X 



INTEODUCTION. 



hours probably, but not very easy to get away from, when climbing over boulders 

 had to be combined with striding knee-deep in water. This was the Windmill Bay 

 at St. Mary's, Scilly; and it is but one case among hundreds, for even flat sand- 

 bank shores are not safe without attention, as any one who knows Withernsea, near 

 Hull, will bear witness. Enough, however, of warnings, lest people should be frayed 

 from venturing on the shore at all; whereas our hints are only intended to teach 

 them to do it safely. 



And once on the beach under the favourable circumstances of a fine day, a receding 

 tide, sufiicient refection in the basket to prevent an inglorious retreat for lack of 

 food — what is the wisest course to pursue? To go straight down at once to as 

 low- water as the tide admits of, and so gradually follow its retreat; or to indulge 

 the very natural inclination to stop and gather the wash-up {turecJc^ or wrack) which 

 may possibly be scattered at your feet? The answer depends upon circumstances, 

 but, as a general rule, the first is decidedly the better plan for a sea-weed collector. 

 Sunshine so quickly injures the greater number of the finer plants (fading them to 

 yellow and white), that they are scarcely worth picking up after a few hours' 

 exposure. But if a rough sea has brought an unusually profuse and thick deposit, 

 t-hey are well worth a turn over or two from your stick just to see that you are 

 not leaving pearls behind you unaware; and if you are one of those who patronise 

 zoophytes as well as algse, you are pretty sure to find something worth stopping a 

 few minutes for. Yery good zoophytes are sometimes washed up to the very last 

 high-water mark line, an instance of which once occurred at Filey, where a layer of 

 the scarce Thuiaria articulata was left round one side of the bay, close under the 

 cliffs. 



In such cases, of course, the bird-in-the-hand principle must come into play. You 

 must not leave the certain good thing behind you, lest you lose it; for, find what 

 you may afterwards, you will fret about the neglected treasure. Secure it, therefore, 

 but hurry on afterwards; and to beginners I would say, Go down to lower water 

 at once. 



And now, if you have to walk along the sands before reaching the rocks you 

 purpose scrambling over, enjoy yourself thoroughly as you go, by keeping close to 

 the sea; never minding a few touches from the last gentle waves as they ripple over 

 at your feet. Feel all the luxury of not having to be afraid of your boots; neither 

 of wetting nor destroying them. Feel all the comfort of walking steadily forward, 

 the very strength of the soles making you tread firm — confident in yourself, and, 

 let me add, in your dress. Verily we women are all, "more or less" (as sea- weed 

 descriptions have it), at the mercy of our dress! It is an unpleasant truth, but a 

 truth it is. Does it not, require an actual efiJ'ort of moral courage, for instance, to 

 go to a dinner-party, when you know that you, are by no means fresh from the 

 hands of a milliner, but that other people are likely to be pre-eminently so? Can 

 even a sense (which shall be granted you) of some internal compensating superiority 

 prevent you feeling a little — just a little! — abashed, or dashed,'^ as the strong 

 common phrase goes, by the consciousness that for you the last new moon's "Belle 

 Assemblee" has been published in vain? Take courage and admit the fact! You 

 may hate the particular^ fashion of the day; disapprove of it as a matter of taste; 

 be quite aware that no artist, or, at all events, no high-art artist, would venture 



