The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-03-26
HIS SEA GEAR
BILL NYE OVERLOOKS A SEA GARDEN
NEAR NASSAU.
And Sees Strange Growths and Fishes
There-He Is Spoken to by Coarse Col
ored Person-"The Wreck of the Julie
Plante."
Copyright, 1895, by Edgar W. Nye.l

fiAnte.
| Copyright, 1895, by Edgar ". Nye.l
One of the most charming trips about
Nassau or the Bahamas is sail over
the sea gardens, where all below you
| there is a wilderness Of coral and sub
marine growth three TO ten fathoms, but
with water glass perfectly visible. 1t
/ is perfect marvel of rainbow coloring,
| of animal, vegetable and mineral growth.
You sail out few miles from Nassau
and then anchor your catboat, get into
a glass bottom rowboat and slowly drift
in delighted Incidence over the vast
| marine conservatory, while in and out
among the coral caves the beautiful an
gel fish, the humming bird fish or the
rainbow fish softly floats like healthy
dream.
Sixteen shillings will pay for the trip,
and you may take the day for it if you
want to do so.
We sailed over to Hog island, went
ashore and gathered all the oranges,
custard apples, cocoanuts, sapodlllas,
ETC., that we could eat during the day;
then we sailed on for the sea gardens,
where we anchored and took to the
glass bottom boat.
We had a colored diver and when
ever we saw bouquet growing on the
bottom Of the sea that pleased Us he
would 60 down and pluck it for US SO
that we would not get our feet wet.
You cannot, gentle reader, imagine how
h.a ho ole
of our boat, strolling about in the vastly
deep gathering sea fans and all sorts of
things for us.
Once he got hold Of sea fan nearly
q yard in diameter and soft heliotrope
in color, but it was grown to the bot
tom of the ocean so firmly that. though
he braced himself and lifted till be was
black in the face, he could not get it.
He moved the huge coral bowlder on
which it grew, but looking up at us
shook his head, and / motiOned for him
to leave it, for / feared that he might
mar the bottom of the sea and let the
water out mayhap.
After half hour thought l would
note the bouquet and fragrance of our
ocean plants l shall always regret it.
The sea fan after half hour in the air
smells like-everything! 1t smells like
Lazarus when his sister objected to the
opening of his tomb.
Ii you pluck the fauna of the sea, do
not carry it in your trunk, for You will
be stopped at quarantine and subjected
to annoying delays.
One Of the queer sights here in the
tropics is the Jewish. l do not know
why he is called the Jewish. No one
seems to know unless it be that wher-
ever You find him you will note that he
seems to own that block and the adjoin-
ing one also.
He attains a weight of 800 pounds
sometimes and is good for food. He
does not rise to the fly, however, and is
not game fish. In fact, when the fish
erman wants him, he goes down and
gently puts the hook in his mouth while
the partner in the boat hauls away. 1t
is very exciting. 1t is about as sports
manlike as it is to move a county seat
by putting bent pin under the coun-
ty when it sits down.
Sharks ara very plentiful all the way
from here up to Long Branch and even
to Nantucket The leopard shark is
mean, low coyote of the sea and will
eat little child that never did a wrong
to any one quicker than he will a love-
" old lady with black hose. The leop-
ard shark has low, retreating fore
head, like that of the Goldfish ball, and
will often sit up till a late hour of the
night In order TO eat Welsh rarebit
from Swansea The shark swims with
great Incidence until he hears the gong
for dinner, and then the eye cannot fol-
low his motions He darts like streak
of delayed lightning that is trying to
make up time
Sometimes a leopard shark will
spring full length into the air and land
on the deck Of low sailboat. Our pilot
-