CONCLUSION. 233 



He therefore landed, and, on reaching the largest 

 crater, found it to be full of boiling water, which over- 

 flowed 'and found its way to the ocean in a river of 

 about six yards in width. This island, however, 

 was not a permanent addition to the world's archi- 

 pelago. It sank into the ocean again, and disap- 

 peared in October of the same year in which it rose. 



In commencing this little book we set out with 

 the intention of rambling hither and thither, among 

 things that relate to the sea, without regard to 



order. We have carried out our intention ; and 



t 



now, at the close of our task, find that the more we 

 listen to the Ocean's Voice, the more we find its 

 tale to be interminable, though the reverse of unin- 

 teresting. 



In these rambles we have sought to treat chiefly 

 of those scientific facts relating to the sea and the 

 atmospheric ocean, which are not so frequently 

 made the subject of books for the young, as are the 

 wild and daring deeds of man upon the surface of 

 the mighty deep. 



It is not sufficient that man should become 

 acquainted with the doings of his fellows on the 

 sea. This is but one branch of general know- 

 ledge, and a very secondary one compared with that 

 infinitely higher branch which treats of the work- 

 ings of the Almighty in the ocean; workings 

 which render it what it is not merely a means of 

 commercial enterprise for man and a home for fish, 



