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from the sun and always full of water; keep up in a higher zone the 

vegetation of a lower one; and afford in nature an analogy to those 

deep 〃barrancos〃 which split the high table…land of Mexico; down 

whose awful cliffs; swept by cool sea…breezes; the traveller looks 

from among the plants and animals of the temperate zone; and sees 

far below; dim through their everlasting vapour…bath of rank hot 

steam; the mighty forms and gorgeous colours of a tropic forest。



〃I do not wonder;〃 says Mr。 Gosse; in his charming 〃Naturalist's 

Rambles on the Devonshire Coast〃 (p。 187); 〃that when Southey had 

an opportunity of seeing some of those beautiful quiet basins 

hollowed in the living rock; and stocked with elegant plants and 

animals; having all the charm of novelty to his eye; they should 

have moved his poetic fancy; and found more than one place in the 

gorgeous imagery of his Oriental romances。  Just listen to him





〃It was a garden still beyond all price;

Even yet it was a place of paradise;

And here were coral bowers;

And grots of madrepores;

And banks of sponge; as soft and fair to eye

As e'er was mossy bed

Whereon the wood…nymphs lie

With languid limbs in summer's sultry hours。

Here; too; were living flowers;

Which; like a bud compacted;

Their purple cups contracted;

And now in open blossom spread;

Stretch'd; like green anthers; many a seeking head。

And arborets of jointed stone were there;

And plants of fibres fine as silkworm's thread;

Yea; beautiful as mermaid's golden hair

Upon the waves dispread。

Others that; like the broad banana growing;

Raised their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue;

Like streamers wide outflowing。' … KEHAMA; xvi。 5。





〃A hundred times you might fancy you saw the type; the very 

original of this description; tracing; line by line; and image by 

image; the details of the picture; and acknowledging; as you 

proceed; the minute truthfulness with which it has been drawn。  For 

such is the loveliness of nature in these secluded reservoirs; that 

the accomplished poet; when depicting the gorgeous scenes of 

Eastern mythology … scenes the wildest and most extravagant that 

imagination could paint … drew not upon the resources of his 

prolific fancy for imagery here; but was well content to jot down 

the simple lineaments of Nature as he saw her in plain; homely 

England。



〃It is a beautiful and fascinating sight for those who have never 

seen it before; to see the little shrubberies of pink coralline … 

'the arborets of jointed stone' … that fringe those pretty pools。  

It is a charming sight to see the crimson banana…like leaves of the 

Delesseria waving in their darkest corners; and the purple fibrous 

tufts of Polysiphonia and Ceramia; 'fine as silkworm's thread。'  

But there are many others which give variety and impart beauty to 

these tide…pools。  The broad leaves of the Ulva; finer than the 

finest cambric; and of the brightest emerald…green; adorn the 

hollows at the highest level; while; at the lowest; wave tiny 

forests of the feathery Ptilota and Dasya; and large leaves; cut 

into fringes and furbelows; of rosy Rhodymeniae。  All these are 

lovely to behold; but I think I admire as much as any of them; one 

of the commonest of our marine plants; Chondrus crispus。  It occurs 

in the greatest profusion on this coast; in every pool between 

tide…marks; and everywhere … except in those of the highest level; 

where constant exposure to light dwarfs the plant; and turns it of 

a dull umber…brown tint … it is elegant in form and brilliant in 

colour。  The expanding fan…shaped fronds; cut into segments; cut; 

and cut again; make fine bushy tufts in a deep pool; and every 

segment of every frond reflects a flush of the most lustrous azure; 

like that of a tempered sword…blade。〃 … GOSSE'S DEVONSHIRE COAST; 

pp。 187…189。



And the sea…bottom; also; has its zones; at different depths; and 

its peculiar forms in peculiar spots; affected by the currents and 

the nature of the ground; the riches of which have to be seen; 

alas! rather by the imagination than the eye; for such spoonfuls of 

the treasure as the dredge brings up to us; come too often rolled 

and battered; torn from their sites and contracted by fear; mere 

hints to us of what the populous reality below is like。  Often; 

