26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



called brace and invigorate our frames, ren- 

 dering us keenly sensible of the delightful 

 sensation of wandering at will, through what 

 seemed to us boundless space ; but the waters 

 absolutely teemed with life, marine insects 

 and molluscs, shrimps and prawns, young crabs 

 and lobsters, sea-worms, embryo creatures of 

 lower organization in millions, all destined 

 doubtless for our sustenance and delectation, 

 and for the gratifying (satisfying seemed out of 

 the question) our appetite, which ' grew with 

 what it fed on.' And we grew too ; how could 

 we otherwise, consuming as we did almost our 

 own weight daily of the most nutritious and 

 palatable food ? 



" I have heard wonder expressed that so 

 small a fish as the smolt should, in a few short 

 months, increase from the weight of three or 

 four ounces to that of frequently twice as many 

 pounds. But where is the wonder ? My 

 mother, who was murdered on the spawning 

 beds before half her eggs had been deposited, 

 weighed twenty pounds ; the noble kipper, her 

 companion, half as much again. What would be 

 the weight at more than two years old of a dog, 

 offspring of parents such sizes ? And was ever 



