,transcriber's ,note ,italic text is denoted by underscores4 ,all oe ligatures were converted to oe4 ,,the ,,sea4 ,,uniform ,,with ,,this ,,volume1 ,and by the same ,author4 ,,love 7,l',,amour47 7,twenty-seventh edition47 ,price1 #a1jj ,,woman 7,,la ,,femme47 7,thirteenth edition47 #a1jj ,,the ,,child 7,l',,enfant47 7,in press47 ,,the ,,insect 7,l',,ins,,cte7 ,its ,life1 ,loves and ,labors4 7,in press47 ,,the ,,bird 7,l',,oiseau47 ,its ,life1 ,loves1 and ,labors4 7,in press47 ,,women ,,of ,,the ,,french ,,revolution4 7,in press47 ,,the ,,sea 7,la ,mer47 ,from the ,french of ,m4 ,j4 ,,michelet1 ,of the ,faculty of ,letters1 ,author of ,a ,history of ,france1 ,love1 ,woman1 ,the ,child1 ,the ,insect1 ,the ,bird1 ,women of the ,french ,revolution1 etc41 etc41 etc4 ,,translated ,,from ,,the ,,latest ,,paris ,,edition4 ,illustration ,,new ,,york3 ,,rudd ,,carleton1 #ahj ,,grand ,,street ,,paris3 ,l4 ,,hachette ,,et ,cie4 ,,mdccclxi4 ,entered according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahfa1 by ,,rudd ,,carleton1 ,in the ,clerk's office of the ,district ,court of the ,southern ,district of ,new ,york4 ,,extract ,,from ,,the ,,london ,,athen,,um1 ,feb4 #i4 #ahfa4 ',the ,sea' is another of ,m4 ,michelet's dreamy volumes1--half science1 half fancy1 with a blending in both of sensuous suggestion4 ,m4 ,michelet takes the seas of the world in his hands1 manipulates them1 invokes their monsters1 assembles all their finny droves1 gossips with the sirens1 sails among the ,hyperborean waters with ,behemoth1 and is on intimate terms with ,tennyson's little shell-king1 who lives in a palace with doors of diamond1 and wears a rainbow frill1 for the admiration of the nations that dwell in his dim1 sunken wildernesses4 99 99 99 99 99 ,he discourses upon marine terrors and beauties1 and tells the reader1 as a sublime ,peter ,parley might1 that the salt of all the seas1 if piled upon ,america1 would spread over the continent a solid1 cliff-edged mass1 #d1ejj feet high4 ,there are chapters on ,sands1 ,cliffs and ,beaches2 on ,waves2 on the anatomy of the ,sea itself1 which resembles a gigantic animal arrested in the earliest stage of its organization2 on ,tempests2 on the sympathy between ,air and ,water2 on the ,fecundity of the ,sea1 which1 were it not self-devouring1 would putrefy1 according to ,m4 ,michelet into one solid mass of herring2 on ,fish of every species1 and especially on ,pearls4 ,the ,queens of the ,east1 he says1 dislike the gleams of the diamond4 ,they will allow nothing to touch their skins except pearls4 ,a necklace and two bracelets of pearls constitute the perfection of ornament4 ,the pearls silently say to the woman1 ,love us6 hush6 ,in the ,north1 too1 dainty ,countesses love their pearls1--wearing them beneath their clothes by night and by day1 concealing them1 caressing them1 only now and then exposing them4 ,so do the ,odalisques of ,asia prize the soft linen vestment that just covers their limbs1 never taking it off until worn out1 which says little for ,oriental baths4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the book is pleasant reading1 like all else that ,m4 ,michelet writes4 ,,contents4 ,page ,extract from ,the ,london ,atheneum1 #e ,,book ,,first4 ,a ,,glance ,,upon ,,the ,,seas4 ,i4 ,the ,sea as seen from the ,shore1 #aa ,,ii4 ,the ,beach1 the ,sands1 and the ,iron ,bound ,coast1 #ai ,,iii4 ,the ,same1 7,continued7 #bd ,,iv4 ,the ,same1 7,continued7 #ha ,v4 ,the ,fiery and the ,watery ,circle4 ,the ,currents of the ,sea1 #dj ,,vi4 ,tempests1 #eh ,,vii4 ,tempests 7,continued7 #fc ,,viii4 ,the ,storm of ,october1 #ahei1 #gb ,,ix4 ,the ,beacons1 #ia ,,book ,,second4 ,,the ,,genesis ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,i4 ,fecundity1 #aje ,,ii4 ,the ,milky ,sea1 #aad ,,iii4 ,the ,atom1 #abh ,,iv4 ,blood-,flower1 #aci ,v4 ,the ,world ,makers1 #adi ,,vi4 ,daughter of the ,seas1 #afj ,,vii4 ,the ,stone ,picker1 #agc ,,viii4 ,shells1 ,mother of ,pearl1 and ,pearl1 #ahb ,,ix4 ,the ,sea ,rovers 7,poulpe1 c47 #aid ,x4 ,crustace4 ,battle and ,intrigue1 #bjb ,,xi4 ,the ,fish1 #bab ,,xii4 ,the ,whale1 #bbe ,,xiii4 ,the ,syrens1 #bcf ,,book ,,third4 ,,conquest ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,i4 ,the ,harpoon1 #bea ,,ii4 ,discovery of the ,three ,oceans1 #bfj ,,iii4 ,the ,law of ,storms1 #bge ,,iv4 ,the ,polar ,seas1 #bhi ,v4 ,man's ,war upon the ,races of the ,sea1 #cjf ,,vi4 ,the ,law of the ,ocean1 #cai ,,book ,,fourth4 ,,the ,,restoration ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,i4 ,origin of ,sea ,bathing1 #cbi ,,ii4 ,choice of ,coast1 #cdj ,,iii4 ,the ,house1 #cdi ,,iv4 ,first ,aspiration of the ,sea1 #cfj ,v4 ,baths4 ,restoration of ,beauty1 #cfi ,,vi4 ,the ,restoration of ,heart and ,brotherhood1 #cgg ,,vii4 ,the ,new ,life of the ,nations1 #chh ,notes4 #dja ,,book ,,first4 ,a ,,glance ,,upon ,,the ,,seas4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,sea ,,as ,,seen ,,from ,,the ,,shore4 ,a gallant ,dutch seaman1 a cool and stern observer1 who has passed his whole life at sea1 frankly tells us that his feeling on first seeing the ocean was fear4 ,for all terrestrial animals1 water is the non-respirable element1 the ever heaving but inevitably asphyxiating enemy2 the fatal and eternal barrier between the two worlds4 ,we need not1 all things being considered1 be at all surprised1 if that immense mass of waters which we call the sea1 dark and inscrutable in its immense depths1 ever and always impresses the human mind with a vague and resistless awe4 ,the imaginative ,orientals see it only and call it only1 as1 the ,night of the ,depths4 ,in all the antique tongues1 from ,india to ,ireland1 the synonymous or analogous name of the sea is either ,night or the ,desert4 ,ah6 ,with what a great and a hallowed and a hallowing1 with what an at once soothing and subduing melancholy it is that1 evening after evening1 we see the ,sun1 that great world's joy1 that brilliant1 life-quickening1 and light-giving ,sun of all that lives1 fade1 sink1 die--though so surely to rise and live again6 ,ah6 as that glorious light departs1 how tenderly do we think of the human loves that have died from us--of the hour when we1 also1 shall thus depart from human ken1 lost1 for the time1 to this world--to shine more gloriously in that other world1 now dark1 distant1 unknown1 but certain4 ,descend to even a slight depth in the sea1 and the beauty and brilliancy of the upper light are lost2 you enter into a persistent twilight1 and misty and half-lurid haze2 a little lower1 and even that sinister and eldritch twilight is lost1 and all around you is ,night1 showing nothing1 but suggesting everything that darkness1--handmaiden of terrible ,fancy--can suggest4 ,above1 below1 beneath1 all around1 darkness1 utter darkness1 save when1 from time to time1 the swift and gracefully terrible motion of some passing monster of the deep makes darkness visible for a brief moment--and1 then1 that passing gleam leaves you in darkness more dense1 more utter1 more terrible1 than ever4 ,immense in its extent1 enormous in its depth1 that mass of waters which covers the greater part of our globe seems1 in truth1 a great world of shadows and of gloom4 ,and it is that which1 above all1 at once fascinates and intimidates us4 ,darkness and ,fear6 ,twin sisters1 they6 ,in the early day1 the at once timid and unreasoning ,childhood of our race1 men imagined that where no ,light was1 neither could there be ,life2 that in the unfathomed depths1 there was a black1 lifeless1 soundless1 ,chaos2 above1 nought but water and gloom1--beneath1 sand1 and shells1 the bones of the wrecked mariner1 the rich wares of the far off1 ruined1 and vainly bewailing merchant2--those sad treasures of that ever-receiving and never-restoring treasury--the ,sea4 ,the waters of the sea afford us no encouragement by their transparency4 ,look not there for the seductive1 brightly sparkling1 and ever-smiling nymph of the fountain4 ,opaque1 heavy1 mighty1 merciless1 your sea is a liquid ,polyphemus1 a blind giant that cares not1 reasons not1 feels not--but hits a terribly hard blow4 ,trust yourself upon that vast and ever-heaving bosom1 bold swimmer1 and marvellously will you be upheld2 the mighty thing that upholds you dominates you1 too2 you are a mere weak child1 upheld1 indeed1 for the instant by a giant-hand--in another moment that giant-hand may smite you with a giant's fatal force4 ,her anchor once tripped1 who can tell whither the good ship may be urged by some sudden wind1 or some unsuspected but irresistible current8 ,thus it was that our northern fishermen1 not only without their intention1 but even in spite of it1 discovered polar ,america1 and supped full of the horrors of funereal ,greenland4 ,not a nation upon the earth but has its tales and traditions of the sea4 ,homer and the ,arabian ,nights1 have handed down to us a goodly number of those frightful legends1 of shoals and tempests and of calms no less murderous than tempests1--those calms during which the hardiest sailor agonizes1 moans1 loses all courage and all hope in the tortures of the hours1 days1 haply even weeks1 when1 with cracked lip and blood-shotten eye1 he has around him1 heaving upward and sinking downward1 but never progressing a cable's length1 ,water1 water1 everywhere1 ,but not a drop to drink4 ,thrilling and saddening legends have all our old writers handed down to us of the ,anthropophagi1 those loathsome man-eaters1 and of the ,leviathan1 the ,kraken1 the great sea-serpent1 c4 ,the name given to the great ,african desert--,the ,abode of ,terror1--may very justly be transferred to the sea4 ,the boldest sailors1 ,phoenicians and ,carthaginians1 the conquering ,arabs who aspired to encircle and grasp the whole world1 seduced by what they heard of the ,hesperides and the land of gold1 sailed out of the ,mediterranean to the wide ocean1 but soon were glad to seek their port again4 ,the gloomy line eternally covered with