138 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Ch. IX. 



it performed its usual suicidal operations. These singular 

 animals were usually of so complicated a form as to defy any 

 attempt at drawing them with a satisfactory or useful 

 result ; and they were at the same time so perishable, that 

 no means of preserving them could be found. If placed in 

 fluid they discharged all their colour into it, and became so 

 brittle as to break up into minute fragments ; and if dried, 

 they became of an uniform blackness, and were inevitably 

 broken more or less in the process. 



The weather having at length cleared, and our surveying 

 operations beiag completed, we quitted Haitan Straits on 

 the 2nd July, and steering northward, lay off the "White Dog 

 Island for the night. A cm-ious effect presented itself as we 

 approached the mouth of the river Min on the following day, 

 in the sudden change of colour of the water. About two or 

 three miles from the coast, and parallel with it, ran a long 

 and well-defined line, stretching as far as the eye could reach, 

 the outer side of which was distinguished by the greenish 

 tinge of sea-water near shore, whUe on the landward side 

 were the yellow turbid waters charged with the mud brought 

 down by the river Min. The line of demarcation might have 

 been drawn with a ruler, and a single step would have suf- 

 ficed to cross it. 



As we were anchored off Woga Point, in the mouth of the 

 river, and lay there a day or two in order to procure fresh 

 provisions, I took the opportunity of ascending the river as 

 far as Pagoda Anchorage, about 10 miles short of Foo-chow- 

 foo. This is a very picturesque excursion : lofty hills arise 

 on either side nearly all the way, their slopes sweeping 

 boldly to the water's edge, and terraced for cultivation often 

 to the very summit. The soU, however, is naturally barren, 

 the hills being of a dark stone, and in many places quarried, 



