8 HISTORY OF BRITISH CRUSTACEA. 



" We happened to be astir in a small boat in Brodick 

 Bay, about three o' clock one beautiful summer morning. 

 Our chief object was to watch the soft uprising of those 

 ' fleecy folds, voluminous and vast/ which during early twi- 

 light hours brood over the yet sombre valleys at the base of 

 Goat-fell, and to watch the rosy tints as they descended 

 from peak to peak, while 



' Fair Aurora, lifting up her head, 

 All blushing rose from old Tithonus' bed.' 



But we soon perceived two men in a small craft, who 

 seemed quite unconscious that 



1 The flaming chariot of the world's great eye ' 



was now almost upon them. Their little boat hung mo- 

 tionless on the then waveless mirror of the Bay, in about 

 ten feet depth of water ; and after for a minute or thereby, 

 holding their faces close upon the surface, they seemed sud- 

 denly to pull a long pole out of the water, with something 

 adhering to its extremity. "We soon found that they were 

 taking advantage of the glassy stillness of the water to 

 overlook the early walk of Crabs. They no sooner saw 

 these crusty crustaceans on the subaqueous sand, than they 

 poked them behind with their long staves; the Crabs turned 



