2l8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



it enables us to reclaim from the sea — that living reservoir 

 of an ever-during and inappreciable fecundity, some 

 portion of those fertilizing matters which are carried off 

 by streams and rivers to the detriment of our fields. 



Fish have been utilized for making paper, the process is 

 a peculiar one, and the resulting product has a semi- 

 transparent appearance, very similar to parchment. 



Sea-weed is used in its natural state as a manure on 

 lands bordering on the sea, and in the Channel Islands so 

 valuable is it considered that special laws are enforced for 

 its regular collection and fair distribution. There at 

 regular seasons may be seen the "Vareck" collectors out 

 at low water gathering in their marine harvest, men, 

 women, and children all out together with large baskets, 

 rakes, and hooks ; taking their carts and horses as far 

 below high-water mark as the stony beach will allow them. 

 The air there seems to have a peculiar freshness, cooled 

 by the breezes blown right off the Atlantic, and fragrant 

 with the odour of the "Vareck." The bold precipitous 

 cliffs scored bv the tempests of ages, the fringe of golden 

 sand skirting the bavs, the glorious colouring of the sea 

 itself, not so intensely blue, but more varied than that of 

 the Mediterranean ; the fishing boats lying idle at their 

 moorings, and the busy Islanders conversing in their 

 quaint old Norman-French dialect, together form a scene 

 so picturesque, so full of beauty and life, that once seen it 

 can never fade from the memory ; it serves, moreover, to 

 impress upon us the lesson of Nature to utilize, as far as 

 we possibly can, such products of hers, as may be lying 

 wasting within our reach. 



Manv chemical products are extracted from sea-weed, 

 such as Iodine, Potash, and Magnesia ; and in different 

 parts of the world much sea-weed of different varieties is 

 used for food, especially in China and Japan ; and as the 

 supplv is practically unlimited we may look forward to 

 seeing this abundant product of Nature even more and 

 more utilized. 



