162 THE SEA-SIDE AND AQUAKIUM. 



CHAPTER XL 



ON THE ROCK-POOLS OF JoPPA. 



" Art's finest pencil could but rudely mock 

 The rich gray lichens broider'd on a rock; 

 And those gay watery grots he would explore, 

 Small excavations on a rocky shore, 

 That seem like fairy baths, or mimic wells, 

 Richly emboss'd with choicest weeds and shells, 

 As if her trinkets Nature chose to hide 

 Where nought invaded but the flowing tide." 



JANE TAYLOR. 



" In 1762, there was one house, and one only, on the spot 

 where Portobello now stands. It was built by an old sailor who 

 had taken part in the capture of Portobello in America, and he 

 named his house after that town. Circumstances afterwards led 

 to the selection of this neighbourhood as a site for private dwell- 

 ings for the Edinburgh folk, and a very pretty sea-side town has 

 hence arisen. The Portobello sands furnish a fine spot for sea- 

 bathing, and the town is full of the usual kind of holiday visitors 

 during the bathing season." The Land we Live in. 



PERSONS residing in Edinburgh scarcely require to be 

 informed that the village of Joppa does not possess 

 great attraction for visitors. As a bathing-place, it 

 has been long ago deserted for the more fashionable 



