ALONG SHORE 



147 



spreads, and it may stir romantic thoughts in 

 the minds of lovers ; but from a picturesque 

 point of view one is at some loss to discover 

 anything remarkable about its looks. 



Not so with the ebb-tide, when the water goes 

 out and leaves great beds of rock and sand and 

 reef exposed to view. It is not merely that the 

 exposed places are curious for their wealth of 

 sea- weed and barnacle and stranded ocean-life, 

 but they are often extremely interesting as 

 form and color. The great bowlders covered 

 with clinging fringes of sea- weed are graceful in 

 outline, and quite charming in such tones as dull 

 yellow and sage-green. The pools left in the 

 rocks and the gravel-pens are marvellous studies 

 in different hues, and the dark, water- worn rock- 

 bases offer a strong contrast to the light-gray 

 tops bathed in the sunlight. Even the black 

 spots of sunken ledges, hulks, or broken piers 

 that peep above the water at low tide have a 

 picturesque quality about them, lending accent 

 to the scene ; and the sweeping indentations of 

 the coast, the bridges, pulpits, and rugged prom- 

 ontories all seem so much more powerful and 

 massive in form when the tide is out. 



The curves and lines along a coast are 

 an unending study. Not merely the smooth 



