MARINE BOTANf. 13 



those plains and valleys which never receive a ray of light, 

 but through the medium of water, large supplies of pebbles, 

 sand, or soil, adapted for the growth of dissimilar plants. 

 Clear and bubbling streams rise from out the bed of ocean, 

 while, beside them, crowd such floras as delight in their 

 purity and freshness. And, punctual to their appointed 

 season, come and go those ever-moving tides, which, like 

 the winds of earth, have a mighty purpose to fulfil, a mi- 

 nistry which the power of man can neither frustrate nor 

 hasten. 



CHAPTER III. 



MELAN0SPER1IE2E.— OLIVE-GKEEN SEBTES. 



Is there a quiet world that lies beneath 



The might of waters, sounding, moving ever ; 



Or rough with storms, or thundering on the shore 



With deaf'ning clamour ? Yes, a quiet world 



Doth lie beneath, with groves, and vales, aud streams, 



And living creatures, each with haunt and home, 



As best befits it. 



Maeine Botany peoples the wild sea-shore, and sings to 

 me strange histories and adventures; even the smallest sea- 

 weed which the waves have brought from out its ocean-bed 

 whispers concerning depths which no human eye has seen, 

 nor the boldest adventurer ever trod. Plants, such as grow 

 beside our paths, have their own brief histories ; memorials 

 too are they, ofttimes, of days long past, associated with old 

 times, and men whose stern adventures formed an era in 

 their fatherland: but such is not the case with those of 

 which we speak. The brine of ocean is on their dripping 

 leaves ; no shadows rest on them from ancestral trees, wav- 



