Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-10-10

scientific volumes. entitled the Book
Of Oceanography." But, after all.
though some OF the oceans mysteries
have been investigated. the most of
those mysteries are as yet unraveled.
They win always remain as mysteries
until suitable apparatus has been in
vented. ~ means of which divers can
descend and pass at leisure through
the paths Of the sea now untrodden by
the foot of man. In all probability that
time will never come before the day
when the seas have been licked up
by the long red tongues Of the flames
which shall wrap themselves about
this old earth; when the archangel
shall stand with one foot upon the And
and the othex foot upon the sea and
swear that time shall be no longer.
Oh. the mysteries of the sea! Who
has ever been able to describe them2
1t was my privilege, some weeks ago,
to see some of the wonders of the
mighty deep. l took ship and went to
the famous Catalina islands, off the
southern coast Of California. l went
there for the fishing. / had heard
away back in the east of the wonderful
sea sport at that place. l heard it was
no unusual sight TO see there three and
four. or five Jewish brought in,
each weighing upward of 300 pounds;
that some fish had been caught there
weighing over 500 pounds. These fish
ermen had told me that there swan
the tuna, the gamest fish of all the
seas. There are the yellowtails and
the barracudas and the rock bass and
the whitefish, and scores of other fish.
But though l saw fish caught at Cata-
lima weighing $50 pounds, the most
marvellous sight by far that l ever
witnessed there was what was revealed
TO me in the depths of the sea by the
glass bottomed boats.
Survival of Fittest.
A strong muscled oarsman, who
knew every nook and corner of that
coast, rowed us out. The center of the
boat had no keel, but, instead, a glass
flooring. AS we rowed on we could see
down and down, fifty, sixty, seventy
and eighty feet Here were the rocks,
piled up in incongruous forms, like
unto the Bad Lands of the Dakotas
There were walls of rocks, dismantled
fortresses in rocks, crumbling cathe-
drals in rocks, shattered masonry in
rocks whole fallen Jerichos in rocks;
pyramids and palisades were in rocks.
Rocks in column, rocks aslant, i'm
mensities and infnitfes Of rock In
yonder cavern a fish, hermitlike, was
dwelling. We could see his head as he
silently kept vigil, watching the other
fish swim by. Now darted past hun
dreds of thousands Of sardines, chased
by larger fish. In those depths, as on
the land, the survival of the fittest".
is the law of life-the big fish eat the
smaller fish.
Now we seem to be pushing our way
into the marine farmlands. Whole
gardens of vegetables seem to be plant
ed upon the rocks. Many Of those
forms of vegetable life are named after
the table foods we grow in our country
gardens. There are the waving wheat
fields and silken bearded corn just
ready for the husking and the meadow
lands green and red with clover tops.
Now we seem to be entering the Indian
and African jungles. The seaweeds
are matted and snarled together. They
seem to take upon themselves all col
orings. Here are the long, clinging
vines, there the broad leaves and the
narrow leaves, the short leaves and
the long leaves. There are leaves in
the mass and here leaves with rents in
their curtains, through which we can
see the glistening fin of a goldfish, red
as gold-aye, red as blood. Fish, like
unto which in color l never saw, be-
cause these fish are never caught with
the hook; these goldfish are vegeta-
rians. Now we seem to be wandering
among the Calaveras groves of the sea.
These weeds lift themselves like
mighty oaks. With their outspreading
branches they seem to be Offering sure
anchorages for birds nests, only for
the fact that no feathered orchestras
! can dwell in the depths of the seas.
| Now the bare rocks appear again and
seem to be like unto mighty mountains
in their impressiveness, crying: Come.
| Ildl, COLlc, ultu ldhS my BOlu. come
and take my silver! My bones are cop
! per, my heart is iron; come and take
my wealth. As we wandered on.
peering into this strange and unknown
world, say to myself: There are the
revealed mysteries of the sea seventy
| feet deep. What must be the mys-
teries of the sea hundreds Of feet deep,
miles deep, unfathomably deep? What
must be the mysteries of the sea when
the Jewish, weighing One-half thou
sand pounds, rubs up his side against
the whale, weighing thousands upon
thousands of pounds? Yes, the sea is
a mystery, great unfathomable mys-
terry.
! God Is a Mystery.
What the mysterious sea was to the
lonely exile looking off upon the Med
iterranean God always has been and
always will be to us on earth. He is
a mystery We know that he created