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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 1907)
. ;.u ( -Ct ( Jr NTO the depths of the mys terious s e a; down beneath the turbulent waves where on ships trem ble in fear of Neptune's an ger; down to the placid and serene abyss where the denizens of the deep live in a civ ilization of their own, weird, wonderful, ro mantic -depths undisturbed by winds and storms, where cities are reared more re markable than those of men, and where flowers bloom perennially, W ould you not like to take a trip to the bottom of the seat Would you not enjoy the mountain scenery of the ocean depths, and would you not like to wander amid the cities of the mollusks and sea monsters, or fluck flowers in i land where the sun but dimly or never shines f Until recently the mysteries of the 'deep were as unknown to man as the vales of the moon or the canals of Mars. But now, thanks to modern dicing apparatus and modern waterproof cameras, we are able to visit the land of the devilfish, the shark and the whale j we can pay these ' strange creatures a friendly visit and learn their social customs. Formerly much that we read of the rt sea was surmise, or the hazy imaginings of fction. Now we can learn of the sea as it is a veritable Aladdin s land of color, beauty, romance and tragedy. What dreadful noli of waters tn mie ears, What ugly aight of death within mine eye Methougrht I saw a thousand fearful wrecks, Ten thousand men that fiahea gnawed upon, Wedgrea of gold, great anchora. heaps of pearl, Inestimable atonea, unvalued jewefa, All scattered on the bottom of the aea. , f . Shakespeare. WE STEP from the gunwale of the boat on our imaginary journey and of a sudden begin to sink. What thrills course through us, what a J:asping struggle for breath, what a spasm of right ! ",7e clutch wildly, madly, as we go speed ily and swiftly down, the water folding us in its hungrily affectionate embrace. But in a moment we have recovered our selves, and we thrill with the novelty of the journey, and look eagerly abou for new ex-. periences. But what is this this terrible, ominous monster that looms before us! It is gigantic, a thing of iron, writhed and contorted into a. hideous shape. There are battered iron, heaps of decaying , wood, long jagged masts the spectral arms of a lost ship and rotting" sails and ropes floating lightly like cerements about something dead. We have gone into the sea to seek for ro mance to look for the living flower gardens of the deep. But on our journey we are first con fronted by tragedy. We feel the unescapable fate of the world upon us- the co-existence of tragedy with ro mance, of hideousnesa with beauty, of evil with good. Even at the bottom of the aea f Merciless and implacable is the sea a god whom men have failed to placate, a master whom none can subdue. Do we not feel a sense -f Neptune s majesty, do we not shudder when we realize how completely we are in his power! For look yonder, at the faces gazing at you, mutely telling you of the tragedies of the sea. . White faces, peering spectrally from sea mosses and dark recess, faces with hollow yet, oh! what eloquent eyes; grim faceB that seem to mile, never inore fearing ahipwreck nor storm. There afe treasures, too, in the sea buried : treasures. gold inexhaustible and gemstbeyond Jirice. But" Lord Neptune guards them welL Iere are the mausoleums of men's ambitions, the ghosts of perishe4 hopes and desires. Terchance is it hot . possible I that in the hidden vales of the deep wander the spirits of those ho perished thus : . that . the men -who rofihi'or treasure, is foreign-chorea find it - THE OREGON ' SUNDAY- JOURNAL' PORTLAND 'SUNDAY ' .... if r 0 'J 5fr a here, where no man can rob them of their store; that the seamen who set out with high hearts for battle on the deep now seek peace in the calm gardens of a buried Avalon ; that the men and women who fled from persecution in their native lands here find security and rest rest absolute, complete and satisfying in the soul stupors of the Lethe-drink of the sea-maidens! How dark it is, and how the waters pross about us t In walking in the sea one must take measured steps, he must tread slowly, for often the ocean takes you in its arms and carries you along against your will. By means of the ichthyander, a new diving device, one can increase or decrease his weight, so he can walk or float ut wjlL Now we are in a garden, and the shifting and reflected light, palpitant with blue and green, shows us a magical garden the gardens of the sea. In, this magic clime the flowers riot with color, and they lyve. They move with a lan guorous motion, like lilies in a summer breeze. Their petals quiver like the white fingers of a woman, and their golden and crimson eyes blink and wink lazily and sleepily. It is a flower garden of dreams. Mark the sea anemones. Fragile and beautiful, yet ablaze with