398 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



It was early in September, 1894, that, putting up at a 

 village within easy distance, he journeyed to a well-known 

 marsh on the Lincolnshire Wash. The day was perfect ; a 

 slight breeze, bearing upon its wings the life-giving breath of 

 the sea, tempered the heat of the morning sun. Above, the 

 few fleecy clouds moved lazily, scarce throwing a shadow over 

 the marsh pools. Far away beyond the sea-bank, winding inter- 

 minably, stretched a yellowish line, and beyond that again a blue, 

 and now and then a blue-green streak. Somewhere in that 

 direction lay the great marsh, creeping sinuously between land 

 and sea. Piloted by two or three gaunt trees in the far 

 distance, and ever looking for the fast-receding sea, the marsh 

 was reached at last, a few birds being picked up on the way. 

 Here was a sight which inland dwellers might well open their 

 eyes to see — miles upon miles of marsh gleaming green and 

 gold and lilac between the inland bank and the sandy flats by 

 the sea. Under the steep bank — the only protection afforded 

 to hundreds of square miles of flat, rich, cultivated land against 

 the inroads of the devouring sea — waved as a fringe the pale 

 grey sea-artemisia, laved in high tides by the salt waves it loves. 

 Farther out a dense carpet of the shrubby stems and glaucous 

 leaves of the sea-purslane, Atriplex portulacoides, mixed with the 

 glassy, transparent stems of the Salicornia or salt-wort. Yet 

 nearer the sea, now retreating lazily with many a sigh and gurgle, 

 appears the green and gold and lilac. What is it ? Michaelmas 

 daisies, by all that is wonderful ! Yes, knee-deep, and more, rise 

 the lovely flowers, pale purple-lilac with eyes of rich deep gold, 

 set in dense masses above fleshy green leaves shrouded in coarse 

 grasses and Salicornia, the little mud-pools surrounding them 

 filled with the retreating salt wave, and tenanted by scuttling 

 crabs and minute fishes. Small, deep creeks, mud-lined and 

 paved with dead shells, intersect these sea-gardens in every 

 conceivable direction. Stumps and stems of small trees mark 



