CHAPTEE II. 



THE PLOOR OP THE OCEAN. 



' The wonders of the ocean floor do not reyeal tliem- 

 selves to vulgar eyes. As the oracle was inaudible 

 to sacrilegious listeners, and as none but poetic ears 

 heard the cadenced beating of the feet that danced 

 to unearthly music, near the fountain haunted by 

 the Muses of classic fable — so, none but the initiated 

 can see the myriad miracles that each receding tide 

 reveals on the ocean floor. The initiation, however, 

 is not mysterious ; there are no dark rites to 

 observe — no Herculean labours to accomplish, before 

 entering upon the noviciate, which at once opens a 

 large area of unexpected pleasures, and an ample 

 field for admiration and investigation. A few 

 elementary works carefully studied, or even this 

 present little book attentively perused, would supply 

 the first helps towards seeing^ at all events, a por- 

 tion of the ''wonders of the shore," as the brilliant 

 author of '' Glaucus" has eloquently termed those 

 revelations of the retiring deep. 



It is the seeing that is everything. But let none 



9 



