Stowing the tub and the rake in the dinghy, I 

 rowed alone to the nearest group of rocks, which 

 now at the time of ebb tide exposed a solid drapery 

 of dark-green seaweeds below the high-water mark. 



Here indeed was a likely source, as the dense 

 growth of fucoid plant-life, being the permanent 

 home as well as the temporary shelter of innumer- 

 able small animals, usually affords a dependable 

 supply to the collector. But it was not in the wave- 

 washed wilderness above that I wished to hunt, 

 it was in the groves beneath the surface. And it 

 was to that end that I had brought along the rake. 

 In the summer, even this implement would be un- 

 necessary. Now, however, the temperature of the 

 water as well as that of the air would be extreme 

 torture if not almost certain death to the diver. As 

 a matter of fact, it was with most decided difficulty 

 that I was able to continue for long with the use 

 of the rake; the wrenching loose of the underwater 

 tangles obliging me at times to immerse my arms 

 far past the elbows, and such work in an element 

 that is below even the freezing point of fresh- 

 water, soon ceases to be a labor of love — it becomes 

 sheer self-martyrdom. 



Nor was the factor of temperature the only con- 



[44] 



