CHAPTER Vin 



SALT MARSHES 



" Dear marshes! vain to him the gift of sight 

 Who cajmot in their varied incomes share, 



From every season drawn of shade and light, 

 Who sees in them but levels brown and bare; 

 Each change of storm and sunshine scatters free 

 On them its largess of variety, 

 For nature with cheap means still works her wonders 

 rare." 



— Lowell. 



A RECENT writer on the geology of salt 

 marshes says: " As scenic features 

 they are monotonous and uninteresting 

 in the extreme because of their lack of relief 

 and uniformity of appearance." To such one 

 can but reply in the words of Lowell quoted 

 at the head of this chapter. 



While there is a peculiar charm of the sand 

 dunes, so also is there a charm of the salt 

 marshes— a salty flavor all their own. At all 

 seasons there is a pleasure in their con- 

 templation, and a joy in their exploration, 



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