sideration that made collecting arduous : I had to 

 contend with an increasing sea, which, to begin 

 with, was by no means calm. Though working my 

 little boat around the least exposed side of the 

 rocks, the great surges to the windward communi- 

 cated themselves in a continuous series of risings 

 and fallings, a sequence of liftings and lowerings 

 of my craft, which eventually allowed opportunity 

 to wield the rake only when at the bottom of the 

 turbulent troughs. 



Yet there were compensating distractions. How 

 this same sunken garden, swaying in the frigid 

 depths, would have appeared to any other ob- 

 server, I cannot know. But to my mind, certainly, 

 there was something singularly enchanting, some- 

 thing weirdly attractive in the primitive grace of 

 its floating fronds. (For the seaweed Fucus, al- 

 though firmly attached at the base, by reason of 

 its large and considerable air pockets virtually 

 floats at whatever depth it finds a footing.) In the 

 slanting sunlight, the tough leathery character of 

 the individual plants was lost and their deep olive 

 tone was disguised, the skin reflecting the soft 

 sparkle of a thousand vanishing tints — as mellow 

 rays are reflected by the translucent fabric of fine 



[45] 



