light as to show all the colors of the rainbow, and hence its name.
When bottled in alcohol for preservation, these fish lose their native
colors. This unique display is enhanced in beauty by the clearness of
these waters, and the reflected lights from the snow-white sandy bottom,
which is dotted here and there by delicate shells of various shapes and
colors. One longs to descend among these coral bowers,--these mermaid
gardens,--and pluck a bouquet of the submarine flora in its purple,
yellow, and scarlet freshness.

The surface life of these clear waters is also extremely interesting.
Here the floating jelly-fish, called from its phosphorescence the
glow-worm of the sea, is observed in great variety, sheltering little
colonies of young fishes, which rush forth for a moment to capture some
passing mite, and as quickly return again to their cover. If we take up
a handful of the floating gulf-weed, we find within the pale yellow
leaves and berries, tiny pipe-fish, seahorses, and specimens of the
little nest-building fishes. Thus this curious weed forms a home for
parasites, crabs, and shell-fishes, being itself a sort of mistletoe of
the ocean. The young of the mackerel and the herring glide rapidly about
in shoals, just below the surface, near the shore, like myriad pieces of
silver. Verily there would seem to be more of animal life below than
above the surface of the waters, which is not an unreasonable conclusion
when it is remembered that the whole surface of the globe is supposed to
have an area of about two hundred million square miles, and that of
these only about fifty millions are composed of dry land.

Much of the drinking-water, and certainly the best in use at Nassau, as
well as on some of the neighboring islands, is procured in a remarkable
manner from the sea. Not far from shore, on the coral reefs, there are
never-failing fresh-water springs, bubbling up from the bottom through
the salt water with such force as to clearly indicate their locality.
Over these ocean springs the people place sunken barrels filled with
sand, one above another, the bottoms and tops being first removed. The
fresh water is thus conducted to the surface through the column of sand,
which acts as a filter, the water being sweet and palatable, as well as
remarkable for its crystal clearness. So on the arid shores of the
Persian Gulf, where rain seldom falls, and where there are no rills to
refresh the parched soil, fresh water is obta