purples and red and gold, and softly flush ing with paler tints, like the cheeks of a maiden. A RIOT OP BLOSSOMING BEAUTY Of all shapes and colors and sizes, they seem crazy in their blossoming beauty, "une is dazzled by the chromatic freaks, the wildly bi zarre and fantastio combinations of hue. There are forests here, too, where fish lire in shaded recesses, and strange monsters hide their hideous faces. xu iuo uuiKUk ui great trees me BiKae nse. The boughs are feathery and transparent, like To the height of great trees the algae rise. traceries of ice and snow. Iluge fan-shaped leaves spread above us, ablaze with rainbow colors. Sharp sword-like leaves warn ..3, yet crumble as we presB the jellied masses. The trees, like a phantasm, melt at the ruthless touch of human hands. At the bottom of the sea objects appear greatly magnified. As we approach they dimin ish in size. There are strange effects and delu sions in color. As the sunlight filters down to us the light Is unequally absorbed by the green and blue water, and red rays are extinguished before the blue. Thus the white rock before us appears of a strangely blue color, and the monster red fish .seems jet black. But our journey is iiot likely to be an un interrupted one, for there are rocks t d hills and precipices in the sea. By regulating one's diving apparatus he can easily rise over the " ' ' 1 ' ' ' in 1 11-nw jpfnim 1 yn 1 -i 1 --in 11 iwii 1 1 m tttii 111 win m 1 ' ' T" --..Wit' .vti O l) (5 ft 0 0 13 ft r f j xin li i: II lll MORNIfcSAUGUST : 25.-J907 5. :.?) fit aj i -s K i ' WAX X1 Jl - --- ' 1 1 1 "I'' 1 " 1 'iHf1iin-iHi nnwi nil. Il ' rocks and .float over the black abyssea which' yawn at one s leet. . There are great granite bouldera oovered with calcareoua substance. Others are green, with wondrous traceries of vines and flowers. Here are sea weeds incruated ' with lime, and look like vegetation carved of marble. The accompanying piotures were taken in the ocean at night A special camera fortified against the pressure of the water was uaod. A pvrotechnio light was burned in a bell-shaped glass filled with compressed oxygen. To wander in the sea with the camera and light is a most interesting trip. One can see )haaea of life invisible in the dulL ordinary ight of day. All is eilent Do you ask if there is life! In the flash of light, behold I The sea teems with life. It is pregnant with energy. The forest are rife with wild and grotesque monsters, the flower gardens peopled by strange, unearthly looking creatures. The long stretch bf muddy bottom is cov ered with mollusks, and there, here, everywhere you can see , the awful devilfishes immortalized by Victor Hugo. Against the black background of a rock the devilfish waves its long white arms. Its ovoid body is reddish, yet scintillant with silver. In ' the center of the eight long wriggling arm. is a mouth, with the beak of a parrot and two ter rible eyes that burn like living coal. Should one attack a devilfish, it will fling it arm against .the rock and by -its suckers hold tight. Its eyes will flash red anger, it arms will become brown spotted, and it will ex tide a brown fluid, which colors the water. Be 'fore letting go of the rock it will let you wrench its body to piece. In the sea are herbivorous animals, flesh .eating animal and scavenger. Here, beneath the undergrowth, you will find sea urchins violet-colored, curious little creatures. These gas teropoda, with tall spiral sheila on their backa, crawl slowly around. Here, again, nimble and alert, hermit crab jump about like monkey in the weeds, frisking and playing blithesomory. SENTINELS GUARD FANTASTIC GROTTOS In the rocks are innumerable grottos, and at the doors are terrifying sentinels sea spiders, with long, wicked, dangling legs, armed with pincers. Their bodies are covered with spines, I and they look hungrily for prey. On t!ie stones lie cuttlefish, ogres waiting iot. prey. Supposing an innocent crab should "wander by, out dart two long rope-like arm and "'-seize the wayfarer; despite it struggles, it i carried to the hawk-like mouth of the captor and is torn fiercely to shreds. r, ' There are clams and ; quIv lobsters that spend their time smoothing and cleaning their snells. Others, again, are simply covered with parasites. Perhaps you will pass a meadow of low lying greens. Here, like sheep, are thousand of mollusks feeding. In the deeper thicket you may witness a battle royal between two of the i savage flesh-eating fishes. They will fight until one perishes. . f Perhaps you think that fish never sleep. On : your journey you may enter a dark and quiet glade, and on the sand you will see soorarof fishes lying flat on their baeksv; Np, they are : not dead, but merely sleeping,, . Ho, there ! It is time to risef Dizzily wftir scale the watery path, and in a ' moment we ' breathe, fresh air and the sunlight dazzles our eves. f r ur-. 7 'V.rfJ' 1 i, I r' (V I
