6 HANDY BOOK OP 



awe and wonder with which he first beheld the onward 

 rushing of giant billows, till suddenly subsiding at his feet 

 they spread upon the sand those beautiful sea- weeds which 

 children often seize in their small hands, dripping with the 

 brine of the ocean, and run joyfully to show their com- 

 panions ! 



There is a freshness in ocean scenery which has few 

 parallels except in mountainous countries. There is no 

 sameness on the surface of the deep, for no two billows are 

 alike either in form or hue ; and yet their power to delight 

 the mind consists in unity, and in a kind of fellowship with 

 the elements of air and light by which they are surrounded. 

 Hence the infinite variety of varying shadows cast by rapid 

 clouds while speeding through the heavens ; the restless 

 heaving of the waves, with their crests of foam sparkling on 

 the sunbeams ; their majesty when tempests are abroad ; 

 their calm and gentle swell when zephyrs are sporting on 

 the deep. But how much is the effect heightened, and what 

 subjects of deep interest are awakened in the mind, when 

 the whole is regarded with reference to that vegetable 

 world which lies deep beneath the billows, specimens of 

 which the waves continually bring up, as if commissioned 

 to make known the wonders of creation in places inacces- 

 sible to man. 



Let us, then, go forth, whether as children or young 

 people, or those to whom Marine Botany is familiar, and 

 collect sea- weeds on the shore. Cicero left us an example 

 which we may do well to emulate. He draws a delightful 

 picture of the pleasures derived from such pursuits by 

 Scipio and Lselius at Laurentum, when, having relinquished 

 for a time the cares attendant on public life, they amused 

 themselves with observing the various productions that 

 were cast by waves upon the sand. 



But first, as needful for an enlarged view of this inte- 

 resting subject, it will be right to speak concerning the 

 local appropriation of different species, for such appropria- 



