XXI. A GOODLY COMPANY OF CRABS 220 XXII. THE WORLD OF FISHES 230 XXIII. SOME ODDITIES OF FISH-LIFE 241 XXIV. BEHEMOTHS OF THE OCEAN 252 XXV. “DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS” 261 XXVI. AN EMPIRE: OCEAN-WIDE 276 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The burst of the South-west Monsoon against the Colombo Breakwater _Frontispiece_ Bore of the Tsien Tang Kiang _Facing page_ 34 An Iceberg, showing the section under water ” 86 Diatom Cases ” 154 Part of Diatom Case ” 156 Deep-sea Fishes ” 182 Beam-trawl and Tow-net employed in deep-sea research ” 188 A Deep-sea Crab ” 220 A Blue Whale ” 254 THE MIGHTY DEEP CHAPTER I. “THE SEA! THE OPEN SEA!” “How cheery are the mariners, Those lovers of the sea, Their hearts are like its yesty waves, As bounding and as free.”--P. BENJAMEN. “Therefore also do men entrust their lives to a little piece of wood.” _Wisd. of Sol._ xiv. 5. Once upon a time, over two thousand years ago, our ancestors lived in a country smaller than ours, to the north-east. They had not yet taken possession of two Isles, which in the then distant future were to become the Headquarters of a world-wide Empire. Already one characteristic of the race was prominent; they delighted in the Sea. Within their small limits of power they ranged the Ocean, they wrestled with its fury, they subdued it to their will, they rejoiced in its strength, they found often their graves beneath its surface. The English then, as now, were Ocean-folk. May it not be that we in modern days love the sea, and flock to its shores, and carry our Flag to its furthest bounds, because our forefathers, the Norsemen, the Angles, the ancient Vikings, found their joy in it? Their march, like ours, was on the mountain-wave; their Home, like ours, was on the deep. Probably with them, as with us, it was not always an unchastened joy. Even a hardy Viking might know the unpleasant consequences of Ocean’s rougher moods. But no such discomforts drove him to stay ashore. Had our forefathers been made of feebler stuff, had they been easily checked in their enterprises, centuries of history must have been changed. The development of English nature would have followed other lines.