clouds and mist which they found keeping their stern watch before the equator1 intimidated them4 ,they lay to2 they hesitated2 from man to man ran the murmur ,it is the ,sea of ,darkness--and1 then1 back went they to port and1 there told to wondering landsmen what wonders they had seen1 and what horrors they had imagined4 ,woe to him who shall persist in his sacrilegious espionage of that dread region6 ,on one of those weird and far isles stands a sternly-threatening ,colossus1 whose sempiternal menace is--,thus far thou hast come--farther thou shalt not go6 ,childish as we may think those terrors of the long by-gone ages they really were much the same as the emotions which we may any day see evinced by an inland-born novice who for the first time looks upon the sea4 ,and not merely man1 but all animals1 experience the same surprise1 the same shock1 when suddenly brought face to face with the mighty water-world4 ,even at ebb tide1 when the water so gently and so lovingly caresses1 as it leaves1 that shore to which it shall so boisterously return1 your horse quite evidently likes it not2 he shudders1 balks1 snorts1--and very often bolts from it at the very top of his speed4 ,your dog recoils1 howls1 and1 after his own canine fashion1 returns insult for insult to the waves that annoy and terrify him2 he never concludes a real peace with the element which to him seems less doubtful than positively hostile4 ,a certain traveller tells us that the ,kamtschatkan dogs1 accustomed as they are to the sight of the sea1 are nevertheless irritated and alarmed by it4 ,during the long nights immense troops of them howl back to the howling waves that break1 in their furious might1 upon the iron-bound shores of the northern ocean4 ,the natural introduction1 the portico1 the ante-room1 of the ,ocean1 which prepares us thoroughly to appreciate its vast and melancholy extent1 is to be found in the dreary course of the rivers of north-western ,france1 the vast sands of the ,south1 or the sad and rarely trodden ,landes of ,brittany4 ,all who approach the sea by any of those routes are greatly impressed by that intermediate region4 ,all along the rivers1 there is a seemingly infinite chaos of roots and stumps1 of willows and the like water-loving vegetation1 and the waters becoming more and more brackish1 at length become absolutely salt--the veritable sea-water4 ,in the ,landes1 on the other hand1 as we approach the sea1 we have a preliminary and preparatory sea of low-growing and coarse shrubs1 broom1 and bushes4 ,proceed a league or two1 and you see sickly and drooping trees which seem1 after their manner1 to tell you how much they suffer from the blighting breath of their near neighbor1 and great tyrant1 the ,sea4 ,evidently1 if they were not held there by their great strong roots they would fly to some climate more genial and some soil more generous2 they turn every branch from the sea and towards the earth1 as though they were a routed host1 disorganized1 panic-stricken1 and prepared to seek safety in flight4 ,fixed to the soil1 they bend themselves eastward1 twisting1 writhing1 mutely agonized at every new assault of the storm-winds from the seaward4 ,still nearer to the ,sea1 the trunk of the tree is slender1 its stature dwarfish1 and its few poor branches spread themselves confusedly to the horizon4 ,on the shore1 on the very margin and boundary line between land and ,sea1 where the crushed shells rise in a fine and pungent dust1 the trees are invaded1 covered1 choked up with it2 their pores are closed1 they inhale no air1 they are stifled2 still living as to form1 they are mere petrified trees1 spectral trees1 melancholy shadows which have not even the privilege of departing1--sad prisoners--even in death6 ,long before we are face to face with the ,sea1 we can hear and imagine that grand and terrible entity4 ,at first1 we hear only a dull1 uniform1 and distant moaning1 which grows louder and louder still1 until its majestic roar silences1 or covers1 all meaner sounds4 ,very soon we perceive that that roar is not monotonous1 but has its alternating notes2 its full1 rich1 mellow tenor1 and its round1 deep1 majestic bass4 ,the pendulum of the clock oscillates less regularly than that alternating moan and roar of the ,ocean in its grand unrest4 ,and this latter1 let me repeat it1 has not the monotony of the pendulum1 for in what those wild waves are saying1 we feel1 or fancy that we feel the thrilling intonations of life4 ,and in fact1 at high flood1 when wave rears its crest upon wave1 immense1 electric1 there mingles with the tumultuous roaring of the fiercely rushing waters1 the sound of the shells and pebbles1 and the thousand things animate as well as inanimate that they carry with them in their shoreward rush4 ,when the ebb comes1 a soft murmur tells us that1 together with the sands1 the sea carries back into her depths all with which for a few brief hours the shore had been adorned or enriched4 ,and how many other voices hath the mighty sea6 ,even when least agitated1 how her wailings and her deep sighs contrast with the dull dead silence of the deserted shore1 which seems to expect1 in mute terror1 the threatening of that mighty mass which so recently laved it with a gentle and caressing wavelet4 ,and will she not speedily fulfil her threat8 ,i know not1 and will not anticipate4 ,i will not1 just now1 at least1 speak of those terrible concerts in which1 haply1 she ere long will take the principal part2 of her duets with the rocks1 of the basses1 those muttered thunders which she utters in the deep caverns of the rocky shore1 or of those strange1 wild1 weird1 shrieking tones in which we seem to recognize the ,help1 spare1 save me6 of some tortured or fearfully imperilled humanity4 ,no2 let us1 for the present1 contemplate her in her calmer moods2 when she is strong1 indeed1 but not violent4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,beach1 ,,the ,,sands1 ,,and ,,the ,,iron-,,bound ,,coast4 ,we need not be at all surprised if childhood and ignorance are astounded1 astonied1 when they first find themselves face to face with that vast and mysterious ,sphinx of the ,great ,master's sculpture1 the ,ocean4 ,why1 in fact1 should we be astonished by their gaze of mingled awe1 admiration and bewilderment1 when we ourselves1 despite our early culture and life-long experience1 see so much in the great ,riddle of that great ,sphinx which we cannot even hope to explain8 ,what is the real extent of the ocean8 ,that it is greater than that of the earth is about as much as1 conscientiously1 we can at all positively affirm4 ,on the entire surface of our globe1 water is the ,generality--land the ,exception4 ,but what is their relative proportion8 ,that1 water covers four-fifths of the globe is probable1 though1 some say a third or a fourth4 ,it is difficult1 not to say impossible1 to answer the question precisely4 ,a bold explorer discovers a polar land1 lays it down1 latitude and longitude1 with scientific precision2 in the very next year an equally bold and no less scientific adventurer seeks it in vain2 and in all latitudes immense shoals and lovely ,coral islands form in the dark depths1 rise to the surface1 and disappear1 just as suddenly and unaccountably as they arose4 ,the real depth of the sea is still less known to us than its extent2 we are only at the mere commencement of our early1 few1 and imperfect soundings4 ,the daring little liberties which we take with the surface of the invincible element1 and the confidence with which we go hither and thither upon its unsounded depths1 have really nothing to say against the grand and well-founded pride of the ,ocean1 impenetrable as she is as to her secrets1 ever moving yet unchangeable1 a reality1 yet1 in all but a few of her phenomena1 as unreal to us as the spectres of our actual dreaming4 ,that those mighty depths contain a whole world1 a marvellously great and diversified world1 of life1 love1 war1 and reproduction of all sorts and sizes1 we must imagine and may already with confidence affirm2 but we have only1 and barely1 touched upon the threshold of that world4 ,we are in such a hurry to leave that strange and hostile element6 ,if we need the ,ocean1 see ye1 my brothers1 the ,ocean in no wise needs us4 ,nature1 fresh from the hand of ,deity1 scorns the too prying gaze and the too shallow judgment of finite but presumptuous man4 ,that very element which we term fluid1 shifting1 capricious1 suffers1 in reality1 no change2 on the contrary it is a very perfect model of regularity4 ,the really and constantly changing creature is ,man4 ,his body of this year will have evaporated by this time next year1 for1 according to ,berzolius1 four-fifths of our frame are water1 which at every instant we yield to the ever craving atmosphere4 ,fragile and fleeting creature as ,man is1 he has indeed good reason for reflection and for humility when he finds himself in presence of the great unchanging1 and1 humanly speaking1 unchangeable1 powers of nature1 just1 and grand1 glorious1 as is his hope1 his belief1 his certainty of a spiritual immortality4 ,despite that delightful hope1 that confident belief1 that sustaining certainty1 ,man yet is necessarily and terribly saddened by the smiting and strange suddenness with which he hourly sees the thread of man's life forever broken4 ,the ,sea seems to exult over our fleeting tenure of a life of which we cannot anticipate1 far less command1 one added moment4 ,whenever we approach her1 she seems to murmur from her dark1 inscrutable depths1 unchangeable as ,his will who made them--,mortal6 to-morrow you shall pass away1 but ,i1 ,i am1 and ever shall be1 unchanged1 unchangeable1 mighty and mysterious4 ,the earth will not only receive your bones but will soon convert them into kindred and indistinguishable earth1 but ,i1 ever and always1 shall remain1 main1 the same majestic and indifferent entity1 the great perfectly balanced ,life1 