A VOYAGE TO IKDIA. 1 33 



ingratitude seldom passes unpunished. Pent within nar- 

 row bounds, and unable to elude pursuit by shooting be- 

 yond the grasp of its insulted protectors, a desperate con- 

 flict ensues between the fish and the crabs, and in a few 

 hours nothing of the animated scene survives, except 

 some two or three mutilated combatants, who, no longer 

 possessed of their dangerous weapons of offence, or ex- 

 hausted with wounds, are fain to make a peaceable meal 

 upon the carcasses of their former associates. What 

 moral might the observer extract from the high daring 

 and noble prowess of these little aquatics, none of which 

 ever acquire the paltry magnitude of three quarters of 

 an inch ! What exquisite similes might be drawn from 

 such a fertile source to embellish the pages of history, or 

 to be sounded upon the harp of flattery, to swell the 

 festive raptures of the hero ! 



Nothing is more striking to the naturalist than the 

 contrast between the grandeur and the immensity of 

 power displayed by the angry waves around him, and 

 the delicate and fragile forms which crowd their surface. 



The crest of a billow, which causes the tough fir-ribbed 

 vessel to tremble beneath it like a child under the rod of 

 its tutor, passes harmlessly over myriads of beings, which, 

 when removed from their native element, dissolve under 

 the fervour of the sun, or break in pieces by their own 

 weight. Yet, unobtrusive as are these lower links in 

 the scale of nature, escaping by their very humility that 

 destruction which so often overwhelms the proud lord of 

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