Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1866-12-15
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Bottom of the Ocean.

Mr. Green, the famous diver, tells singular
stories of his adventures, when making
search in the deep water of the ocean. He
gives some sketches of what he saw ON the
Silver Banks near Hayti:
The Banks of coral on which my divings
were made, are about fifty miles in length,
and from ten to twenty in breadth. On this
bank OF coral is presented tn the diver one
of the most beautiful and sublime scenes
the eye ever beheld. The water varies from
ten to one hundred feet in depth, and is so
clear that the diver can see columns from
two to three bundled feet in height and
from one to eighty feet in diameter The
top of these more lofty support a myriad
more, giving reality to the abode of some
water rymph. In other places the pendants
from arch over arch, and as the diver stands
on The bottom of the ocean and gazes
through these into the deep winding ave-
nues, he feels that they fill him with as
sacred an awe as if he were in some old
cathedral which had long been buried be-
meath ''old oceans wave" Here and there,
the coral extends even to the surface of the
water, as if those loiticr columns were tow
ers belonging to those stately temples now
in ruins.
There were countless varieties of diminu-
tive trees, shrubs and plants in every crevce
of the corals where the water had deposited
the least earth. They were all of faint
hue, owing to the pale light they receive
although of every shade, and entirely differ
ent from plants | am familiar with that
vegctate upon dry land. One in particular
attracted my attention /; it resembled sea
fan of immense size of variegated colors
and of the most brilliant hue.
The fish which inhabit these silver banks
l found as different in kind as the scenery
is varied. They Were of all forms, color.
and sizes-from the symmetrical goby tc
the globe-ike sun6sh; from those of the
dullest hue to the changeabie dolphin from
the spots of the leopard to the hues of the
sunbeam from the harmless minnow to tht
voracious shark. Some had heads lik,
squirrels; Others like cats and dogs one o.
small size resembed bull terrior Som,
darted through water like meteors, Will,
| Others could scarcely ae seen move.
| To enumerate and explain the various
kinds OF fish beheld while diving on thes,
banks would, were enough of a naturalis
to do so, require more space than my Limits
will allow, for am convinced that mos
kinds of fish inhabit the tropical seas car
be found there. The suntish, starfsh, whit,
shark, ground shark, blue or shovel nos,
shark were often seen. There were alst
fish which resembled plants. and remained
as fixed in their position as shrub; tn,
only power they possess was to open ant
shut when in danger. Some of them re
semble the rose in full bloom and were o.
all hues; there were ribbon fish from fou
and five inches TO three feet in height
Their eyes are very large and protrude like
those of the frog. Another fish was spotted
like the leopard, from three to ten feet long
They build their houses like the beaver, il
which they spawn. and the male or femal
watches the ova till it matches. Isaw man.
specimens of the green turtle some 6ve fee
long, which l should think would weigl
from four to five hundred pounds.