daily harmonising myself with the harmonious and majestic life of the bright far worlds that shine above and around you4 ,a stern and a scorning rebuke that is which is given to our poor human pride when1 twice in our every mortal day the sea tears from our vexed shores the stony spoils which twice in every day she scornfully and terribly hurls back again4 ,to any imagination but that of the trained and veteran seaman1 the fierce rush of the rising tide infallibly suggests the likeness of a fierce and deadly combat2 but when the child1 or the ,savage1 observes that the fury of the sea has its inevitable limits1 the terror of the child or ,savage is turned--true coward-fashion--into an unreasoning compound of hate and rage1 and he as fiercely1 as impotently1 pelts the terrible waves with the very pebbles which without effort1 without consciousness1 she has cast1 heaps upon heaps1 by ship loads1 at every vast beat of her semi-diurnal pulse6 ,foaming1 roaring1 threatening1 the waves rush shoreward2 the boy observes that though they may kiss1 they cannot1 at his safe stand-point1 submerge his delicate little feet1 returns laughter for their roarings1 petty pebbles for their impotent threats4 ,i saw a battle of this sort at ,havre1 in ,july1 #ahca4 ,a little boy whom ,i took thither felt his young courage aroused and his young pride stung1 by the loud challenges and fierce threats of the incoming tide1 and he returned scorn for threat1 feebly-thrown pebble for surging and mighty wave4 ,greatly1 aye1 laughably unequal was the strife between that small1 white1 delicate and feeble hand of the young mortal1 and the vast and terrible force which cared not about it1 feared it not1 felt it not1 knew it not4 ,laughably1 said ,i8 ,ah6 no inclination towards laughter remains with us when we reflect upon the fleeting existence1 the ephemeral and impotent fragility of our best beloved1 our fellows1 our ,maker's favored1 erring1 vain-glorious1 and1 in the last issue1 utterly helpless ,humanity1 when in presence of that tireless and inscrutable ,eternity to which we may at any moment be recalled6 ,such was one of my earliest glances at the ,ocean2 such the gloomy meditations1 only too truly and too sternly realized1 that were suggested to me by that combat between the fierce ,sea upon which ,i look so often1 and the glad and laughing1 and buoyant child upon whom1 alas6 ,i shall look1 lovingly and anxiously1 no more4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,beach1 ,,the ,,sands1 ,,and ,,the ,,iron-,,bound ,,coast1 ,,continued4 ,look upon the ,ocean where and when you may1 you everywhere and alway shall find her the same grand and terrible teacher of that hardest of all the lessons man has to learn1--man's insignificance4 ,take your stand upon some bold headland1 from which with earnest and well trained eye1 you can sweep the entire horizon2 or1 wander1 with shortened ken1 in the sandy desert2--go whithersoever you will1 where old ,ocean shall lash the shore1 and everywhere and alway1 ,i repeat1 you shall find ,ocean the same--mighty and terrible4 ,true it is1 that our finite and dim gaze cannot discern the1 humanly speaking1 ,infinity of the ,ocean2 but we feel1 we instinctively comprehend1 that ,infinity1 and the impression made by that instructive comprehension is even deeper than could be made by ,ocean visibly to our material eye1 tangibly to our poor human hand4 ,such1 so deep1 so permanent1 was the impression made upon me by that wild tumultuous scene on the scourged-shore where ,granville--dear old ,granville6--keeps neutral watch between ,normandy and ,brittany4 ,the wealthy1 kindly and hearty1 though bluff1 and somewhat vulgar ,normandy with its vast outspread of orchard and meadow suddenly disappears1 and1 by ,granville and by the frowning ,saint ,michel we pass all at once into quite another world4 ,for ,granville1 though ,norman as to race1 is thoroughly ,breton as to aspect4 ,sternly1 solidly1 invincibly1 the great ,rock rears his defiant front1 and looks down in a quite insolent contempt upon the wild surges that incessantly assault1 but never harm1 that passionless and mutely mocking ,titan4 ,let the wild winds1 unpent from their northern caverns1 sweep the rugged coast2 borne on the cross-currents from the angry ,west1 let the wind sweep all things else clear from its path and this stern unconquerable rock ever and alway saith thus far shalt thou come1 but no farther4 ,strengthened though you are by your mad trans-,atlantic leap of a thousand leagues1 against me your fury shall be spent in vain4 ,i loved that odd and somewhat dull little town1 which owes its support to the distant and most perilous fishery4 ,every family there1 feels that it is supported by a dread game in which human life is at stake2 and this feeling produces a certain harmonious gravity in the aspect and tone of the dwellers hereabout1 and of all their surroundings4 ,a touching and a hallowing melancholy1 that1 of which ,i have often felt the influence1 when1 walking on the already darkening shore or gazing from the upper town that crowns the great rock1 ,i have seen the sun sink below the far and misty horizon1 harshly streaked by alternate rays of luridness and gloom1 and not pausing to tint the sky with those glowing and fantastic brilliances which in other climes delight us4 ,here it is already autumn in ,august1 and twilight scarcely exists4 ,scarcely has the sun set1 when the shrewd winds freshen1 and the dark green waves sweep on with added force2 below1 you see a few spectral forms hurrying along in their dark cloaks1 and from afar you hear the melancholy bleatings of the sheep already benighted on their scanty pasturage4 ,the very small upper town rears its northern front sharply and boldly above the very edge of a cold dark abyss1 facing the great sea1 and swept by an eternal blast4 ,this part of the place consists of only poor houses1 and in one of them ,i found my quarters with a poor man1 a maker of those pretty shell pictures for which the place is famous4 ,ascending by a ladder1 rather than a staircase1 into a dark little room1 ,i looked out upon the strange wild scene1 as strange and tragic1 as wild and impressive1 as that which had presented itself1 when1 also from a window1 ,i had caught my first view of the great glacier of the ,swiss ,grindelwald4 ,the glacier had shown an enormous monster of peaked icebergs which seemed crashing down upon me2 and this vexed sea of ,granville seemed an army of monstrous waves all rushing together to the attack4 ,my host here1 though far from old1 was feeble and suffering1 and1 as ,i examined his shell work and talked with him1 ,i perceived that his mind was somewhat shaken4 ,poor fellow2 upon that shore his only brother had perished1 and from that moment the sea appeared to him an intelligent and persistent enemy4 ,in the winter it beat his windows with snow or with icy winds1 and kept him sleepless and peaceless during the long and dreary nights1 and in the summer it brought him the vivid lightnings and the far resounding thunders4 ,at the high tides it was still worse2 the spray then beat upon his very windows1 and he felt doubtful if some day he would not be drowned even on his own hearth4 ,but he had not the means of finding a more secure shelter1 and perhaps he was unconsciously retained there by we know not what strange fascination4 ,he had not resolution to break altogether with that terrible foe1 for which he had a certain respect1 as well as a great awe4 ,he seldom spoke of it by name2 like the ,icelander who1 when at sea1 does not name the ,ourque1 lest she should hear1 and appear4 ,i fancy that even now ,i can see his pale face1 as1 pointing to the wave-beaten beach1 he said--,that terrifies me6 ,was he a lunatic8 ,not at all4 ,he spoke quite sensibly1 and was in reality interesting and even distinguished4 ,a nervous being1 too delicately organized for such a scene as that in which he was placed4 ,but the sea can madden1 and often does4 ,livingstone brought from ,africa a bold and intelligent man who had hunted and killed ,lions1 but had never seen the ,sea4 ,when taken on board ship1 the novel sight was too much for his brain1 he became frantic1 and threw himself headlong into the heaving deep1 which at once terrified and fascinated him4 ,on the other hand1 so attached do some men become to the sea1 that they can never quit it4 ,i have seen old pilots1 compelled by infirmity to abandon their office1 fret themselves into imbecility4 ,on the very summit of ,saint ,michael you are shown what they call ,maniac's ,shelf2 and ,i know no place better fitted to make one mad than that giddy height4 ,all around a vast stretch of white sand1 solitary ever1 and ever treacherous4 ,it is neither land nor water2 it is neither sea water nor fresh1 though streams are constantly flowing beneath4 ,rarely1 and but for brief moments1 a boat can cross there1 and if you cross when the water is out you risk being swallowed in4 ,i can state that with full authority1 for ,i nearly lost my life there4 ,a very light vehicle in which ,i ventured there1 and the horse that drew it1 disappeared in too1 and only by a perfect miracle ,i escaped on foot1 feeling myself sinking at every step4 ,at length1 however1 ,i reached the ,rock1 that gigantic ,abbey1 ,fortress and ,prison1 that frowning sublimity1 so well worthy of the scene which it so sternly dominates4 ,this is no place for a detailed description of such a monument4 ,on a huge block of granite1 that ,titanic pile rises and rises still1 rock upon rock1 age upon age1 and still dungeon above dungeon4 ,at the foot1 the in pace of the ,monks2 higher up1 the iron cage made by ,louis ,,xi42 higher still1 that of ,louis ,,xiv42 higher still1 the prison of our own day4 ,and all this in a whirlwind1 a perpetual tempest2 a ,sepulchre without the ,sepulchre's peace4 ,is it the fault of the sea1 if this beach is treacherous8 ,not at all4 ,there1 as