A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



preserve the beauty of the surrounding country, so, as the fully- 

 justified conviction gains ground that few things are more refreshing 

 to the body and beneficial to the health, care should be taken to 

 ensure that the passenger is kept cheerful and amused. This can 

 best be done by providing him with exciting and interesting 

 experiences. For his own sake, and for the sake of the future, man 

 should see to it that the life of the sea is preserved. For just as a 

 forest does not consist of trees alone — just as flowers, and the song 

 of birds, and the glitter and hum of insects are inseparable from 

 its individuality — so the sea is more than mere water. Its living 

 inhabitants, from the sea-anemone and the starfish on the rocks 

 to the fish that swim in its waters, and the seabirds that glide above 

 its waves, are all part of the sea ; they are all interrelated, like the 

 several parts of a work of art ; they are mutually dependent on one 

 another for their existence, and only in the harmonious co-existence 

 of all its elements can the whole prosper. Only thus can the sea 

 exert that invigorating, enriching and uplifting influence upon the 

 human soul which all the world over makes Nature the best physician 

 and teacher of mankind. 



