South Beach. 33 



not unpleasant odor stew out of these logs that lie on 

 the hot sand Though it is very easy to sit down upon 

 them, yet it is not so easy often to get away at the precise 

 moment you desire, and for a time you are like Theseus or 

 Pirithous on the wayside stone in the land of Shades. 



When the tide is low, the peat-cliffs, that rise a yard 

 or more above the sand below their perpendicular fronts, 

 form convenient stations from whence the fishermen cast 

 their lines. The placid and shallow pools that remain 

 between the tides on the peat-beds are most trans- 

 parent, and usually some living creature is entrapped in 

 the larger of them, and has to await the return of the 

 waves to regain his liberty. There are also many sea- 

 weeds in the pools that deck them out in bright array, and 

 while you peer in at the marvels that are hidden there you 

 may hear the water splashing in a miniature fall over the 

 peat-cliff, as the pool is gradually drained away. The peat 

 is not over a foot or two thick in most places, and under it 

 is a layer of clay containing innumerable water-worn 

 pebbles. Many of them are of brown sandstone, and it is 

 from this source that the pebbles that line the immediate 

 upshore come, and from which much of the beach to the 

 eastward is entirely free. There is also a great number 

 of edible mussel shells at this part of the shore, and 

 they crackle under your feet as you walk along, and here 

 it is that the crows pay regular visits, for the mussels and 

 soft-shell clams are favorites with them. Not only do the 

 empty shells lie about the logs high on the beach, where 

 the crows have taken them, but they are also found far 

 inland, in the most central portions of the island. Some- 