elsewhere1 the ,sea arrives strong and loud1 indeed1 but in all frankness and loyalty4 ,the real fault is in the land1 apparently solid1 but undermined by numberless streams of fresh water which converts that seemingly solid beach into a treacherous and devouring quagmire4 ,and especially is the fault in the ignorance and negligence of man4 ,in the long dark ages when man invented the legend and the pilgrimage of the ,archangel who vanquished the ,devil1 the ,devil took possession of that deserted plain4 ,the sea is quite innocent in the matter4 ,far1 indeed1 from doing harm1 the sea upon its madly bounding waves brings in a nourishing and fecundating salt more precious than the fat slime of the ,nile1 enriching the once hideous marshes of ,dol into the lovely gardens of our own day4 ,the ,sea is a somewhat violent mother1 no doubt2--but a mother still4 ,abounding in fish1 she lavishes upon the opposite ,cancale1 and upon many another bank1 millions1 thousands of millions1 of oysters1 whose crushed shells give beauty1 and verdure1 and flowers1 and fruit4 ,we must enter into a right understanding with the ,sea1 and not be led away by the false notions which its barren beach or its own more violent phenomena--often only the disguises of very real and very great benefits--may suggest to us4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,beach1 ,,the ,,sands1 ,,and ,,the ,,iron-,,bound ,,coast1 ,,continued4 ,the headlands1 the sandy beaches1 the bold capes and the low shores1 command various1 but ever useful1 views of the great sea1 stern and wild at the first glance1 but divine and friendly1 as we come to know it better4 ,the advantage of the headlands is that at the foot of one of those giant rock-walls we more entirely than elsewhere appreciate the breathing and bounding pulse of the sea4 ,insensible1 imperceptible1 on the ,mediterranean1 that pulse is very distinct on the ocean4 ,the ,ocean breathes and pulsates1 even as you and ,i do2 it compels me to calculate my days and hours1 and to look up to ,heaven4 ,it reminds me alike of myself and of the world4 ,let me seat myself upon some such shore1 that1 for instance1 of ,antifer1 whence ,i may look out upon that vast expanse4 ,the sea which1 but a moment agone1 seemed dead1 has suddenly shuddered and become tremulous--first symptom of the great approaching movement4 ,the tide has heaved past ,cherbourg and ,barfleur1 and turned sharply and violently round the lighthouse2 its divided waters lave ,calvados1 rush upon ,havre and come to me at tretat1 at ,fcamp1 at ,dieppe1 to hurl themselves into the canal despite the strong ,northern currents4 ,it is for me to watch its hour4 ,its height1 almost indifferent to the sandhills1 is here1 at the foot of the headland1 alike worthy of your attention and powerful to command it4 ,this long rock-wall of thirty leagues has but few stairways4 ,its narrow inlets1 which form our smaller havens1 occur at rare and great distances4 ,and at low water we can with inquiring gaze inspect and question the strata above strata1 gigantically and regularly superposed1 which1 as so many ,titanic registers1 tell us the history of accumulated ages of growth and decay1 of life and death4 ,from that great open book of time every year tears away a page4 ,we have before us a piece of an hourly perishing1 hourly renewing1 world1 which the sea from beneath is hourly devouring1 and the torrents and the tempests1 the frosts and the thaws from above1 are hourly1 and still more destructively1 attacking4 ,wearing1 crushing1 beating1 pulverising1 wave1 and wind1 and storm and ,time1 that great ,edax rerum1 that unsparing and untiring ,moth of the ,universe1 are1 even as we gaze1 converting the one vast rocky mass into the rounded and petty pebble4 ,it is this rough work which makes this coast1 so richly fertile on the land side1 a real maritime desert on the seaward4 ,a few1 very few1 sea plants survive the eternal crushing and grinding of the ever crushed and ever crushing pebbles driven hither and thither by every wave that every wind scourges into motion4 ,the mollusc1 and even the very fish shun this vexed shore4 ,great contrast that between an inland country so genial1 and such a stern1 rugged1 threatening and inhospitable coast4 ,it is only to be seen thoroughly when looked down upon from the bold headland4 ,below1 the hard necessity of toiling over the beach1 the sand yielding1 and the pebbles round1 hard1 and rolling1 makes the task of traversing this narrow beach a real and violent gymnastic exercise4 ,no2 let us keep to the heights where splendid villas1 noble woods1 the waving harvests1 the delicious gardens which even to the very edge of the great rocky wall1 look down upon that magnificent channel which separates the two shores of the two great empires of the world4 ,the land and the sea6 ,what more6 ,both1 here1 have a great charm2 nevertheless1 he who loves the sea for her own sake1 he who is her friend1 her lover1 will rather seek her in some less varied scene4 ,to be really intimate with her1 the great sandy beaches1 provided1 always1 that they be not too soft1 are far more convenient4 ,they allow of such infinite strolls6 ,they suffer us so well to build up our air castles1 and to meditate upon so many things2 they allow us to hold such familiar and deep conference with that never silent sea6 ,never do ,i complain of those vast and free arenas in which others find themselves so ill at ease4 ,when there1 ,i am never less lonely than when alone4 ,i come1 ,i go1 ,i feel that ever present sea4 ,it is there1 ever there1 the sublime companion2 and if haply that companion be in gentle mood1 ,i venture to speak1 and the great companion does not disdain to speak to me again4 ,how many things have we not said to each other in those quiet wastes1 when the crowd is away1 on the limitless sands of ,scheveningen1 ,ostend1 ,royan1 and ,saint ,georges4 ,there it is that in long interviews we can establish some intimacy with the ,sea1 acquire some familiarity with its great speech4 ,when from the towers of ,amsterdam the ,zuyderzee looks muddy1 and when at the dykes of ,scheveningen the leaden waves seem ready to overleap the earthy mound1 the ,sea wears its least pleasing aspect2 yet ,i confess that this combat between land and water attracts me forcibly--this great invention1 this mighty effort1 this triumph of man's skill and man's labor1 over the fiercest force of inanimate nature4 ,and this sea also pleases me by the treasures of fecund life which ,i know to abound in its dark depths4 ,it is one of the most populous in the world4 ,on the night of ,st4 ,john1 when the fishery opens1 you may see another sea arise from the depths--the ,sea of ,herrings4 ,you will imagine that the boundless plain of waters will prove too limited for this great living upburst1 this triumphant revelation of the boundless fecundity of ,nature4 ,such was my first impression of this sea1 and when ,i saw the pictures in which genius has so well marked its profound character1 ,ruysdal's gloomy ,estacade beyond any other painting in the ,louvre has always irresistibly attracted me4 ,why8 ,in the ruddy tints of those phosphorescent waters1 ,i feel not the cold of the ,north ,sea1 but the fermentation1 the stream1 the rushing energy of life4 ,nevertheless1 were ,i asked what coast the most grandly and powerfully impresses me1 ,i should answer1 that of ,brittany1 especially those wild and sublime headlands of granite which terminate the old world at that bold point which dominates the ,atlantic and defies the western storm winds4 ,nowhere have ,i better felt than there1 those lofty and ennobling melancholies which are the best impressions of the sea4 ,but ,i must explain1 here4 ,there are different melancholies2 there is a melancholy of the weak1 and a melancholy of the strong1--the melancholy of the too sensitive souls who weep only for themselves1 and that of the disinterested hearts1 which cheerfully accept their own lot1 and find nature ever blessing and blessed1 but feel the evils of society1 and in melancholy itself find strength for action1 means for creating good or mitigating evil4 ,ah6 what need we have1 we of the working brain1 often to strengthen our souls in that mood which we may call heroic melancholy4 ,when1 some thirty years since1 ,i paid a visit to this country1 ,i could not account for the potent attraction that it had for me4 ,at the foundation of this attractive potency of ,brittany1 is its great harmony4 ,elsewhere1 we feel1 though we cannot explain it to ourselves1 a certain discordance between the race and the soil4 ,the very beautiful ,norman race1 in those districts in which it is most unmixed1 and where it retains the peculiar1 ruddy complexion of the true ,scandinavian1 has not the slightest apparent affinity with the territory upon which it has intruded itself4 ,in ,brittany1 on the contrary1 on the most ancient geological formation on our globe1 on that soil of granite and of flint1 lives a race solid as that granite1 sharp as that flint1 a sturdy and antique race4 ,just as much as ,normandy progresses1 ,brittany retrogrades4 ,witty1 lively1 and too imaginative1 the impossible1 the utterly absurd1 are ever welcome to her4 ,but1 if wrong on many points1 she is great upon a most important one2 she has character2 often you may think her erroneous1 but never can you deem her common-place4 ,if we would for a time emerge from that wretched common-place1 that deadly liveliness1 that horrible waking dream of stupid starers and of loud huzzas1 let us seat ourselves on one of the impending and commanding peaks that overlook the bay of ,douarnenez1--the stern1 bold headland1 for instance1 of ,penmark4 ,or1 if the wind blow too strongly there for our frame1 effeminated by the late hours1 the bad atmosphere1 and the hateful habits1 and still more hateful passions1 of the thronged city1 let us take a quiet sail among the lower isles of the ,morbihan1 