Weekly Trinity journal., 1868-04-25
The Ocean Bottom,

Mr.. Green, the famous diver, tells singular
stories of his adventures when making search in
the deep waters of the ocean. He gives some
sketches of what he saw on the Silver Banks
near Hayti:
The banks of coral on which my divngs were
MADE are about forty miles in length, and from
ten to twenty in breadth. On this bank of coral
Is presented to the diver one of the most beauti-
1ul and sublime scenes the eye has ever beheld.
Inc water varies from ten to one hundred feet
In depth, and SO clear that the divers can see
from two to three hundred feet when submerged,
with but little obstruction to the sight.
The bottom in many places, is as smooth as
marble floor; in others it is studded with coral
columns, from one to eighty feet in diameter.
The tops OF the more lofty support myraid of
pyramidal pendants, each forming a myriad
more, giving reality to the imaginary abode of
some water-nymph. In other places the pend
ants form arch after arch, and, the diver
stands on the bottom of the ocean and gazes
through the deep winding avenues, he finds that
they fill him with as sacred awe as if he were
in some old cathedral which had long been
buried beneath old oceans wave. Here and
there the coral extends to the surface of the
water, as if the loftier columns were a tower be-
longing to those stately temples that are now in
ruins.
There were countless varieties of diminutive
trees, shrubs, and plants in every crevice of the
coras where water had deposited the earth.
They were all of faint hue, owing to the pale
Light they had received, although of every shade
and entirely different from plants that am ia
miliar WITH that vegetate upon the land. One
in particular attracted my attention. 1t resem-
bled a fan of immense size, of variegated colors,
and the most brilliant hue
The fish which inha5it the Silver Banks
found as different in kind as the scenery was
varied They were of all forms, colors and
slzes-from the symmetrical goby to the globe
like sunfsh from the duest hue to the change
able 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 like cats and dogs,
and some of small size resembled the bull-ter-
rIer. Some darted through the waters like me-
teors, While others could scarcely be seen to
move. To enumerate and explain all the vari-
Gus kinds of fish | beheld while diving on these
banks would, were l enough of a naturalist so
to do, require more than my limits allow, for
am convinced that most of the kinds of fish that
inhabit the tropical seas can be found there
The sunfsh, starfsh, white shark and blue
shovel-nose shark were seen. There were also,
hsh which resembled plants, and remained as
hXed IN their position q shrub; the only
power they possessed was to open and shut when
IN danger. Some of them 1esembled the rose
when in full bloom, and were of hues There
were the ribbon fish from four to FIVE inches to
three feet in length their eyes are very large
like those of frog. Another fish is spotted like
a 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 1t matches. saw many specimens of the
green turtle, some FIVE feet long, which should
think, would weigh from 400 to 500 pounds.