WANT OF OBSERVATION. 225 



for supplies of the very fish which are most plenti- 

 ful on the British shores. 



In matters connected with the earth itself, the 

 want of common observation, and the loss occa- 

 sioned by that want, are still more striking. If coal, 

 or iron, or any other useful mineral, is found for the 

 first time in any district, it will, in general, be found 

 that the discoverer is not a native, but some stranger. 

 There is a case in point. The greenstone rocks 

 which form a considerable portion of the lower val- 

 ley of the Tay contain vast numbers of veined 

 agates or Scotch pebbles, and in some places the 

 rock has, to a considerable depth, crumbled into 

 mould, well fitted for agricultural purposes ; but the 

 pebbles, containing less clay than the stone in which 

 they have been formed, and being of a close texture, 

 do not decompose so readily. In consequence there 

 are whole fields and farms where, excepting where 

 the ground has been opened for quarries, every stone 

 that can be picked up is an agate, just as in the chalk 

 districts of England every stone that can be picked 

 up is a flint. Some years ago, those pebbles were 

 fashionable, if not valuable (and except in durability, 

 size, or some use in the arts, fashion forms much 

 of the value of any stone), and they were conse- 

 quently esteemed. The proprieter of one of the 

 estates, on which there is really nothing but pebbles, 

 was in London on some business ; and as he did not 

 often visit the metropolis, he resolved to purchase 

 some trinket for his wife, as a memorial of his jour- 

 ney. He went to a jeweller's, and was shown all 

 the varieties of gems and pastes, but he rejected 

 most of them on account of their smallness, and 

 made his election of a necklace, &c. of large and 

 strongly-marked Scotch pebbles. So much did he 

 admire these, that he began to question the jeweller 

 (who was also a lapidary), what part of the world was 

 so rich as to furnish jewels so splendid. With utter 

 astonishment he heard the name of his own estate 