where the soft warm tide is lazy1 and all but soundless4 ,where ,brittany is mild1 ,brittany is surpassingly mild4 ,sailing among her islands and on her gentler tides1 you might fancy yourself on ,lethe2 but1 on the other hand1 when ,brittany is aroused1 ,brittany1 take my word for it1 is terribly strong and terribly in earnest6 ,in #ahca ,i felt only the sadness of that coast1 not its more than compensating inspiration2 ,i was yet to learn the real character of that sea4 ,it is in the most solitary little creeks1 pierced in between the wildest and most rugged looking rocks1 that you will find her truly gay1 joyous1 buoyant1 abounding in glad and vigorous life4 ,those rocks seem to you to be covered by you know not what greyish ashy asperities--look a little more closely and you perceive that that layer of seeming dust is a little world of living creatures1 left there high and dry by the ebb of the sea1 to be revived and fed again next tide4 ,there1 too1 you see our little stone workers1 hosts upon hosts of those sea hedge-hogs or urchins1 which ,m4 ,cailland has so intelligently watched and so admirably described4 ,all this swarming though minute world chooses and feels just contrariwise to our choice and our feeling4 ,beautiful ,normandy terrifies them2 the hard pebbles of the beach would crush them1 and they love not1 either1 the crumbling limestone that overhangs the more smiling shore1 for they care not to build where at any moment building and foundation may sink into the depths forever4 ,they love and affect only the solid rocks of ,brittany4 ,let us take a lesson from them1 and trust only to truth and not to mere appearance4 ,the marine life shuns precisely those enchanting shores whose vegetable life is the most abounding and the most brilliant4 ,they are rich1 but rich only in fossils2 very curious are they to the geologist1 but they yield to him only the bones of the dead4 ,the stern granite1 on the contrary1 looks down upon the sea swarming with its piscine life1 and supports upon its massive breast the humble1 but none the less interesting little mollusc whose laborious life makes the serious charm1 the great moral of the sea4 ,and yet amidst all that teeming life there is a deep silence2 that infinite population is ever and inevitably silent4 ,its life is self-concentrated1 its labors unmarked1 uncheered1 by a sound2 it has no connection with you or me--to us1 that life is only another aspect of ,death4 ,a great and a dead solitude1 says some feminine heart2 it alarms1 it saddens me4 ,wrong6 ,all here is lovable and friendly4 ,these little creatures speak not to the world1 but they all the time are hard at work for it4 ,they yield themselves up to the sublime voice of their sublime parent1 the ,ocean1 that speaks for them2 by his great utterance1 they speak1 confidingly1 and by proxy4 ,between the silent earth and the mute tribes of the sea1 a great1 strong1 grave1 and sympathetic dialogue is constantly carried on--the harmonious agreement with the ,great ,i ,,am1 with himself and his great work--that great eternal conflict which1 everywhere and always1 is ,love4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,fiery ,,and ,,the ,,watery ,,circle--,,the ,,currents ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,scarcely has the earth cast one glance upon herself ere she not merely compares herself to the ,heavens above1 but vaunts her own superiority4 ,geology1 the mere infant1 hurls a ,titanic cry against her elder sister1 ,astronomy1 that haughty and splendid queen of all the sciences4 ,our mountains1 exclaims ,geology1 are not cast confusedly hither and thither like those stars in the sky2 our mountains form systems in which are found the elements of a general and orderly arrangement of which the celestial constellations present no trace4 ,such is the bold and impassioned phrase which is uttered by a man as modest as he is illustrious1--,m4 ,elias de ,beaumont4 ,doubtless1 we have not yet developed the order1 which1 yet1 we may not doubt is great1 which prevails in the seeming confusion of the ,milky ,way1 but the more obvious regularity of the surface of the globe1 the result of the revolutions in its unfathomed and unfathomable depths1 preserve still1 and ever will preserve1 for the most ingenious science1 many clouds and many mysteries4 ,the forms of that great mountain1 upheaved from the mighty mass of waters1 which we call the ,earth1 shows many arrangements which1 while they are sufficiently symmetrical1 are still not reducible to what would seem a perfect system4 ,the dry and elevated portions show themselves more or less as the waters leave them bare4 ,it is the limiting line of the sea which1 in reality1 traces out the form of continent and of island2 it is by the ,sea that we commence all true understanding of ,geography4 ,let us note another fact1 which has been discovered only within a few years past4 ,the ,earth presents us with some seemingly antagonistic features4 ,the ,new ,world1 for instance1 stretches from north to south1 the ,old ,world from east to west2 the sea1 on the contrary1 exhibits a great harmony1 an exact correspondence between the two hemispheres4 ,it is in the fluid portion of our world1 that portion which we have deemed to be so capricious1 that the greatest regularity exists4 ,that which this globe of ours presents of the most rigidly regular1 the most symmetrical1 is just that which appears to be most utterly free1 most entirely the mere sport of unrestricted motion4 ,no doubt1 the vertebr and the bones of that vast creature have peculiarities which we1 as yet1 are not qualified to comprehend4 ,but its living movements which cause the ocean currents1 convert salt water into fresh water1 which anon is converted to vapor to return again to the salt water1 that admirable mechanism is as perfect and systematic as the sanguineous circulation of the superior animals2 as perfect a resemblance as possible to the constant transformation of your own venous and arterial blood4 ,the world would wear quite another aspect1 were we to class its regions1 not by chains of mountains but by maritime basins4 ,southern ,spain1 resembles ,morocco1 more than ,navarre2 ,provence1 resembles ,algeria1 rather than ,dauphiny2 ,senegambia1 the ,amazon1 rather than the ,red ,sea2 and the great valley of the ,amazon1 is more like to the moist regions of ,africa than it is to its arid neighbors1 ,peru1 ,chili1 c4 ,the symmetry of the ,atlantic is still more striking in its under-currents and the winds and breezes that sweep over it4 ,their action potently helps to create these analogies1 and to form what we may call the fraternity of the shores4 ,the principle of ,geographical unity1 will be more and more sought for in the maritime basin1 where the waters and the winds1 faithful intermediaries1 create the relation1 the assimilation1 of the opposite shores4 ,far less can we ask this illustration of ,geographical unity from the mountains1 where two slopes frequently present to you1 under the same latitude1 both a ,flora and a population absolutely different2 on the one slope1 eternal summer1 on the other1 eternal winter1 according to the aspect of each4 ,the mountain rarely gives unity of country2 far more frequently1 duality1 discordance1 actual diversity4 ,this striking state of the case was first pointed out by ,borg4 de ,saint ,vincent1 and has since1 in a thousand instances1 been confirmed by the discoveries of ,maury4 ,in the immense valley of the sea1 beneath the double mountain of the two continents1 there are1 strictly speaking1 only two basins3-- #a4 ,the basin of the ,atlantic2 #b4 ,the great basin of the ,indian ,ocean1 and the ,pacific4 ,we cannot give the name of basin to the indeterminate cincture of the great ,austral ,ocean1 which has no boundary save that on the north it is touched by the ,indian ,ocean1 the ,coraline and the ,pacific4 ,the ,austral ,ocean alone exceeds in extent all other seas together1 and covers almost one-half of the entire globe4 ,apparently1 the depth of that sea is in proportion to its extent4 ,while recent soundings of the ,atlantic give a result of #aj1jjj to #ab1jjj feet1 ,ross and ,denham found in the ,southern ,ocean from #ad1jjj to #df1jjj feet4 ,here1 too1 we may note the mass of the ,antarctic ice1 infinitely more vast than the ,arctic4 ,we shall not be very wide of the truth1 if we say that the southern hemisphere is the world of waters1 the northern the world of land4 ,he who sails from ,europe to cross the ,atlantic1 having been fortunate enough to get clear of our ports in which he too frequently is imprisoned by the westerly wind1 and having cleared the variable zone of our capricious seas1 speedily gets into the fine climate and constant serenity which the ,n4 ,e4 breezes1 the genial trade-winds1 spread over sea and sky4 ,above and around1 everything favors him1 everything smiles upon him1 but1 as he approaches the ,line1 the inspiring breezes cease to breathe balmily upon him1 and the air is almost suffocating4 ,he enters the circle of those calms which prevail under the ,equator1 and present unchangeably their barrier between our northern trade-winds and those of the south4 ,heavy mists and clouds are all above and around him1 and the tropical rains descend in mighty torrents4 ,bitterly the seaman complains of those gloomy and deluging clouds1 but only for their gloomy screen what scathing beams would descend upon the poor dizzy heads1 and be reflected in smiting power from the bright1 broad mirror of the ,atlantic8 ,but for those torrents which fall upon the other face of our globe1 the ,indian ,ocean and the sea of ,coral1 what would be their fermentation in the craters of their antique volcanoes6 ,that dark mass of blackest clouds1 once the terror of the navigator and the obstacle to navigation1 that sudden and dense night extended over those broad waters form precisely the safeguard1 the protecting facility which