ON THE ROCK-POOLS OF JOPPA. 163 



suburb of Portobello. . There are not wanting, how- 

 ever, persons who prefer the seclusion of the one to 

 the bustle of its more successful rival. The writer 

 of these pages, as an item of the minority, has passed 

 more than one vacation by the more secluded beach; 

 and, of course, as soon as his eyes were in any degree 

 opened to the wonders of the sea-shore, he naturally 

 preferred to prosecute his studies where there was less 

 chance of interruption. 



Before he had the good fortune to discover the 

 recommendation these new pursuits conferred upon 

 the place, he would not have hesitated in expressing 

 his decided conviction that Joppa was one of the 

 dullest spots that ever went under the name of a 

 watering-place. 



The rocks, to any but the ardent student of zoology, 

 are of the most uninviting character, damp and shaggy, 

 with various fuci, and consequently slippery, suggest- 

 ing, especially to persons of sensitive toes, anything 

 but pleasant spots for looking across at the Fife shore- 

 coast, or down to the rich shores of East Lothian. 

 Indeed, the most agile walker can hardly advance a 

 step without incurring imminent danger of a slip. 



But I had no sooner got acquainted with a little of 

 marine zoology, than Joppa became quite a different 

 place ; and I can assure my reader that, under similar 

 circumstances, the most stupid and indifferent spot 

 on the sea-coast will assume an interest superior to 

 that of the most charming scenery. Poor and tame 

 as Joppa is, it possesses, in my eyes, a beauty which 



