54 THE START. 



locker. " Shove her off ! Up with mainsail and jib ! 

 and away to go !" 



Pleasant it is to start on such an excursion. The 

 day all before us ; hope dominant ; fancy busy with 

 what treasures of the deep the dredge may pour at 

 our feet; the sun rays's cheerful; the breeze exhilara- 

 ting ; a good, stiff boat, clean and light, under foot, 

 and an agreeable companion, for such is our friend 

 Jone ; — and thus we swiftly glide out into the Bay. 



" The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared ; 

 Merrily did we drop ; 

 Below the Kirk, below the hiU, 

 Below the light-house top." 



To many of my readers probably the whole scheme 

 now engaged in is as patent and clear as daylight; 

 they have been out dredging themselves, and can 

 fancy the matter perfectly, perhaps with a momentary 

 wish that they had been 



" ^there to see." 



But some may honour these pages with their perusal 

 to whom it may not yet be quite clear, what is the 

 object of the excursion, and what the manner. While 

 then we are running down before this north-west 

 breeze to reach our field of operations, which is some 

 four or five miles away, I will occupy the time with a 

 word or two about dredging. 



Valuable as are the acquisitions which the naturalist 

 frequently makes by searching the shores at low water 

 and at spring-tides, he feels that this gives him but a 

 small acquaintance with the treasures held in the 