softens our passage and enables us1 sailing southward still1 to meet again the bright sun1 the clear sky1 and the balmy mildness of the regular winds4 ,quite naturally1 quite inevitably1 the heats of the ,line raise the waters in masses of vapor1 and form that dark band1 so threatening in appearance1 but in reality so beneficent4 ,the observer who from some other planet could look upon our world would see around her a ring of clouds not unlike the belt of ,saturn4 ,did he seek the purpose and the use of that ring1 he might1 in reply1 be told--,it is the regulator which1 by turns absorbing and giving forth1 equalizes the evaporation and fall of the waters1 distributes the rains and dews1 modifies the heat of each country1 interchanges the vapors of the two worlds1 and borrows from the southern world the rivers and streams of our northern world4 ,marvellous co-partnership and mutual reaction6 ,south ,america1 from the respiration of its vast forests1 condensed into clouds1 fraternally nourishes the flowers and fruits of our ,europe4 ,the air which revives and inspirits us1 is the tribute paid by the hundred isles of ,asia1 exhaled by the great vegetation of ,java or ,ceylon1 and entrusted to the great cloud-messenger that turns with the world and sheds life and freshness upon it4 ,place yourself in imagination upon one of the many islands of the ,pacific and look to the southward4 ,behind ,new ,holland you will perceive that the southern ocean touches with its circular wave the two extreme points of the old and the new continents4 ,no land in that antarctic world2 not one of those little islands or of those pretended ,polar lands which discoverers have marked only to behold their disappearance1 and which probably have been but so many icebergs4 ,water1 still water2 water without end4 ,from the same post of observation on which ,i have1 in imagination1 placed you1 in contrast with the great circle of antarctic waters1 look eastward1 towards the arctic hemisphere1 and you may discern what ,ritter terms the circle of fire4 ,to speak more precisely1 it is an opened ring1 formed by the volcanoes commencing at the ,cordilleras1 passing by the heights of ,asia1 to the innumerable basaltic isles of the eastern ocean4 ,the first volcanoes1 those of ,america1 present1 for a length of a thousand leagues a succession of sixty gigantic ,beacons whose constant eruptions command the abrupt coast and the distant waters4 ,the others1 from ,new ,zealand to the ,north of the ,philippines1 number eighty still burning1 and a countless host that are extinct4 ,steering northward1 from ,japan to ,kamschatka1 fifty flaming craters dispense their ruddy lights far away to the gloomy seas of the ,arctic4 ,in the whole1 there is a circle of three hundred active volcanoes around the eastern world4 ,on the other front of the globe1 our ,atlantic ,ocean presented a similar appearance1 prior to the revolutions which extinguished most of the volcanoes of ,europe and annihilated the continent of the ,atlantis4 ,humboldt believes that that great ruin1 only too strongly attested by tradition1 was only too real4 ,i may venture to add that the existence of that continent was in logical concordance with the general symmetry of the world1 for that face of the globe was thus harmonized with the other4 ,there rose1 with the volcano of ,teneriffe1 which alone remains of them1 and with our extinct volcanoes of ,auvergne1 of the ,rhine1 c41 those which were to destroy ,atlantis4 ,altogether1 they formed the counterpoise of the volcanoes of the ,antilles1 and other ,american craters4 ,from these burning or extinct volcanoes of ,india and the ,antilles1 of the ,cuban and the ,javanese seas proceed two enormous streams of hot water1 which are to warm the north1 and which we may fitly term the aort of the world4 ,they are provided1 beside or beneath1 with their two counter currents which1 flowing from the north1 bring cold water to compensate the flow of hot water and preserve the balance4 ,to the two streams of hot water which are extremely salt1 the cold currents administer a mass of fresher water which returns to the equator1 the great electric furnace1 where it is heated and made salt4 ,these streams of hot water1 narrow at first1 some twenty leagues in breadth1 long preserve their force and their identity1 but by degrees they grow weaker as they widen ultimately to about a thousand leagues4 ,maury estimates that the hot water stream which flows from the ,antilles in a northernly course towards us displaces and modifies a fourth part of the waters of the ,atlantic4 ,these great features in the life of the seas1 noticed only recently1 were1 however1 as visible as the continents themselves4 ,our great ,atlantic and her sister1 the ,indian artery1 proclaim themselves by their color4 ,in each case it is a great blue torrent which traverses the green waters2 so darkly blue is this torrent1 that the ,japanese call theirs the black river4 ,ours is very clearly seen1 as it leaps boilingly from the ,gulf of ,mexico1 between ,cuba and ,florida1 and flows west1 salt1 and distinguishable between its two green walls4 ,in vain does the ,ocean press upon it1 on either side1 it still flows on1 unbroken4 ,by ,i know not what intrinsic density1 or molecular attraction1 these blue waters are so firmly held together1 that1 rather than admit the green water1 they rear their centre into an arch1 and they thus slope to the right and to the left1 so that anything thrown into them rolls off into the ocean4 ,rapid and strong1 this ,gulf stream at first flows towards the north1 along the shores of the ,united ,states2 but1 on reaching the great bank of ,newfoundland1 its right arm sweeps off to the eastward1 while the left arm1 as an under current1 hastens to create1 towards the ,pole1 the recently discovered open sea where all else around is fast frozen4 ,the right arm spreading out1 and proportionately weakened1 at length reaches ,europe1 touches ,ireland and ,england1 which again divide the waters previously divided at ,newfoundland4 ,weaker and weaker1 it yet carries a little warmth to ,norway1 and carries ,american woods to that poor ,iceland which1 but for them1 would die frozen beneath the very fires of her volcano4 ,the ,indian and the ,american streams have this in common1 that1 starting from the ,line1 from the electric centre of the globe1 they carry with them immense powers of creation and agitation4 ,on the one hand they seem the deep and teeming womb of a whole world of living creatures2 on the other hand1 they are the centre and the vehicle of tempests1 whirlwinds1 and water spouts4 ,so much nursing gentleness and so much destroying fury2 have we not here a great contradiction8 ,no1 it proves only that the fury disturbs only the exterior and not any considerable depths4 ,the weakest creatures1 shelled atomies1 the microscopic medus1 fluid creatures that a mere touch dissolves1 availing themselves of the same current1 sail1 in all safety1 though the tempest is loud and fierce right above them4 ,few of them reach our shores2 they are met at ,newfoundland by the cold stream from the ,pole1 which slays them by myriads4 ,newfoundland is the very bone-house of these frost-stricken voyagers4 ,the lightest remain in suspension1 even after death2 but at length sink1 like snowy showers to the depths1 where they deposit those banks of shells which extend from ,ireland to ,america4 ,murray calls the ,indian and ,american streams of hot water1 the two ,milky ,ways of the sea4 ,so similar in color1 heat1 direction1 and describing precisely the same curve1 they yet have not the same destiny4 ,the ,american1 at the very outset1 enters an inclement sea1 the ,atlantic1 which1 open to the ,north1 bears down the floating army of icebergs from the ,pole1 and it thus early parts with much of its heat4 ,the ,indian stream1 on the contrary1 first circulating among the isles1 reaches a closed sea well protected from the ,north1 and thus for a long time preserves its original heat1 electric and creative1 and traces upon our globe an enormous train of life4 ,its centre is the apogee of terrestrial energy1 in vegetable treasures1 in monsters1 in spices1 in poisons4 ,from the secondary currents which it gives off1 and which flow towards the ,north1 results another world1 that of the ,sea of ,coral4 ,there1 says ,maury1 over a space as large as the four continents the polypes are industriously building thousands of islands1 shoals1 and reefs1 which are gradually studding and dividing that sea2 shoals which at present are the annoyance and the dread of the mariner1 but which will at length rise to the surface1 join together to form a continent1 which1 some day--who knows8 may be the refuge of the human race1 when flood1 or fire1 or earthquake1 leave it no other shelter4 ,john ,reynaud in his fine article in the ,encyclopedie1 remarks that our world is not solitary4 ,the infinitely complicated curve which it describes represents the forces1 the various influences1 which act upon her1 and bear testimony to her connection and communication with the great luminaries of the ,heavens4 ,that connection and communication are especially visible with the ,sun and ,moon2 the latter1 though the servant of earth1 has none the less power over her4 ,as the flowers of the earth turn their heads sunward1 so does the flower-bearing earth aspire towards him4 ,in her most movable portion1 her immense fluid mass1 she raises herself and gives visible token of feeling his attraction4 ,she rises as far as she can and swelling her bosom twice a day gives1 at least1 a sigh to the friendly stars4 ,does not our earth feel the attraction of yet other globes8 ,are her tides ruled only by the sun and moon8 ,all the learned world say it1 all seamen believe it2 thence terrible errors resulting in shipwrecks4 ,at the dangerous shallows of ,saint ,malo the error amounted to eighteen feet4 ,it was in #ahci that ,chazallan1 