AFTER A STOEM. 113 



from the unknown ages, that lie hidden in those 

 words of inspiration, " In the beginning" — but thou- 

 sands of years has this restless tide ebbed and flowed ; 

 six hours coming up, six hours going down, with a 

 brief pause of equilibrium at its turn. Once only it 

 rose and prevailed at the word of the Creator, then 

 fell once more and for ever into subjection ; for the 

 great God wrote in rainbow-letters throughout the 

 firmament His decree, that the sea should never again 

 be the conqueror of the world, and He set its bounds 

 invisible that it cannot pass. Do you ever think of 

 the obedience of each little wave as it runs sparkling 

 over the sand, or springs up in feathery foam against 

 the tide-mark on the shore ? And if the sea-marks 

 change, and tide level varies, is it not under the same 

 Almighty hand that directs the procession of the 

 equinox — a steady advance or retreat — as of " one 

 under authority " ? 



"We will now turn to the beach. There is a coil of 

 tangled weed on the crest of that wave as it is left, 

 glistening with foam, upon the shingle or the sand. 

 The first seaweed we notice will probably be a long 

 brown frond full of oblong pods, striped across : this 

 is Halidrys Siliquosa, not fit for the collector's book, 

 but very well worth examining. It has been de- 

 scribed already because it is found in tide-pools, but 

 when thrown up after a storm it is interesting, be- 

 cause so full of zoophytes— Phmularia, or the feather 

 zoophyte often mistaken for a seaweed, and as such I 

 have seen it in many collections. Parasitic on Hali- 

 drys and Cystoseira, which is now thrown up abun- 

 dantly, we find many rare and beautiful plants for 



H 



