00 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



Up to this moment we heave been superb seamen ; Britons 

 are the boys for rnling the waves ! The colour has not 

 changed on the cheek of the lady naturalist, who, astonished 

 at her oami fortitude (of stomach), declares dredging prefer- 

 able to liuntiiig on the rocks. But suddenly a change 

 conies. This stooping to examine our treasures disturbs our 

 pleasant serenity, and the well-known head-swimming and 

 nausea which ensue, categorically tell us that, let Schiller 

 declaim as he will, poetry won't control the liver ; and how- 

 ever successfidly Britons may rule the waves, the waves are 

 extremely disrespectful to their rulers. Que voulez-vous ? 

 The brain may be confident, but the liver is upset ; heroism 

 is futile against a chopping sea. We can't pretend to be 

 superior to these weaknesses, and so we resign ourselves to 

 sitting quiet, while the boatmen turn over the mass, and 

 hand us objects for inspection, upon which we decide 

 wliether they shall be placed in the bucket of sea- water, or 

 returned to the oyster-beds. 



Very droll it was, even in my languid state, to observe 

 Jack stooping and fumbling among the oyster-shells, not 

 knowing what his insane party might possibly think worth 

 carrying home, and for his part thinking the whole as big a 

 heap of rubbish as ever he saw. 



" This here any use, sir?" he inquires, handing me a huge 

 oyster with an unexpressed sarcasm in the question. I turn 

 my green countenance towards it, and suddenly forget the 

 qualms, exclaiming — 



" Use, my dear fellow ! of course it is. Why, it is a 

 perfect colony of animals." 