standing on the shore at low tide; has one longed to walk on and in 

under the waves; as the water…ousel does in the pools of the 

mountain burn; and see it all but for a moment; and a solemn beauty 

and meaning has invested the old Greek fable of Glaucus the 

fisherman:  how eating of the herb which gave his fish strength to 

leap back into their native element; he was seized on the spot with 

a strange longing to follow them under the waves; and became for 

ever a companion of the fair semi…human forms with which the 

Hellenic poets peopled their sunny bays and firths; feeding 〃silent 

flocks〃 far below on the green Zostera beds; or basking with them 

on the sunny ledges in the summer noon; or wandering in the still 

bays on sultry nights amid the choir of Amphitrite and her sea…

nymphs:…





〃Joining the bliss of the gods; as they waken the coves with their 

laughter;〃





in nightly revels; whereof one has sung; …





〃So they came up in their joy; and before them the roll of the 

surges

Sank; as the breezes sank dead; into smooth green foam…flecked 

marble

Awed; and the crags of the cliffs; and the pines of the mountains; 

were silent。

So they came up in their joy; and around them the lamps of the sea…

nymphs;

Myriad fiery globes; swam heaving and panting; and rainbows;

Crimson; and azure; and emerald; were broken in star…showers; 

lighting;

Far in the wine…dark depths of the crystal; the gardens of Nereus;

Coral; and sea…fan; and tangle; the blooms and the palms of the 

ocean。

So they went on in their joy; more white than the foam which they 

scattered;

Laughing and singing and tossing and twining; while; eager; the 

Tritons

Blinded with kisses their eyes; unreproved; and above them in 

worship

Fluttered the terns; and the sea…gulls swept past them on silvery 

pinions;

Echoing softly their laughter; around them the wantoning dolphins

Sighed as they plunged; full of love; and the great sea…horses 

which bore them

Curved up their crests in their pride to the delicate arms of their 

riders;

Pawing the spray into gems; till a fiery rainfall; unharming;

Sparkled and gleamed on the limbs of the maids; and the coils of 

the mermen。

So they went on in their joy; bathed round with the fiery coolness;

Needing nor sun nor moon; self…lighted; immortal:  but others;

Pitiful; floated in silence apart; on their knees lay the sea…boys

Whelmed by the roll of the surge; swept down by the anger of 

Nereus;

Hapless; whom never again upon quay or strand shall their mothers

Welcome with garlands and vows to the temples; but; wearily pining;

Gaze over island and main for the sails which return not; they; 

heedless;

Sleep in soft bosoms for ever; and dream of the surge and the sea…

maids。

So they passed by in their joy; like a dream; on the murmuring 

ripple。〃





Such a rhapsody may be somewhat out of order; even in a popular 

scientific book; and yet one cannot help at moments envying the old 

Greek imagination; which could inform the soulless sea…world with a 

human life and beauty。  For; after all; star…fishes and sea…

anemones are dull substitutes for Sirens and Tritons; the lamps of 

the sea…nymphs; those glorious phosphorescent medusae whose beauty 

Mr。 Gosse sets forth so well with pen and pencil; are not as 

attractive as the sea…nymphs themselves would be; and who would 

not; like Menelaus; take the grey old man of the sea himself asleep 

upon the rocks; rather than one of his seal…herd; probably too with 

the same result as the world…famous combat in the Antiquary; 

between Hector and Phoca?  And yet … is there no human interest in 

these pursuits; more humanity and more divine; than there would be 

even in those Triton and Nereid dreams; if realized to sight and 

sense?  Heaven forbid that those should say so; whose wanderings 

among rock and pool have been mixed up with holiest passages of 

friendship and of love; and the intercommunion of equal minds and 

sympathetic hearts; and the laugh of children drinking in health 

from every breeze and instruction at every step; running ever and 

anon with proud delight to add their little treasure to their 

parents' stock; and of happy friendly evenings spent over the 

microscope and the vase; in examining; arranging; preserving; 

noting down in the diary the wonders and the labours of the happy; 

busy day。  No; such short glimpses of the water…world as our 

present appliances afford us are full enough of pleasure; and we 

will not envy Glaucus:  we will not even be over…anxious for the 

success 

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