Here he had to fall into line if he wished to make any progress at all. People would gaze upon some slab-sided, pop-eyed fish until they entirely forgot they were keeping others away. Then the crowd would move forward with the gentle force of a glacier, and progress would begin again.
SKELETON OF A WHALE.
The first tanks Philip saw held various sorts of bass, sturgeon, trout, and pike. It was a strange sensation to see the fish so near, and so confined that they could not dart away. It gave one the idea that swimming in the sea was not so very different from flying in the air, except that a bird has to keep moving or descend, whereas the fish can stop where he pleases, and hang suspended as comfortably as Mahomet in his coffin, or more so.
FLYING-FISH.
Other fish he saw were the sheepshead, who had the true sheepish expression; catfish, with their odd sparse whiskers; some strangers labeled “small-mouthed buffaloes” (Philip wondered how it would sound to go into a restaurant and order “a fried small-mouthed buffalo, please, for one”); something that was written down in his note-book as “red-horse”—but what the creatures were like, and what their true names might be, Philip had no recollection at all when he read over his notes. There were, though, some whose names did recall exactly their appearance,—the “short-nosed gars,” for instance, who had particularly long noses.
The tank of goldfish was really “lovely,” for as one approached them the light shone upon them as brilliantly as if they had been sunset clouds. One visitor was so impressed with this fine display that he remarked with more feeling than logic, “It is wonderful what human flesh can do when they put their heads together!” Philip laughed at this, and after having had his elbow joggled four or five times, succeeded in writing it down so that he hoped he could tell Harry about it.
A FISHING-BOAT: GROUP IN GOVERNMENT BUILDING.
The nearer fisherman has woolen rings upon his hands to protect them from the line.