The leader., 1897-01-20

Desessption es . wcnderfuI coustry u
der the Water.
There is q wonderful country under
the sea. q country of hills and plains, of
lofty mountains and deep valleys. OF
rocks and caves. Its widespreading
meadows are covered with-strange an
imal flowers that move themselves
about in search of living prey, and ifs
forests consist of branching corals and
sea weeds taller than the loftiest trees.
Tempests may rage fiercely overhead,
but q deep, unbroken silence reigns al
ways in this underworld, nor can the
widest hurricane that drives vessels TO
wreckage move the most delicate ten
drill of the sea plants in the depths be-
low. Fragile creatures that fall to
pieces almost at a touch spend their
lives here in quiet and security. The
ocean depths. which for mankind are
regions of breathlessness and death,
are for billions of animals the region of
life and health; the earth does not
maintain nearly so many living crea-
lures as those that swarm In countless
myriads beneath the waves of the
ocean. Here are great purple sea fans
and lovely sea lilies and sea ferns and
sea cucumbers and sea mice, and
sponges displaying bright colors that
are lost the moment they are taken
from the water; and here the rare and
beautiful corals are silently buildcd
into reefs and islands.
If IL ever be your good fortune to go
to Florida and visit the Keys at the
southern end Of the state you may see
coral plantation, alive and growing.
There is a famous lighthouse called
Cary's Fortnight off the coast there,
from which such a sight can be had.
Cary's Fortnight Is built in the open
sea, without a foot of land about II.
1t is an iron, framework of columns,
strengthened by network of braces
and girders, and the rooms in which
lives the keeper are about half way
up to the light, out of reach of the
waves, 40 or so feet above the water.
A balcony runs about these rooms,
and, as the lighthouse is built over one
of the most beautiful and extensive
fields of coral known on this or any
other coast, the sight presented on look
ing from this balcony into the ocean
is more wonderful than can be well
imagined by one who has not seen 1t.
The coral field spreads out around the
lighthouse as far as the eye can reach,
and 30 transparent is the water that
the ocean bottom can be seen as plainly
as garden lying beneath. The coral
field is largely made up of what are
called leaf corals, with large fiat
branches that grow one above another,
chasing each other singly and in COM
panies, darting about, winding in and
out the corals as II in a game of hide
and -go-seek, and hundreds of fish play
among their spreading branches.
Most of them are of very brilliant
colors, some of bright hue, others
partly blue and partly black, others
again black blended with yellow, and
still others of bright canary-yellow
beneath and rich purple above. Now
and then some large fish, shark. per-
haps, passes by, and all the small fry
scatter, hiding among the corals, and
are seen no more till their enemy is out
of sight.
Besides the leaf coral, there are many
others even more beautiful to be seen.
Some are in the shape of huge vases,
some are like great globes, others
branch out as do the horns OF the stag.
and there are more delicate branching
kinds, called finger corals, and great
numbers of sea fans. The sea fans form
the shrubbery of the sea garden; they
stand on the ocean bottom on a sort of
root, and, unlike the leaf and branch
ing corals, which are rigid and mo-
tionless, they rise lightly in the water
and wave in the gentle undercurrents
as if stirred by the wind. They are OF
many colors. and, mingled as they are
with kind of vegetable coral called
coraline, and with the bright red, pur-
pie or orange-colored sponges of the
Florida coast. you may well realize, on
looking at them, how surprisingly
beautiful are the flower gardens of the
sea.-Justin LIE Roche, in Popular Sci