MAEINE BOTANY. 15 



such provision. Her home is on the waters, often when 

 thunders are abroad, and fierce winds contend for master}-, 

 when, too, the raging and recoiling of huge waves against 

 their barrier rocks is still louder and more terrible. Many 

 a gallant vessel, ably commanded and well manned, with 

 its strong ribs of oak, and dauntless hearts on board, are 

 wrecked by their fury, while the small sea-weed rides 

 uninjured; and he who, sleepless and tossing on his bed, 

 listens with dread to the deep thundering roar of ocean, 

 mindful of wrecks on the wide expanse, may find next day 

 this small plant lying uninjured on the sand. 



Associations therefore of minuteness and magnificence, of 

 helplessness and terror, are blended with the wandering 

 Dasya. Somewhat of mysteriousness mingles also, for its 

 home may be on the ever-moving surface of the billows — 



Up and down, 



Up and down, 

 On the feathery crest of the wild sea-foam. 



Bathing now in the purest light, 



Hurrying now through the gloom of night, 

 Where the surges rage and foam. 



Or perchance it grows besides one of those clear streams that 

 gu8h from out the bed of ocean — small sea-streams winding 

 in their pureness and their clearness, having nought in 

 common with the briny waters of the deep. This plant 

 may grow beside them, or it may be in one of those 

 untrodden caves where the sea-star sheds her mild light ; 

 a living lamp gleaming in the darkness, and flinging a soft 

 radiance through groves of coral. Such may be her native 

 growing-places, and as the world is full of symbols designed 

 to awaken thoughts concerning things that are invisible, 

 the coming up of this delicately-formed sea- weed from out 

 her dwelling in the fathomless abyss, or else her wondrous 

 preservation beneath crushing rains, and amid the utmost 

 fury of fierce winds, is one of Nature's lessons whereby to 

 gladden or console the heart of man. 



