THE USES OF SEA-WEEDS. 47 



beauty may be seen from dry land, but submarine scenery 

 is viewed to far greater advantage during the leisurely 

 movements of a row-boat in a summer day. How rich and 

 various their colours ! and how gracefully do the branches 

 of these submerged forests wave in the deep ! And though 

 there are no birds to enliven the scene, there are thousands 

 of fishes and crustaceans, whose movements are not less 

 interesting than those of birds. If few see these things, 

 does it not magnify the condescending kindness of God 

 that he makes so rich a provision for the happiness of these 

 few? 



" Full many a gem of purest ray serene 



The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ; 

 Full many a flower is born to blusli unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness in the desert air." 



And yet even in the desert air the sweetness is not 

 wasted, for the " little busy bee " can enjoy it ; nor is its 

 --beauty always unseen by man. Who has not heard of the 

 effect which the sight of a little plant produced on Mungo 

 Park, the African traveller ? When, ready to perish with 

 hunger and fatigue, he had laid himself down to die in the 

 desertj even in these circumstances he could not help con- 

 templating a little moss {J)lcraniimhrijoides) which attracted 

 his attention, covering the ground on which he lay ; and so 



