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INTRODUCTION. 



Does any one doubt the truth of this picture, and imagine it merely a fancy des- 

 cription got up to throw a fictitious charm over the subject of the book? If he 

 does so, let him undeceive himself at once. Fictitious extasies inevitably betray 

 themselves, and he is no Lavater of the mind who can suspect that this is one. On 

 the contrary, it is but a very poor transcript of the delight which hundreds have 

 experienced already in this as in other investigations of the wonderful works of God; 

 and it is to be hoped that hundreds will experience it again. Youth is not necessary 

 to it, riches are not necessary to it, and a moderate amount of bodily health and 

 strength will suffice, and will, in many cases, increase with the using; or the able 

 and willing assistant-hunter may save the elder one a part of the bodily labour, 

 and receive a more than double amount of good in return, as the two sit together 

 on a rock for rest and pleasant discourse on things of Heaven and things of that 

 Earth which the Almighty has given to the children of men, not merely as a picture- 

 book to be stared at, but as written pages to be read and studied. 



About this shore-hunting, however, as regards my own sex (so many of whom, I 

 know, are interested in the pursuit), many difficulties are apt to arise; among the 

 foremost of which must be mentioned the risk of cold and destruction of clothes. 

 The best pair of single-soled kid Balmoral boots that ever were made will not stand 

 salt water many days — indeed would scarcely "come on" after being thoroughly 

 wetted two or three times in succession — and the sea-weed collector who has to pick 

 her way to save her boots will never be a loving disciple as long as she lives! Any 

 one, therefore, really intending to worh in the matter, must lay aside for a time all 

 thought of conventional appearances, and be content to support the weight of a pair 

 of boy's shooting boots, which, furthermore, should be rendered as far water-proof as 

 possible by receiving a thin coat of neat's-foot oil, such as is used by fishermen 

 — a process well understood in most lodging-houses. It is true that sea-water does 

 not usually give any one cold, but in sea- weed hunting, where there is so much 

 standing and dawdling about, as well as walking, it is as well for beginners or delicate 

 people not to be wet for any great length of time; and as for the hardier hunters 

 who have learned to walk boldly into a pool if they suspect there is anything worth 

 having in the middle of it, they will oil their boots, for the simple reason that it is 

 a mere waste of time to black and polish them; for, polish as they will, a saline 

 incrustation is sure to steal through at last. This advice cannot be enforced too 

 strongly. It is both wasteful, uncomfortable, and dangerous to attempt sea-weed 

 hunting in delicate boots. Wasteful, because a guinea pair will scarcely last a week. 

 Uncomfortable, because to walk on some rocks in thin soles (the slate edges of those 

 in Douglas Bay, for instance) is so painful, that it very soon becomes impossible. 

 Dangerous, because you must be wetted through by the first bit of moist sand you 

 come to, and it is not every one who would be justified in running the risk involved 

 in this fact. 



Next to boots comes the question of petticoats; and if anything could excuse a 

 woman for imitating the costume of a man, it would be what she suffers as a sea- 

 weed collector from those necessary draperies! But to make the best of a bad 

 matter, let woollen be in the ascendant as much as possible; and let the petticoats 

 never come below the ankle. A ladies' yatching costume has come into fashion of late, 

 which is, perhaps, as near perfection for shore-work as anything that could be devised. 



DSt 



