A fish caught in time. Samantha Weinberg.

To książka o rybie. Kto słyszał o czterech małych wyspach zagubionych gdzieś na Oceanie Indyjskim pomiędzy Madagaskarem a Mozambikiem? A kto pamięta ze szkolnych lekcji biologii dziwną rybę zwaną latimerią? O tym właśnie jest ta książka. O poszukiwaniach ryby, o której cały świat, jeszcze kilkadziesiąt lat temu myślał, że jest już tylko na kartkach uniwersyteckich opracowań. A ona jednak żyje. I ma się całkiem nieźle, pływając w ciepłych wodach Komorów na głębokości około 200 metrów. Oprócz ichtiologicznych ciekawostek znajdziemy tutaj garść informacji o wyspach Komorów, gdzie badacze i poszukiwacze tajemniczego gatunku ryby będącego pomostem między stworzeniami wodnymi, a tymi lądowymi, które potrafią chodzić, spędzili mnóstwo czasu zanurzając się w głębinach oceanu i rozmawiając z lokalną społecznością. Cytaty:

“He was impressed by JLB’s immaculate punctuality: ‘To such a man as Smith if one arrived a minute over an appointed time, say 3.15 a.m., then the logical conclusion must be, ‘Why not then arrange the meeting for 3.16 a.m. or 4.16 a.m.?’ JLB used to think that what separated Homo sapiens from the rest was time, and he was not convinced women were Homo sapiens, because they were not always on time. He was, and he didn’t have to wear a watch to be so.”

“He was sitting in a wicker chair after lunch one day, when he was pounced upon by the Professor: ‘Have you any work to do?… Relaxation? he said in tones of stark disbelief. ‘Bur you relax when you sleep, and you’ll relax for ever when you’re dead. In the meantime we’ve got work to do.’ Everything was accomlished at top speed: ‘The Professor and Mrs Smith walked fast, the theory being that not only is walking a means of transport, but one must also derive the benefit of exercise from the action so as not to waste time.'”

“The four tiny islands were Arab trading posts for hundreds of years, ruled over by a succession of battling sultans. They became a French colony in 1946, but remained a largely forgotten outpost, unaffected by the twentieth century.”

“What nobody considered at that time, was that the Comoros are relatively young islands: the oldest, Mayotte, was pushed up from the sea only five and a half million years ago; Grand Comore, a mere 130 000 years ago.”

“By the beginning of the last century, however, the Comoros had subsided into civil war, as the sultans battled with one another to supply slave labour to eager French plantation awoners on Ile de France (now Mauritius) and the Seychelles.”

The end of the slave trade and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, effectively banished the Comoros to a back seat in the theatre of international trade. By the close of the century, only two or three ships stopped at the islands each year, and the country slipped into penury.”

“In August 1975, a young revolutionary named Ali Soilih overturned the first Comoran government of Ahmed Abdallah, and set up his country off on a roller-coaster ride of coups and counter-coups. Initially, Soilih brimmed with reforming zeal, but after a series of setbacks and determined opposition from the conservative elders, he descended into madness. He sacked the civil service and turned the running of the country over to teenagers with guns.”