who nearly lost his life through these errors1 began to discover and calculate the secondary1 but considerable undulations which1 under various influences1 modify the general tide4 ,stars less dominant than the sun and moon have1 doubtless1 their share in producing the alternate rise and fall of the waters of our globe4 ,but under what law do they produce this effect8 ,chazallan tells us2--the undulation of the tide in a port follows the law of vibrating chords4 ,a serious and suggestive sentence1 that1 which leads us to comprehend that the mutual relations of the stars are the mathematical relations of the celestial music1 as antiquity affirmed4 ,the earth1 by great and secondary tides1 speaks to the planets1 her sisters4 ,do they reply to her8 ,we must think so4 ,from their fluid elements they also must rise1 sensible to the rise of the waters of the earth4 ,the mutual attraction1 the tendency of each star to emerge from egotism1 must cause sublime dialogues to be heard in the skies4 ,unfortunately the human ear can hear but the least part of them4 ,there is another point to be considered4 ,it is not at the very moment of the passing of the influential planet that the sea yields to its influence4 ,she is in no such servile haste to obey2 she must have time to feel and obey the attraction4 ,she has to call the idle waters to herself1 to vanquish their inert force1 to attract1 to draw to her the most distant4 ,the rotation of the world1 too1 so terribly rapid1 is incessantly displacing the points subjected to the attractive power4 ,to this we must add that the great army of waves in its combined motion has to encounter all the opposition of natural obstacles1--islands1 capes1 straits1 the various curvings of shores1 and the no less potent obstacles of winds1 currents1 and the rapid descent of mountain torrents1 swelled by the melted snows2--these1 and a thousand other unforseen accidents occur1 to alter the regular movement into terrible strife4 ,the ocean yields not4 ,the display of strength which is made by broad and swift rivers cannot intimidate him4 ,the waters1 that the rivers pour down upon him1 he heaps them up into mountainous masses and drives them back so violently that he seems bent on forcing them to the summits of the mountains from whence they have descended4 ,obstacles thus numerous and various cause apparent tidal irregularities1 which at once impress and confuse our minds4 ,none of those irregularities is more surprising than the difference of their time between two quite closely neighboring ports4 ,one ,havre tide1 for instance1 equals two of ,dieppe1--as is mentioned by ,chazallon1 ,baude1 c4 ,it is greatly to the honor of human genius to have subjected phenomena so complex to even proximately accurate calculation and positive laws4 ,but beneath these exterior movements1 the sea has others within2 those under currents by which she is traversed in various directions and at varying depths4 ,superposed at different depths1 or flowing laterally in opposite directions1 hot currents in one direction1 cold counter currents in another1 they1 between them1 keep up the circulation of the sea1 the exchange of salt and fresh waters1 and the alternating pulsation which is the result4 ,the hot pulse-beat is from the line to the pole2 the cold1 from the pole to the line4 ,shall we be warranted in saying1 as it has sometimes been said1 that these currents so distinct and unmingling1 may be strictly compared to the vessels1 veins and arteries1 of the superior animals8 ,strictly speaking1 we cannot so compare them2 but they have considerable resemblance to the less determinate circulation which materialists have lately discovered in some inferior creatures1 as molluscs and annelides4 ,that lacunary circulation supplies the want of1 and at the same time prepares1 the vascular2 the blood flows in currents before it has precise channels4 ,such is the sea4 ,she resembles a vast animal that has stopped short at the first degree of organization4 ,who has developed the currents1 those regular fluctuation of the abysses into which we never descend8 ,who has taught us the geography of those dark waters8 ,those that live within or float upon those waters2--animals and vegetables4 ,we shall see how the huge whale and the minute shelled atomies1 how even the woods of ,america1 floating to bleak ,iceland1 have concurred in revealing the flow of hot water from the ,antilles to ,europe1 and the counter current of cold meeting it at ,newfoundland1 passing it beside or below1 and thus getting its ices melted into immense fogs4 ,a vast cloud of red animalcules1 carried by a tempest from ,orinoco to ,france1 explained the great arial current of the ,southwest which brings to our ,europe the rains that have their birth place in the far ,cordilleras of ,south ,america4 ,but for the constant change of waters which is made by the currents in the depths of the sea1 she would1 in parts1 be filled up with salt1 sands1 animal and vegetable remains and the like detritus4 ,it would be another case of the ,dead ,sea1 which1 for want of movement1 has its banks loaded with salt1 its vegetation incrusted with salt1 and the very winds that cross its surface1 burning1 withering1 breathing only of famine and of death4 ,all the scattered observations upon currents of the air and of the water1 the seasons1 the winds and the tempests1 were long confined to the memory of the fishermen and sailors1 and too frequently died with them4 ,meteorology1 that guide of navigation1 for want of being systematized and centralized seemed vain1 and was even denied rank and usefulness as a science4 ,the illustrious ,m4 ,biot1 demanded a strict account of the little that she had yet done4 ,however1 upon the two opposite shores of ,europe and ,america1 persevering men founded that neglected and denied science upon the basis of observation4 ,the latest and most celebrated of these observers1 ,maury the ,american1 courageously undertook what a whole administration had recoiled from1 viz41 to extract from and arrange the contents of ,i know not what multitude of log books1 those often confused and ill-kept records of the sea captains4 ,these extracts1 reduced into tables under regular heads1 gave1 in the result1 rules and generalities4 ,a congress of seamen assembled at ,bruxelles decided that the observations1 henceforth to be logged with more care1 shall be sent from all parts to the observatory at ,washington4 ,a noble compliment1 that1 paid by ,europe to young ,america and her patient and ingenious ,maury1 the learned poet of the sea4 ,he has not only summed up and exemplified her laws2 he has done much more1 for1 by the force of heart and by the love of nature as much as by positive results1 he has carried the whole world with him4 ,his charts and his first work1 of which a hundred and fifty thousand copies were printed1 are liberally distributed to sailors of all nations by the ,united ,states government4 ,a number of eminent men in ,france and in ,holland1 ,tricot1 ,jullien1 ,margole1 ,zurcher1 and others1 have made themselves the interpreters1 the eloquent missionaries1 of this apostle of the sea4 ,why is it that in this matter ,america1 so young1 has outstripped ,europe1 so old8 ,it is precisely because she is young1 and burning with a desire to be in close connection with the whole globe4 ,upon her superb continent and in the midst of so many states1 she yet deems herself solitary4 ,so far from her ,european brother1 she looks towards that centre of civilization as the earth looks toward the sun1 and whatever seems to draw her into closer and more familiar connection with the grand old world1 thrills her in every nerve4 ,we have abundant proof of that from the joy1 the intoxication1 the perfect frenzy with which she hailed the completion of the submarine telegraph which joined the two distant shores1 and promised that they should communicate within the brief space of minutes1 in such wise that the two worlds should have but one thought4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,tempests4 ,it is with a very real and masterly genius that ,maury has demonstrated the harmony that exists between air and water4 ,as is the maritime ocean1 so is the arial ocean4 ,their alternating movements and the exchange of their elements are precisely analogous4 ,the arial ocean distributes heat over the world and making dryness or humidity4 ,the latter1 the air draws from the seas1 from the infinity of the central ocean1 and especially at the tropics1 the great boilers of the universal cauldron4 ,dryness1 on the contrary1 the air acquires as it sweeps over the arid deserts1 the great continents1 and the glaciers 7those true intermediate poles of the globe71 which draw out its last drop of moisture from it4 ,the heating at the equator and the cooling again at the pole1 alternating the weight and lightness of the vapors1 cause them to cross each other in horizontal currents and counter currents2 while under the line the heat which lightens the vapors creates perpendicular currents1 ascending from sea to sky4 ,previous to dispersing they hover in this misty region1 forming1 as it were1 a ring of clouds around the globe4 ,here1 then1 we have pulsations both maritime and arial1 different from the pulse of the tide4 ,this latter was external1 impressed by other planets upon ours1 but this pulse of various currents is inherent in the earth1 it is her own veritable life4 ,to my taste1 one of the finest things in ,maury's book1 is what he says of salt3 ,the most obvious agent in producing maritime circulation1 heat1 would not alone suffice2 there is another and a no less important agent1 nay1 an even more important--it is salt4 ,so abundant is salt in the sea that if it could be cast on shore it would form a mountain #d1ejj feet thick4 ,though the saltness of the sea does not vary very greatly1 it yet1 is augmented or diminished somewhat1 according to locality1 currents