THE OCEAN BOTTOM.

Southland Times, Issue 958, 27 May 1868, Page 2

THE OCEAN BOTTOM.

(From the Panama ' Star and Herald') Mr Green, the famous diver, tells singular stories of his adventures when making search in the deep waters of the ocean. He gave some new sketches of what he saw at the " Silver Bank," near Hayti : — " The banks of coral on which my, ..diving were made ai f e about forty imwes in .length ..^ On this bank of coral is {presented ■ t pj the diver one of the most Ibeautifnl and sublime scenes the eye ever beheld; The water varies from ten to one hundred feet in depth and so clear that the diver can see from two to three hundred feet when submerged, with but little obstruction to the sight. The bottom of the ocean in many places is as smooth as a marble floor ; in others it is studded with coral columns, from ten to one hundred feet in height, and from one to eighty feet in diameter. The tops of those more loffcy support a myriad of pyramidal pendants, each forming a myriad more, giving reality to the imaginary v abode of some water nymph. In other places the pendants form arch after arch, and if the diver stands on the bottom of the ocean, and gazes through in the deep winding avenues, he finds that they fill him with as sacred an awe as if lie were in some old cathedral which had long been buried beneath old ocean's wave. Here and there the coral extends to the surface of the water, as if the loftier columns were towers belonging to those stately temples that are now in ruins. There were countless varieties 01 diminutive trees, shrubs, aad plants, in every crevice of the corals where water had deposited the earth. They were all of a faint hue, owing to the pale light they received, although of every shade, and entirely different from plants that I am familiar with that vegetate upon dry Land. One in particular attracted my attention ; it resembled a sea fan of immense size, of variegated colors, and the most brilliant hue, The fish which inhabit these ' Silver Banks' I found as Afferent in kind as the scenery was varied, rhey were of all forms, colors, and sizes — £rjbm >the insignificant goby to the $Lobe like sunfish ; from the dullest hue to the changeable .dolphin ; from the jpjpts of the leopard to the hues of the sunbeam ; from the harmless minnow to the voracious shark. Some had heads Ike squirrels, others like cats and dogs, some of small size resembled the bull ;errier. Some darted through the water ike meteors, while others could scarcely je seen to move. To enumerate and ex)lain all the various kinds of fish I beheld vhile driving on these banks would, were [ enough of a naturalist so to do, require nore than my limits allow, for I am conduced that most of the kinds of fish

which inhabit the tropical seas oan be found there. The sun-fish, star-fish, white shark and shovel-nose shark, were often seen. There were also fish wliich resembled plants, and remained as fixed in their position as a shrub ; the only power they possessed was to open and shut when in danger. Some of them resembled the rose when in fall 'bloom,* and were of all hues. There were the ribbon fish, from four or five inches to three feet in length ; their eyes were very .arge, and protruded like those of a frog. Another fish is spotted like a leopard, and 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 it hatches. I saw many specimens of green turtle, some five feet long, which I should think would weigh from 400 to 500 pounds."