FAIRYLAND UNDER WATER

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 91, 20 April 1915, Page 6

F AIRYLAND UNDER WATER

DIVER -HI- THE TROPICS. Mr Fred -Mwlson, whose services as <liver were availed of recently by the Fiji police in connection with the search for the bodies of the two -Chinamen who wave murdered at Kadavu, has returned to Suva. Mr Midson has dived in the tropics north of Australia, and generally has had a good deal of experience, but this is the first time he has visited a coral reef on the sea-lied in Fiji.

"It is a wonderful sight," said Mr Midson. "I never' saw anything like •it before in my life. There were coral itrees, six or seven feet high, all round me, coral trees of every shape, but all washed white by the action of the tide, I. was in 18 fathoms of water, but owing to the density of the coral forest it was almost impossible to move about. It was like trying to <walk over ragged hillocks covered with scrub,. The fish were slipping in and out of these coral growths in enormous numbers, and were not a bit alarmed 'at my presence. They were of every conceivable color and shape. One was like a box, with a horizontal tail. The Fijiansj 1 think, call it the gugu. There were enormous eels, too. One, 1 don't know whether- it was the proverbial sea-snake or not, was seven or , eight feet long, and 'had a neck like a frilled lizard. It was about six inches through, and black in color with White underneath. There was a finlike row right along the back, and similar fins were noticeable underneath the tail. The head was like an eel's head with a tremendous big mouth. In the mouth were four great fangs, two in the top and two in the bottom, overlapping. The Fijians are very. 'frightened of it, although it made no attempt to attack me, but went on its way unconcernedly, strange to say, •I never saw a shark. The whole experience was a sight '1 would not have missed for anything. It was like a glimpse of fairyland."