BOTANISING ASHOBE 73 
sixty miles north of the Cape, whilst we were beating to 
the Southward ; they certainly (though only of one kind) 
gave a most exalted notion of a submarine forest, with its 
accompaniment of a parasitic vegetation ; with fish for 
birds, corals for Lichens, and shells for insects. Whilst 
going six or seven knots through the water, we, stationed 
in the quarter boats, harpooned these weeds as we passed, 
and very good fun for botanising it was ; the largest brought 
on board had a short thick branching root from which sprang 
four great stems, the longest 24 feet. ... It belongs 
to the genus Lammaria ; the old stems are brown, with 
flat white corals on them, and some parasitic seaweeds ; 
the matted roots contain numerous other seaweeds, shells, 
Crustacea, corals, Molluscae, Actineae and red-blooded 
worms. The leaves are infested with Patellas, Sertularias, 
and Flustrae. From one specimen I took four seaweeds 
and upwards of thirty animals, by carefully pulhng the 
root to pieces. Nor were these large seaweeds ; many 
were seen twice as large if not larger. What extraordinary 
power can have torn them up by the roots I cannot con- 
ceive, for, from their length, they must grow far below low 
water mark.^ 
Nevertheless, however engrossing the twofold interest of 
these occupations, the old spell of botanising ashore always 
gripped him anew with irresistible attractions. The same 
letter tells : 
I have heard naturalists complain of the tedium of a 
sea voyage ; such cannot be naturalists or must be sea-sick 
(which I have never been for an hour). I do not mean to 
say I would not be better employed and happier perhaps 
studying Botany ashore, with more comforts around me, 
but I assure you my weeks fly, though from my slow working 
I have not much to show, and, unaccountable as it may 
appear to you, when we draw near shore I feel quite thrown 
out of my usual routine of employment. I must own, 
^ Writing to his father on May 3, 1842, from the Falklands, he gives an 
explanation with which some observant naval officers supplied him : 
'The officers of the Arrow are very nice fellows. One of them told me 
that as the Macrocystis grows large, it finally weighs up the stone, which was 
its moorings, and then the whole plant goes off to sea, which fully explains the 
reason for our finding so much of it alive at sea.' 
