NOVEMBER, i8$i. 93 



had been carried by the sea, and alongside and now 

 hopelessly stranded are multitudes of annelids borne off 

 from their deep water beds by the scour of the water. 



" Worms for bait, indeed," we exclaim, as these 

 appear in great coils along the path. For the sea water 

 has been as impartial in its dealings towards the land 

 annelids as towards its own children ; and while it flings 

 its own ashore, it has drowned the others out to keep 

 them company. What a chance for Darwin to count the 

 product per square yard ! for wherever the sea has 

 reached the worms lie in dead coils. Where are all the 

 ducks and sea fowl? ask those further up the loch, for is 

 this not an unusually rich feast for them ! We left all the 

 gulls in our little bay, but have seen no ducks whatever, 

 these having no doubt sought the inland waters. 



We pass the newly-erected concrete breastworks, torn 

 into fragments and strewed along the beach, and havoc, 

 in deadly earnest, skirting every little bay. Here, trees 

 are rocking in the wind, with their roots in the air for the 

 most part, for the earth and rock they cling to have been 

 swept away others have their trunks all scored, for the 

 stones and boulders of the beach have been washing 

 about their stems by the hour ; and others, again, have a 

 good supply of seaweed hung among their boughs to 

 replace the vanished leaves. This is the manner in which 

 the wire-fencing has been swept away, when one would 

 have supposed it could not possibly have presented 

 sufficient obstruction to the rush of the waves. These 

 first festooned it with seaware until it became so heavy 

 as to weigh down the wires, and strain the posts, and 

 then the obstruction was sufficient to enable the next rush 

 to carry all away. 



Those in front are excited and interested, as they stand 



