ZOOLOGICAL YEARNINGS. I8l 



dangerous shores. The weather was intensely unlike sum- 

 mer, the snow and hail freely falling ; so that, on a first 

 blush, there did seem a shadow of reason for the astonish- 

 ment of friends, who looked upon departure at such a time, 

 and for such a place, as indicating something like insanity. 

 But great wits to madness nearly are allied, and this alliance 

 with great wits will perhaps be granted to me. At any rate 

 there was method in the madness, for unless I reached the 

 coast before the equinox, the passage would be more than 

 usually perilous ; and just after the equinox, as everybody 

 knows, the spring-tides recede to greater depths, and offer 

 the finest opportunities for rock-hunting ; moreover the 

 gales at this period throw welcome treasures on the beach. 

 The loth of March, therefore, was the very latest date 

 I could afi'ord for departure ; and on that day the journey 

 began. 



Why the Isles of Scilly were obstinately selected, may 

 not be so easily explained. I had a fixed idea on this point ; 

 no argument could make me swerve from it. The main 

 attraction was doubtless lurking in my profound geographical 

 ignorance, which invested these Isles with a mysterious halo. 

 In days when ladies take pleasure-trips to Algiers, and reach 

 it in four days, or run up the Nile, as formerly they 

 scampered through Prance, any real bit of untravelled 

 country necessarily creates an interest ; and for travellers, in 

 the adventurous or pleasure-hunting sense, Scilly is as virgin 

 ground as Timbuctoo. Vessels in abundance touch there ; 

 but who goes there ? Indeed, on entering a shop to make a 

 small purchase, the bland woman compassionately inquired 



