SALP^E. 461 



CHAPTER L. 



SALP^E. 



" Glorious Sea ! This earth has not a plain 

 So boundless or so beautiful as thine ! 

 The eagle's vision cannot take it in : 

 The lightning's wing, too weak to sweep its space, 

 Sinks half-way o'er it, like a wearied bird : 

 It is the mirror of the stars, where all 

 Their hosts within the concave firmament, 

 Gay marching to the music of the spheres, 

 Can see themselves at once." 



DURING calm weather in the summer-time, the sea- 

 side visitor, who is in the habit of making boat-excur- 

 sions to a little distance from the shore, may often 

 see gliding past him lengthy chains of most trans- 

 lucent delicacy, the progress of which through the 

 water on a bright day may sometimes be recognized 

 by the rainbow-tints that seem to play around them, 

 although, otherwise, their presence would hardly be 

 suspected, even in the clearest water. On carefully 

 capturing one of these elegant productions of the 

 ocean, and examining it in a glass vessel filled with 

 its native element, it is found, to the surprise of the 

 beholder, to be entirely made up of numerous distinct 

 animals united together, after various patterns in 



