-coloured, small-headed variety of the east. In no respect
do the two coasts differ more, or at least to the north of the
Grampians, than in the transparency of the water. The bottom is rarely
seen on the east coast at a depth of more than twenty feet, and not
often at more than twelve; whereas on the west I have seen it very
distinctly, during a tract of dry weather, at a depth of sixty or
seventy feet. The handles of the spears used in Gairloch in spearing
flat fish and the common edible crab (_Cancer Pagurus_), are sometimes
five-and-twenty feet in length--a length which might in vain be given to
spear-handles upon the east coast, seeing that there, at such a depth of
water, flat fish or crab was never yet seen from the surface.

Deceived by this transparency, I have plunged oftener than once over
head and ears, when bathing among the rocks, in pools where I had
confidently expected to find footing. From a rock that rose abrupt as a
wall from the low-water level of stream tides to a little above the line
of flood, I occasionally amused myself, when the evenings were calm, in
practising the Indian method of diving--that in which the diver carries
a weight with him, to facilitate his sinking, and keep him steadily at
the bottom. I used to select an oblong-shaped stone, of sixteen or
eighteen pounds' weight, but thin enough to be easily held in one hand;
and after grasping it fast, and quitting the rock edge, I would in a
second or two find myself on the grey pebble-strewed ooze beneath, some
twelve or fifteen feet from the surface, where I found I could steadily
remain, picking up any small objects I chanced to select, until, breath
failing, I quitted my hold of the stone. And then two or three seconds
more were always sufficient to bring me to the surface again. There are
many descriptions, in the works of the poets, of submarine scenery, but
it is always scenery such as may be seen by an eye looking down into the
water--not by an eye enveloped in it--and very different from that with
which I now became acquainted. I found that in these hasty trips to the
bottom I could distinguish masses and colours, but that I always failed
to determine outlines. The minuter objects--pebbles, shells, and the
smaller bunches of sea-weed--always assumed the circular form; the
larger, such as detached rocks, and patches of sand, appeared as if
described by irregular curves. The dingy gneiss rock rose behind and
over me like a dark cloud