captain, which had decided him to enter the Red Sea; but I quite approved of this course. He went at less speed, sometimes at the surface, sometimes plunging down to escape observation; and I was able to notice both the upper and lower parts of this curious sea.
On the 8th of February, at dawn, we sighted Mocha, a town now ruined; whose walls would fall down at the report of a single cannon. It was formerly an important city, enclosing six public markets, twenty-six mosques, and the walls, defended by fourteen fortresses, were more than two miles in circumference.
The Nautilus approached close to the African side, where the depth of water is greater. There, in a medium as clear as crystal, we were able to gaze upon the beautiful corals and the enormous masses of rock covered with algæ and fuci. It was indescribable! What a variety of landscapes there were among those rocks and islands which border on the Libyan coasts. But it was on the eastern side that these appeared in full beauty, and the Nautilus was not long in reaching them. This was on the Tehama coast, for there not only did the expanse of the zoophytes flourish below the level of the sea, but they entwined themselves picturesquely some feet above the surface. These were more extensive but less beautiful than those which were kept fresher by the surrounding vitality of the waters.
How many pleasant hours I passed at the open panels of the saloon. What numbers of specimens of submarine flora I admired by the gleam of the electric light. Mushroom-shaped fungi, red-coloured sea-anemones, amongst others, the thalassianthus aster; tubipores like flutes, which only waited the breath of the “great god Pan;” shells peculiar to this sea, which were resting in the holes made
