188 HIGHWATER MARK. 



of olive sea-weeds that fringe the rocks at and below 

 the lowest tide-levels, and tear them up from their 

 moorings to cast them thus high and dry on the beach. 



The force thus exerted you may better appreciate if 

 you have ever tried to pull off living specimens of the 

 common tangle. The strongest man may pull and 

 tug in vain ; though the stout and rough stem affords 

 a capital purchase for the exertion of his muscular 

 powers. A full-grown tangle, such an one, for 

 example, as this at our feet, with a stern an inch in 

 diameter, would probably mock his most strenuous 

 efforts. The rock itself will frequently give way before 

 the attachments of the weed. 



This very specimen shall be honoured with our first 

 observations ; nor shall we find it unworthy of our 

 attention. It is the common tangle, or fingered 

 Laminaria, which grows in great abundance all round 

 our rocky shores, forming a broad belt of dark waving 

 submarine forest, of which the summits are just 

 exposed at the lowest recess of the tide. It consists 

 of a root, a stem, and a frond. The root is a remark- 

 able structure, and instructive as an example of the 

 perfect manner in which the creative wisdom of God 

 achieves the same end by different means. Stability 

 is secured to the forest-tree by the repeated subdivi- 

 sion and wide ramification of its roots, which penetrate 

 into the soil ; the sea-weeds, on the other hand, do not 

 penetrate the soil, and have no true roots. This tangle 

 grows on the solid impenetrable surface of the rock ; 

 and the problem is, how to impart to it stability of 



