compelled them to make the requisite alterations, they took much credit to themselves for their zeal in the cause of the public health and happiness, and rewarded their virtue and philanthropy by charging somewhat more per thousand cubic feet for their purer air.
I expressed my surprise that the Government did not take the air-supply into its own hands, and was told that it had often threatened to do so, but was frustrated by the influences opposed by the monopolist companies, who, though always fighting among themselves for the possession of new districts, invariably combined their forces to resist the interference and encroachments of Government.
On the whole, however, the air-supply was copious and tolerably pure; and if occasionally it was not quite as good as it might have been, very little was said about it, and it was looked on as a necessary but temporary evil that would right itself without any person troubling himself about it.
I should mention that large beds of living bivalves are distributed throughout the subaqueous country, beautifully arranged in various patterns, for which their various colours render them very suitable. These shell-fish answer another purpose besides that of ornamentation: they consume every little impurity that may accidentally escape into the water, and so keep it perfectly transparent, which, without their aid, it would not be.
Living, as the Colymbians do, constantly in the water, they imbibe a sufficient amount of fluid by the pores of the skin to render it quite unnecessary for them to drink; and the same condition of life renders washing and ablutions of all kinds quite superfluous. Therefore, drinking and drinking vessels,
