262 SEPTEMBER. 



first steps to Botany," a most excellent and in- 

 teresting little work, may be fitly introduced. 

 " Perhaps no scene, or situation, is so intensely 

 gratifying to the naturalist as the shore of the 

 ocean. The productions of the latter element 

 are innumerable, and the majesty of the mighty 

 waters lends an interest unknown to an inland 

 landscape. The loneliness too of the sea-shore 

 is much cheered by the constant changes aris- 

 ing from the ebb and flow of the tide, and the 

 undulations of the water's surface, sometimes 

 rolling like mountains, and again scarcely mur- 

 muring on the beach. As you gather there 

 Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow, 

 you may feel with the poet, that there are joys 

 in solitude, and that there are pleasures to be 

 found in the investigation of nature of the most 

 powerful and pleasing influence. 



There is a pleasure in the pathless woods ; 

 There is a rapture on the lonely shore ; 

 There is society where none intrudes 

 By the deep sea, and music in its roar. 



But nothing can be more beautiful than a 

 view of the bottom of the ocean, during a calm, 

 even round our own shores, but particularly in 

 tropical climates, especially when it consists 

 alternately of beds of sand and masses of rock. 

 The water is frequently so clear and undisturb- 

 ed, that, at great depths, the minutest objects 



