Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-24

What a Reporter of the London Tele- graph Heard at the Fisheries Exhibi- tion.
 lFrom the London Talegraphl AS sat there watching them sweeping the sea floor and dusting the rocks, with the fig ures of the ocean-monsters looming up be- tween me and them, became aware that the great sea things were talking together. The ! white whale had the floor, and it spoke in 8 dull plaster-of-Paris voice. while ever and again the husky tones of narwhal and shark, sturgeon and sun-fsh, speaking as one who was stuffed with hay might speak, murmured subdued House of Lords" applause.
 I caught but little of what was said. So many trout were matching in the pounds close by that it was difncult to follow the speaker. But the drift of the bulky one's utterances was unmistakable. It was grum- bling consumedly. Who ever had heard of such nonsense as studying the manners and customs of whales and sharks on dry land Why was not the exhibition held of the Dog ger Banks in thirty fathoms of good sea wa ter? There was the place to see things as they really were. The right way to study the manners and customs of shark (and the white whale was quite sure the honorable gentleman from the South Seas would agree with him) was for the.public to get into wa ter out of their depth, for he had been in formed that sharks always turned over on their backs before helping themselves to
 
 the opportunity of seeing both sides of the shark. At present they could only see one side, as the late Frank Buckland had cement ed the other down to the blocks they lay on. Or how could anyone arrive at an intelligent appreciation of his friend the sting-ray un- less they met him at home; and what was the distinction between an electric eel and any other, if the former had no opportunity of Illustrating the difference If the British public is so interested in us and our ways, why don't they come down and see us in our daily lives, let their children play with live Holsters in the cracks of the rocks, tickle the torpedo fish, and play bo-peep with an octo- pus They would learn more in one after noon intelligently devoted to romping with spider crab than in whole life spent out of water. At least. so the white whale thought and all the other sea-things agreed with him.
 Some of his remarks struck ne as being both ingenious and just ''The human be- ings, said he, swho have organized this ex- hibition live on dry land, on the uppermost crust of it. Even superfcially measured, the extent of their habitation is far smaller than our own, while in depth there is not any possible comparison. Andyet they have arranged this exhibition solely according to their own divisions of the surface of the dry land, instead of according to, the divisions of the sea. There appears to me in this ar engagement an assumption of superiority that
 
 Gupposing mites were to hold an exhibition, and to apportion of the world according to the different varieties of cheesesl Should we not laugh at them? ? Now, it happens that human beings cannot live under water. In- deed, it has come under my own experience that if they remain beneath the surface even for very incensiderable time, they die from choking. (Some white bait began snickeriag at this, and were suppressed And the re- suit is, continued the speaker. that. be- cause they cannot live under water them selves, they look at everything from dry land point of view. Our marine industries, such as sinking vessels, ramming them, the destruction of nets which gives occupa- tion to such vast numbers among us, the con- sumption of fish-hooks and angling-gear gen. erally, and so forth, ars surveyed from a purely arbitrary terrestial standpoint. Our marine mysteries again-what can these land | folks know of them? They are actually dis ! cussing among themselves whether our life | is, or is not silent, menotonous and joyless T I They are disputing, believe me, as to whether 1 there is such g thing as the sea serpent or a l cutie fish big enough to seize and swamp a ] brig under full saill Now. if these human beings are sincere in their desire for | why do they not let us, the inhabitants of the sea, organize g fisheries | exhibition, and, in 2 proper spirit of justice, consent to see things for once from the sea