XII INTRODUCTION. 



lies in a lump on the sand, beginners are sure to pick up more of a kind than 

 they want. No matter, however, for your first gatherings, if you do but observe 

 them narrowly afterwards, and so take in a lesson of increased wisdom for next 

 day. 



Moreover, "time and chance happeneth to all men," and your very first day's 

 hunt may, by a happy accident, — waft actual treasures under your eyes. It is in 

 vain to attempt to enumerate these, but let no very delicate hair-like tuft or flat 

 pink plant escape you; watch the wave that is throwing them ashore, and if it is 

 for changing its mind and drawing them back, you must step in to the rescue and 

 secure what looks to you the best, whether you wet your gloves, boots, or even 

 petticoat, or not! And then push on, for if good things are astir in this manner 

 you will get at them still more easily a little further down; kneeling on some low 

 rock for instance, in some sheltered corner which you must look for, where the water 

 is tolerably quiet, and you can see your pretty prey floating, displayed to the best 

 advantage, and dip in a bare arm to catch it at comfortable leisure. 



And here men have certainly an advantage over women, for they can wade with 

 impunity: but never mind; plenty can be done without it, if the loving disciple will 

 but have patience with the waves, use her stick cleverly to assist the nearing of 

 the plants, and separate them so as to observe their forms as they approach. She 

 will thus soon learn to know the fairy Callithamnion bushes (Plates LVI. to LIX.) 

 from everything else, and will push aside the coarser Paul Pry, Ceramium rubrum, 

 for their more refined tufts; nay, could scarcely fail to recognise Chrysymenia rosea 

 (now Chylocladia rosea, see Fig. 142) itself, even at first sight. But patience and 

 enjoyment must go hand in hand here. To stoop down once or twice and then be 

 weary, will not do. You must kneel, or sit, or recline on the rock, and fairly gaze 

 on into the water as the waves waft the plants up and down. And if you have 

 got into a good place, i. e. under shelter, and where fresh things are coming in, 

 half an hour will scarcely be too much to remain, unless the tide is ebbing, in which 

 case you must follow it to the next convenient resting-place. 



Of course, to gather a plant growing is the orthodox perfection of sea-weed 

 discovery, but these hints are especially intended for the comfort of the sisterhood 

 who are hampered both in wading and climbing. And they may rest assured that 

 some of the rarest and loveliest plants may be caught in the manner above described, 

 and often as perfect and uninjured as if careful hands instead of reckless waves had 

 detached them from the rocks. The truth is, the scarce low-water plants are apt 

 to haunt very inaccessible places; places, too, where the roaring of breakers is so 

 near at hand, and the standing ground so wet with spray, that a strong mental 

 efi'ort is necessary to keep the nerves and feefc steady, even after the difiiculties of 

 getting there are surmounted. Not that the spot is unsafe for any one who is sure 

 of a continuous self-command; but invalids sometimes become sea- weed collectors, 

 and it would be madness to counsel women indiscriminately to be strong-minded 

 above their condition. People can, however, do at one time what they cannot at 

 another; and with a male companion to lend a hand and infuse a sense of security, 

 a very eerie hunting-ground may be sometimes ventured upon ; yea, even within the 

 splash and uproar of such heavy dark green waves as beat against the north side 

 of Filey Bridge, the place of all others to which the above remarks specially refer. 



