6 TIDE POOL. 



the toil of scrambling over their projecting masses, 

 but I observed strong iron bars driven perpendicularly 

 into the crevices here and there, to which, in one case, 

 a line was affixed that ran out into the sea : this I 

 was told was attached to a herring-net, set across the 

 tide ; though few herrings are yet come in. On the 

 sand and shingle were several young dog-fish ; pro- 

 bably hauled in the seine, and thrown out to putrefy 

 as useless. Towards Oddicombe on the left, in 

 climbing and crawling around the face of the rough 

 cliff, I found a pretty tide-pool, a delightful little 

 reseiToir, nearly circular, a basin about three feet wide 

 and the same deep, fall of pure sea-water, quite still, 

 and as clear as crystal. From the rocky margin and 

 sides, the puckered fronds of the Sweet Oar- weed, 

 (Laminaria saccharinaj sprang out, and gently 

 drooping, like ferns from a wall, nearly met in the 

 centre; while other more delicate sea- weeds grew 

 beneath their shadow. Several sea-anemones of a 

 kind very different from the common species, more 

 flat and blossom-like, with slenderer tentacles set 

 round like a fringe, were scattered about the sides : 

 when touched they contracted, more and more forcibly, 

 into a whitish grey tubercle. 



PETIT TOR. 



Feb. ^rd, — When the tide was nearly at ebb, I 

 walked down to the cove at Petit Tor. The red 

 earth, so abundant hereabout as to tinge the clothes 

 of the peasants, the coats of the numerous donkeys, 

 and the wool of the sheep, of a rufous tint, was satu- 

 rated by the recent rains, and formed a tenacious mud, 



