vil] 
INTRODUCTION. 
Does any one doubt the truth of this picture, and imagine it merely a fancy description 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 work 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’ yachting 
costume has come into fashion of late, which is, perhaps, as near perfection for shore-work as 
anything that could be devised. It is a suit consisting of a full short skirt of blue flannel or 
serge (like very fine bathing-gown material), with waistcoat and jacket to match. Cloaks and 
shawls, which necessarily hamper the arms, besides having long ends and corners which cannot 
