The Shasta courier., 1864-05-14
Curiosities of the Ocean Bottom.

Mr.. Green, the famous diver, tells singu-
lar stories of his adventures, when making
search in the deep waters the ocean. He
gives new sketches of what he saw at the
" Silver Banks near IIayti -
: The banks of the coral on which my div
lngs were made, are about forty miles in
length and from ten to twenty in breadth.
On this bank of coral is presented to the div
er one of the most beautiful and sublime
seenesihe eye ever beheld. The water var
les from ten TO one hundred feet in depth.
and is so clear that the driver can see from
two to three hundred feet when he is submerc-
ed, with but little distraction to the aht.
The bottom of the ocean. in many places, is
as smooth as a marble floor: in 9th ers II
studded with coral columns. from ten 10 one
hundred feet in height. and from one to
eighty feet in diameter. The tops of those
more lofty support a myriad of pyramidal
pendants. each forming myriad more: Civ
ing reality to the imaginary abode of some
water nymph. In other places the pendants
form arch to arch and as the diver stands
on the bottom Of the ocean, and gazes through
these in the deep winding avenue, he finds
that they fiji him with as sacred an awe, as
if he were in some old cathedral, which had
long been buried beneath old ocean wave
Here and there, the coral extends even to the
surface of the water. as if those loftier col
umns 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 the water had deposited the least earth.
They were all of a faint hue, owing to the
pale light they received, although of every
shade, and entirely different from plants |
am familiar with, that vegetate upon dry
land. One in particular attracted my atten.
ton; it resembled sea fan of immens size,
of variegated colors, and the most brilliant
hue. The fish WHICH inhabited those Silver
Banks found as different in kind as the
scenery was varied. They were of all forms
colars and sizes-from the symmetrical goby
to the globelike sun-fsh from those of the
dullest hue to the changeable dolphin; from
the spots of the leopard to the hues of a sun
beam from the harmless minnow to the yo-
racious shark. Some had heads like squir-
rels, others like cats and dogs one small
size resembed the bull terrier. Some dart
ed through the water like meteors, while
others could scarcely be seen to move. To
enumerate and explain all the various kinds
of fish beheld, while diving on these banks
would, were | enough of a naturalist so to do,
require more than my limits will allow, for
am convinced that most of the kinds of fish
which inhabit the tropical seas can be found
there The sunfish, sawfsh, star6sh, white
shark, blue or shovel-nose shark. were often
seen. There we're also fi>h which resembled
plants, and remained as hxed in their posi-.
ton as shrub: the only powers they pos
sessed to open and shut when in danger.
Some of them resembled the rose in full bloom
and were of all hues There were the ribbon
fish, from four to five inches to three feet in
length; their eyes are very large, and pro-
trude like those of the frog. Another fish
was spotted like the leopard, from three to
ten feet in length. They build their houses
like beavers, in which they spawn, and the
male or female watches the egg until it hatch
es. saw many specimens Of the green tur-
tie, some 5 feet long. which | should think
would weigh from 400 to 500 pounds"