Litchfield enquirer., 1865-10-12
THE OCEAN BOTTOM. :.

asE THE OCEAN BOTTOM. .
 Mir. Green, the famous diver, tells singula
 stories of his adventures. when making searcl nfthe deep waters ofthe ocean. He gives nev
 sketch es of what he saw at the Silver Bank,
 near Hayti: 1tg The banks of the coral OF which my diving.
 were made, are about forty miles in length
 and from ten to twenty miles in breadth: Or Ithis bank of coral is presented to the diver ont 1 of,the most beautiful and sublime scenes the eye ever behsld. The water varies from ten tc I enc hundred feet in depth, and 50 clear that
 the diver can sec from two three hundred feet
 when submerged, with but little Instructions
 to the sight
 sHThe bottom of the ocean, in many places, is ss smooth as marble floor in others 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 those more lofty support myriad of pyramidal pendants, each forming myriad more, giving the reality to the imaginary abode of some water nymph.- l In other places the pendants from arch to arch. | and as the diver stands on the bottom of the 1 ocean, and gazes through in the deep winding arenue, he finds that they fill him with as sa- cred an awe as if he were in some old cathe- dral, which had long been buried beneath old oceans wave Here and there the coral ex- tendsgeven to the surface of-th water, as if lofter colnmns5were towers belonging to these statelyEtemples 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, and entirely different from plants that am familiar with that vegitate upon dry land.- One in particular attracted my attention; it gated colors and the most brilliant hue. The fish which inhabit those Silver Banks found as different in kind as the scenery was varied They were of all forms, colors and sizes from the symmetrical goby to the globe like sunfsh; from those of the dullest hue to the changeable dolphin from the spots of the leopard to the hues of the sunbeam; from the harmless min- now to the voracious shark. ...., !! ..,
 Some had heads, like squirrels, others like cats and dogs, one of small size resembled the bull. terrier. Some darted 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 nat uralist to do so. require more than ny lip,iIs aliasa, e4-s am uUnv1nceu that most of the kinds which inhabit the tropical seas can be found there. The sunfsh, sawish, starfsh, white shark, blue or shovel nose shark. were seen. f-.--..
 There were also fish which resmbled plants and remained as fixed in their position as a shrub i; the only power they possessed was to open and shut when in danger Some of them resembled the rose when 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 protrude like those of frog. S- -~,s.s... .- ; o.s. 5 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 hatches. I saw many specimens of the green turtle, some five feet long, which I should think would weigh from 400 to 500 pounds