At this point the scenery is beautiful. The mountain range breaks
here, so that the eye can follow for a long distance the windings of
a picturesque valley, with the black and lofty mountain Olofena in
the background.
Delighted as I was, however, with the beauty of the objects around
me, I was no less pleased with those beneath. Our boat glided along
over countless shallows, where the water was as clear as crystal, so
that the smallest pebble at the bottom was distinctly visible. I
could observe groups and clusters of coloured coral and madrepore-
stone, whose magnificence challenges all description. It might be
said that there was a quantity of fairy flower and kitchen gardens
in the sea, full of gigantic flowers, blossoms, and leaves, varied
by fungi and pulse of every description, like open arabesque work,
the whole interspersed with pretty groups of rocks of every hue.
The most lovely shell-fish were clinging to these rocks, or lying
scattered on the ground, while endless shoals of variegated fish
darted in and out between them, like so many butterflies and
humming-birds.
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