Page:Colymbia (1873).djvu/120

114 and doors in perfect efficiency, and to see that the enclosed water keeps at a uniform temperature. So well are their duties performed that while the enclosed water is always sweet and clear, its temperature never varies above a degree or two, and the flow through the lake is so gentle and so regular that it can scarcely be perceived, and it is hardly strong enough to bend the slender-stemmed seaweeds that adorn the submarine country and give such a charm to the open spaces between the houses.

As the mighty game which was to be attacked no longer existed in the inland sea, it had to be sought beyond the coral barrier, and great preparations had to be made for its pursuit.

On the occasion of my first shark-hunting expedition, to which Julian introduced me, our party consisted of ten young men in the prime of life and strength. We were accompanied by two regular huntsmen, one of whom was a tough old salt who had held the situation for upwards of twenty years, and was believed to be thoroughly conversant with all the ways and wiles of the great white shark, many hundreds of which he had assisted to kill and capture. The other was a younger man, who had assisted the chief huntsmen in many of his perilous expeditions, and who was considered to be scarcely inferior to his elder mate in skill and coolness.

As we should have to quit the region of air-tubes, we were all provided with a metal bottle of compressed oxygenated air, which was suspended by a strap round our necks, and provided with a tube to which we could readily apply our lips when we needed a breath of air.

Each of us carried in his hand a short wooden spear