One such that would set him on a lonely course to change the course
of human life for ever, he describes graphically:
It was spawning time one early spring moonlit night. I was
sitting beside a waterfall waiting to catch a dangerous fish
poacher. Something then happened so quickly; I was hardly
able to grasp it. The moonlight falling onto the crystal clear
water picked up every movement of a large shoal of fish
gathered in the pool. Suddenly they dispersed as a big fish
swam into the pool from below, preparing to confront the
waterfall. It seemed as though it wanted to scatter the other
trout as it quickly darted to and fro in great twisting move-
ments.
Then, just as suddenly the large trout disappeared into the
huge jet of falling water that shone like molten metal. I could
see it fleetingly, under a conically shaped stream of water,
dancing in a wild, spinning movement, which at that moment
didn't make sense to me. When it stopped spinning it seemed
then to float motionlessly upward. On reaching the lower
curve of the waterfall it tumbled over and with a strong push
reached behind the upper curve of the fall. There, in the fast
flowing water, and with a strong movement of the tail, it
disappeared.
Deep in thought, I filled my pipe, and as I wended my way
homewards, smoked it to the finish. Often subsequently, I
witnessed the same sequence of behaviour of a trout leaping
up a high waterfall. After decades of similar observations that
manifested like rows of pearls on a chain, I should be able to
come to some conclusion. But no scientist has been able to
explain the phenomenon to me.
With the right lighting, it is possible to see the path of
levitational currents as an empty tube within the veil of a
waterfall. It is similar to the tunnel in the middle of a
circulating vortex of water plunging down a drain, which
brings up a gurgling sound. This downwardly-directed
whirlpool drags everything with increasing suction with it
into the depths. If you can imagine this whirlpool or water-
cyclone operating vertically, you get the picture of how the
levitational current works and you can see how the trout
appears to be floating upward in the axis of fall.^3INTRODUCTION