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CHAPTER VIII. 



THE SEA-SHORE. 



What hid'st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells, 

 Thou ever-sounding and mysterious Main ? 



Mrs. HEMANS. 



OUR Botanical rambles have already introduced 

 to our notice a large number of plants, so wonder- 

 ful in their structure and design, that we can 

 scarcely conceive it possible, if experience did not 

 contradict us, that men could ever have doubted 

 the omnipresence of a Great First Cause. But, 

 numerous and all-convincing as the examples are 

 which we have already adduced, the total forms 

 but a minute portion of what an every-day walk 

 may present to an eye that will " see and under- 

 stand;" and, when the wonders of the land are 

 exhausted, we may turn to the sea, and detect, in 

 the prolific garniture of its rocks, an overwhelming 

 abundance of organized bodies, attesting, in a new 

 language, the first article of our faith, the Unity, 

 Benevolence, and Almighty Power of our Creator. 



Some of these we shall soon have an opportunity 

 of examining. We might advantageously devote 

 some time to the collecting of the flowering plants 

 which ornament the rugged sides of the cliffs, or 

 bind together the shifting substance of yonder 

 sand-hills. My object, however, being to direct 

 your attention principally to the actual produce of 



