128 SEAWEEDS. 



With this end in view we gave ourselves up to the 

 enjoyment of the beautiful scenery along the Lakes 

 Katrine and Lomond, and through the magnificent 

 Pass of Glencoe, and we only began the business of our 

 tour when we were quietly ensconced in lodgings at 

 01 >an. 



It was low tide when we took our first ramble on the 

 shore, the sea was as still as an inland lake, which indeed 

 it there very closely resembles, the two horns of the bay 

 seeming also to touch the extreme points of the long 

 island of Kerrera which lies opposite to the town. Heaps 

 of waste of every shade of olive lay upon the sands, and 



"As we strolled along 

 It was our occupation to observe 

 Such objects as the waves had tossed ashore, 

 Tangle, or weeds of various hues and forms, 

 Each on the other heaped, along the line 

 Of the dry wrack." 



The curled fronds of the Tansde which fringed the 

 margin of the water rose and fell lazily as the slight 

 motion of the waves stirred them, and the Star-fish lay at 

 ease among the stones to which the weeds were attached. 



I pointed to the heaps of rubbish. "There lies our 

 first lesson," I said ; "let us sit down on the shingle, and 

 carefully examine each weed in that black ridge. 



The whole mass was of an olive colour, though the 

 branches that composed it were of varied form and shade. 

 By this I knew that all the weeds belonged to the first 

 great division, one of the characteristics of which is the 

 olive colour. In the Algse colour forms a permanent 



