In Bermuda
the cedar replaces the cocoa-nut palm.
Fishing on the reefs in Bermuda is the best fun imaginable for persons
not liable to sea-sickness. The fisherman has in his left hand a
"water-glass," which is merely a stout box with the bottom filled in
with plate-glass. The water-glass must be held below the ripple of the
surface, which, by the way, requires a fair amount of muscular effort,
when through the pane of glass, the sea-floor ten fathoms below is
clearly visible. The coloured fish of Jamaica were neutral-tinted
pigmies compared to the polychrome monsters on a Bermudian reef, and
one could actually see them swallowing one's bait. One of the
loveliest fishes that swims is the Bermudian angel-fish, who has the
further merit of almost equalling a sole when fried. Shaped like a
John Dory, he has a lemon-coloured body with a back of brilliant
turquoise-blue, which gleams in the water like vivid blue enamel. He
is further decorated with two long orange streamers. The angel-fish,
having a very small mouth, must be fished for with a special hook.
Then there is the queen-turbot, shaded from dark blue to palest
turquoise, reminding one of Lord's Cricket Ground at an Eton and
Harrow match; besides pink fish, scarlet fish, and orange fish, which
when captured make the bottom-boards of the boat look like a Futurist
landscape, not to speak of horrible, spotted, eel-like creatures whose
bite is venomous.
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