12 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



the discovery of the New, and which served to indi- 

 cate the existence of nnexplored realms inhabited 

 by unknown races, but not to supply information 

 about their character, habits, and extent. But 

 when a whole dredgeful of living creatures from 

 the unexplored depth appeared, it was as if we 

 had alighted upon a city of the unknown people, 

 and were able, through the numbers and varieties 

 taken, to understand what manner of beings they 

 were. Well do I remember anxiously separating 

 every trace of organic life from the enveloping mud, 

 and gazing with delighted eye on creatures hitherto 

 unknown, or on groups of living shapes, the true 

 habitats of which had never been ascertained be- 

 fore, nor had their aspect, when in the full vigour 

 and beauty of life ever before delighted the eye 

 of a naturalist. And when, at close of day, our 

 active labours over, we counted the bodies of the 

 slain, or curiously watched the proceedings of 

 those whom we had selected as prisoners, and con- 

 fined in crystal vases, filled with a limited allowance 

 of their native element, our feelings of exultation 

 were as vivid, and surely as pardonable, as the 

 triumphant satisfaction of some old Spanish " Con- 

 quisatador," musing over his siege of a wondrous 

 Astlan city, and reckoning the number of painted 

 Indians he had brought to the ground by the 

 prowess of his stalwart arm. 



To sit down by the sea-side at the commence- 

 ment of ebb, and watch the shore gradually un- 



