RAMBLES IN CORNWALL. 49 



between Cornwall and Norfolk ? This is a question 

 suggested by the opening up of this modern bed 

 in the bosom of Palaeozoic Cornwall, and shows 

 the importance o'f the discovery. 



Time fails me to tell of the innumerable other 

 interesting walks and drives which helped to fill up 

 that sunny week. What delightful clambering we 

 had over the crags of St. Michael's Mount, glittering 

 here and there with valuable streaks of mineral I 

 what glorious rides on brake and coach through the 

 winding lanes, whose tangled banks gave constant 

 interest to the botanist ! How gleefully we scampered 

 over fields to pluck a root of chicory growing wild 

 in profusion, or through quiet glens filled with the 

 restful music of the babbling brook, where flourished 

 in all. its glory the Queen of Ferns, Osmunda 

 regalis! With what indescribable emotions we paddled 

 about bays and coves in the deepening gloaming, 

 watching the bright phosphorescence which at 

 intervals flashed along the ripples of water made 

 by our oars and keels ! These and many other 

 marvels must be passed over, but they can never be 

 forgotten. A tour like this, during which some of 

 the secrets and beauties of nature are beheld in the 

 company of those who know how to interpret them, 

 leaves influences arid lessons of life-long import. 

 I cannot resist the temptation to quote a passage 

 from Quatrefages' charming pages, which more 

 than any words that I can conceive gives a descrip- 

 tion, so far as such feelings can be described, of the 

 sentiments which again and again filled my mind 

 during the fleeting hours spent on the gleaming 



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