THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE, 43 
have given that. It is God’s gift wheresoever 
educated: but its true school-room is the camp and 
the ocean, the prairie and the forest; active, self- 
helping life, which can grapple with Nature her- 
self: not merely with printed books about her. 
Let no one think that this same Natural History is 
a pursuit fitted only for effeminate or pedantic men. 
I should say, rather, that the qualifications required 
for a perfect naturalist are as many and as lofty 
as were required, by old chivalrous writers, for the 
perfect knight-errant of the Middle Ages: for (to 
sketch an ideal, of which I am happy to say our 
race now affords many a fair realization) our per- 
fect naturalist should he strong in body; able to 
haul a dredge, climb a rock, turn a boulder, walk 
all day, uncertain where he shall eat or rest; 
ready to face sun and rain, wind and frost, and to 
eat or drink thankfully anything, however coarse 
or meagre; he should know how to swim for his 
life, to pull an oar, saila boat, and ride the first horse 
which comes to hand; and, finally, he should be 
a thoroughly good shot, and a skilful fisherman; 
