Rectus called them "humming-fishes." They did remind me of humming-birds, although they didn't hum.
When I came here before, I was with a party of ladies and gentlemen.

We went in a large sail-boat, and took several divers with us, to go down and bring up to us the curious things that we would select, as we looked through the water-glass.

There wasn't anything peculiar about these divers.

They wore linen breeches for diving dresses, and were the same kind of fellows as those who dived for pennies at the town.
Now, what I wanted to do, was to go to the coral-reef and dive down and get something for myself.

It would be worth while to take home a sea-fan or something of that kind, and say you brought it up from the bottom of the sea yourself.