass a voracious shark, which, pernapa^nistaking tis for a luscious whale, is apparently meditating Em attack, until driven, off by a flash from the sea.rch-liglit ; now an enorznous giant octopus, which threatens to enfold us iw its great slimy tentacles; and now varied other denizens of the deep which gather round us, un.wieldly sun fish, great hideous rays, and sundry other ungainly monsters. Ha.ppily, liowever, that terror of the submarine explorer, the dreaded and savage scourge of the lower cleptks, — th.c sea. serpent, does not obtrude his grisly and repulsive presence. At length we descry, reflected on the periscope screen, a fine old Spanish galleon resting on the rocks. In a few moments the radium engine is stopped, and we are moored alongside the great ship. And even now, after moxo than three centuries of immersion in v those placid, stormless depths, she is a. goodly sight; the niasaive timber of her bulwarks, n*«rly 3ft thick, still sound, though the spars andl rigging have mostly disappeared, and the upreared loop-holed castles at her bows and stern still intact; while numerous circular apsortures i in her hull indicate where the cannon shots J fired from Drake's or Frobisher's frigates had struck and eunk her. The galleon is immediately boarded by gome of us in diving dress, who. clambering up her sidtes, soon are busy in tlie midst of contorted skeletons, rusted weapons, and pile 3of untold wealth ; golden doubloanis and inoodo-re3, bars and ingots of the same, precious stones ; with innumerable jewelled ornaments, douV'o.3 seized from the vanquished Inoas, whoso -s-ealth so lavishly enriched their victorious and predatory Spanish conquerors. And' having loaded our vessel with as Keavy a load of the treasure as we dare, we expel the water ballast, ope>n auaEher cylinder of liquid air, and rapidly rise to the surface, well reipaid for our adventure. But, having taken this slight excursion into the realms of romance, let us return to the realities of life and remember tha* a time will coma when the sea shall give up her dead, and *J1 those who in all *iru« have gone down -to •their watery sepulchre, together with the whole race of man, will stand before the Great Whito Thron* to be judged according to their works. Happy they, 'liien, whose misdeeds have been, purged from, the record in virtue of the expiation made for them by the 'Saviour of the word.

Sonic evilly-disposed person in Auckland recently deposited a dead oat in a tank Qf drinking water at tfco residence of Mr C. M 'Master, councillor of the Borough of Grey Lynn. The word "deposited" is used, as the cat could not have fallen into the tank during its nocturnal rambles, because there was a lid which had to be lifted to enable the- body to bs placed in the water. Under the circumstances, Mr M'Master has offered a reward of £50 fox the discovery of W» culprit.