94 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



thought of these men nightly braving what they brave, and 

 totally insensible to the poetry of their situation, which 

 might make it something better than a mere venture for a 

 few pence. My thoughts are sad to-night. I wander on, 

 and the waves come to greet me, but the image of that boat 

 disappearing through the darkness will not leave me. Life 

 seems so sad, so transitory, so ineffectual, and Nature so 

 pitiless and calm. 



The next morning all such thoughts have vanished like 

 uneasy dreams. Nature is joyous, clear, sunny; my 

 mistress yonder is sparkling and singing in the light ; white 

 sails dot the distance ; the busy hum of men rises on every 

 side. I go out on the sands, and at my feet the tide throws 

 a Calamary (Loligo) with which I rush back to my lodgings 

 in great glee. A pie-dish of sea-water receives the welcome 

 Cephalopod ; but he is dead, and will show none of his ways. 

 Yet what is this ? the colour-s])ecs are coming out on the 

 skin, like stars appearing at night, and now the whole 

 surface, which was pearly-white, is of a variegated hue. I 

 had heard of this before, but actual observation gives one 

 very different feelings from those of mere acquiescence in a 

 fact. The colour-specs continued to come and go, much to 

 my puzzlement ; nor could I gain much light from any 

 books at hand. M. Alcide d'Orbigiiy, who has studied 

 Molluscs for twenty years, especially the Cephalopoda, 

 ought, of course, to be consulted, and you shall hear what 

 he says : " The colour is as imchangeable as the diverse 

 impressions of the animal. It consists of a complicated 

 system of globules of various colours, red, bro^ni, and 



