CHAPTER II. 



The love of IsTature's works 

 Is an ingredient in the compound, man, 

 Infused at the creation of the kind. 

 And, though th' Almighty Maker has throughout 

 Discriminated each from each, by strokes 

 And touches of his hand, with so much art 

 Diversified, that two were never found 

 Twins at all points — yet this obtains in all, 

 That all discern a beauty in his works, 

 And all can taste them. — Cowper. 



The first tiling I always do when I get into a new 

 locality, is to walk round to reconnoitre ; to take a 

 general view of the hunting ground. This examina- 

 tion I almost always find necessary to make for myself; 

 it is astonishing how little information one can get 

 from persons of the greatest intelligence and general 

 knowledge, and of a life's familiarity with the place, 

 when we ask them for details that they have not had 

 occasion to study. The nature of the shore, here or 

 there, what sort of surface is exposed at low water, 

 how far the sea recedes from the clifis, where tide- 

 pools are to be found, where sea-weeds grow most 

 abundantly, — these are inquiries which do not seem 

 to demand an intimate acquaintance with technical 

 natural history to be answered ; and yet of the inha- 



