OCEAN MYTHS. 7 



perfectly credible in Classic times the history of 

 the Boeotian fisherman who, perceiving that the 

 fish he had caught on being thrown upon the grass 

 were endowed with new life and enabled to regain 

 their native element, imitated their example, and 

 tasting the miraculous herbage, became forthwith 

 a denizen of the deep. 



How charming would it be if, as we are here 

 seated contemplating those waves, we should sud- 

 denly find the Arabian myth of Abdallah of the 

 Sea realised! How gladly should we accept a 

 polite invitation to visit the caves of the ocean, 

 protected by the enchanted unguent from all 

 inconvenience which a descent beneath the waters 

 would otherwise cause to our organs of respiration ! 

 How pleasant is this warm weather to visit in 

 safety those crystal depths, where the finny tribes 

 lead " their cold sweet silver life, wrapped in round 

 waves ! " Beneath the liquid crystal would await 

 us scenes more wonderful than the fairy dreams 

 of childhood. 



It is hopeless, however, to await a visit from 

 Abdallah ; for that remarkable personage dwells, 

 it is more than probable, only beneath those 

 bright waves which bathe the shores of Yemen, 

 and so cannot be expected to emerge from our 

 hyperborean waters. We have nothing for it, 

 therefore, but to content ourselves with what our 

 sea-shores themselves present us. 



Happily no preternatural aid or direction is 

 required to enable us to perceive the objects with 

 which the sea-shores furnish us. They are many 



B 4 