and proximity to the equator or to the poles4 ,as it is more or less salted1 the sea is lighter or heavier1 and more or less mobile4 ,this continued1 with its variations1 causes the water to run more or less swiftly1 that is to say1 causes currents1 so like the horizontal currents in the bosom of the sea and the vertical currents from the sea of water upward to the sea of air4 ,a ,french writer1 ,m4 ,lartique1 has ingeniously corrected some deficiences and inexactitudes in ,m4 ,maury's great work ,maritime ,annals4 ,but the ,american author had anticipated criticism by frankly pointing out where and why he thought his work and his science incomplete4 ,on some points distinctly confining himself to hypothesis1 at times he shows himself uncertain1 and anxious4 ,his frank and candid book quite plainly reveals the mental struggle which the author undergoes between biblical literalism and the modern sentiment the sympathy of nature4 ,the former makes the sea a thing1 created by ,god at once1 a machine turning under his hand1 while the latter sees in the sea a living force1 almost a person1 in which the ,loving ,soul of the ,world1 is creating still1 and ever will create4 ,it is curious to observe1 how1 by degrees1 as it were by irresistible proclivity1 ,maury approaches this latter view4 ,as far as possible he explains himself mechanically1 by weight1 heat1 density1 c4 ,but this does not suffice1 and for certain cases he adds a certain molecular attraction or a certain magnetic action4 ,but even this does not suffice1 and then he has recourse to the physiological laws which govern life4 ,he attributes to the sea a pulse1 veins1 arteries1 and even a heart4 ,are these mere forms of style1 simple comparisons8 ,not so2 he has in him--and it is one source of his strength--an imperious1 an irresistible feeling of the personality of the sea4 ,before him the sea was to most seamen a thing2 to him it is a person1 a violent and terrible mistress whom we must adore1 but must also subdue4 ,he loves1 he deeply loves the sea2 but on the other hand1 he every moment thinks it necessary to restrain his enthusiasm and to keep within bounds4 ,like ,levammerdam1 ,baunet and many other illustrious men at once philosophical and religious1 he seems to fear that in explaining nature too completely by her own phenomena we show disrespect to ,nature's ,god4 ,surely1 a very ill founded timidity4 ,the more we exhibit the universality of life1--the more we confess our adoration of the great soul of the universe4 ,where would be the danger were it proven that the sea in her constant aspiration towards organized existence is the most energetic form of the ,eternal ,desire which formerly evoked this globe and still creates in it8 ,this salt sea1 like blood1 which has its circulation1 its pulse1 and its heart 7for so ,maury terms the equator7 in which its two bloods are exchanged1 is it quite sure that an entity that has all these is a mere thing1 an inorganic element8 ,look at a great clock1 or a steam engine which imitates almost exactly the movement of the vital forces4 ,is that a freak of nature8 ,should we not far rather imagine that in these masses there is a mixture of animality8 ,one immense fact that he exhibits1 but only secondarily1 and as it were in a mere side view1 is that the infinite life of the ocean1 the myriads upon myriads of beings which it at every moment makes and destroys1 absorb its various salts to form their flesh1 their shells1 c41 c4 ,they thus1 by depriving the water of its salt1 render it lighter1 and1 by so much1 aid in producing currents4 ,in the potent laboratories of animal organization1 as those of the ,indian ocean and the ,coraline1 that force1 elsewhere less remarkable1 appears as what it really is--immense4 ,each of these imperceptibles1 says ,maury1 changes the equilibrium of the ocean1 they harmonize and compensate it4 ,but is this saying enough8 ,should they not be the grand moving powers which have created the currents of the sea1 put the immense machine into motion8 ,who knows whether this vital circulus of the marine animality is not the starting point of all physical circulus8 ,if animalized sea does not give the eternal impulse to the animalizable sea--not organized1 indeed1 as yet1 but aspiring to be so1 and already fermenting with approaching life8 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,tempests4 ,there are occasional commotions of the sea1 which ,maury1 in his forcible way1 calls the ,sea's spasms4 ,he especially alludes to the sudden movements which appear to proceed from below1 and which in the ,asiatic seas are often equivalent to a genuine tempest4 ,these sudden outbursts are attributed to various causes1 as3 #ast1 the violent collision of two tides or currents2 #bnd1 the sudden superabundance of rain water on the sea's surface2 #crd1 the breaking up and sudden melting of the icebergs1 c4 ,to these causes1 some authors add the hypothesis of electric movements and volcanic submarine heavings4 ,it seems probable1 however1 that the depths of the great mass of the waters are quite peaceable2 were it otherwise1 the sea would be unfitted for her office of nursing-mother to her myriads upon myriads of living beings4 ,if these occasional commotions1 so violent at the surface1 were equally so at the bottom of the sea1 what could preserve the nurslings of that great nursery where a whole world of delicate creatures more fragile even than those of our earth1 are cradled in and nourished by its waters8 ,the myriad-life of the ,ocean assures us that these violent commotions cannot be common in its depths4 ,naturally1 the great sea is of great general regularity2 subject to great periodical and uniform movements4 ,tempests are the occasional and transient violences into which the sea is lashed by the winds1 by electric power1 or by certain violent crises of evaporation4 ,they are the mere accidents which reveal themselves on the surface1 but tell us nothing about the real1 the mysterious personality of the sea4 ,it would be sad reasoning were we to judge of a human temperament by the ravings of a brain-fevered man2 and by what better right do we judge the sea on account of the momentary and merely superficial movements which probably do not make themselves felt to the depth of a very few hundred feet8 ,everywhere that the sea is very deep1 we may fairly assume that she is constantly calm1 ever producing1 ever nourishing1 her quite literally countless brood4 ,she takes no note of those petty accidents which occur only at the surface4 ,the mighty hosts of her children that live1 as we cannot too often repeat1 in the depths of her peaceful night1 and rise at the most only once a year within the influence of light and storm must love their great1 calm1 prolific mother as ,harmony itself4 ,but these surface-disturbances of the great mother ,ocean have too serious a bearing upon the life of man1 to allow of his sparing any pains towards obtaining a thorough comprehension of them4 ,and to obtain that comprehension is no easy matter2 in making the necessary observations1 the boldest of us is a little apt to lose his cool presence of mind4 ,even the most serious descriptions give only vague and general features1 scarcely anything of the marked individuality which makes every tempest a thing of originality1 a thing sui generis1 the unforeseen result of a thousand unknown circumstances1 potent in their influence1 but obscure far beyond our power of search4 ,he who safely gazes from his safe watch-tower on the shore1 may1 no doubt1 see more clearly1 as he is not distracted by his own danger4 ,but for that very reason1 he cannot so well appreciate the tempest in its grand and terrible entirety1 as he can who is in the very centre of its rage and of its power1 and looks in every direction upon that terrible panorama6 ,we mere landsmen are indebted to the bold navigators for at least the courtesy of giving what old ,chaucer calls faith and full credence to what they tell us about what they have actually seen and suffered4 ,it seems to me that there is exceedingly bad taste in that sceptical levity which men of the study1 those stay-at-home travellers occasionally exhibit in their criticisms of what seamen tell us1 for instance1 about the height of the waves4 ,they laugh at the seaman who tells us of waves a hundred feet in height4 ,engineers affect to be able to measure the tempest1 and to assure us that twenty feet is the utmost height of a wave4 ,on the other hand1 an excellent observer assures us1 on the testimony of his own sight1 that standing in safety on the shore1 observing calmly1 and in absence of all distraction1 he has seen waves that would overtop the towers of ,notre ,dame1 and the heights of ,montmartre4 ,it is abundantly evident that these opposing witnesses speak of two totally different things2 and hence their flat contradiction4 ,if we speak of the lower bed of the tempest1 of those long bowling waves which even in their fury preserve a certain regularity1 probably the calculation of the engineers is pretty exact4 ,with their rounded crests alternating with depressed valleys1 it is likely enough that their utmost height does not greatly exceed twenty or five-and-twenty feet4 ,but your chopping sea1 where cross wave furiously hurls itself against cross wave1 rises far higher4 ,in their fierce collision they hurl each other to a quite prodigious height1 and fall with a crushing weight1 assailed by which the stoutest craft would open her seams1 and go bodily down into the dark depths of the angry sea4 ,nothing so heavy as sea water1 in those mighty shocks1 those enormous falls of which sailors truthfully speak1 and of which none but those who have witnessed them1 can calculate the tremendous greatness and power4 ,on a certain day1 not of tempest but of emotion1 when old ,ocean indulged only in wild and graceful gaieties1 ,i was tranquilly seated upon a beautiful headland of some eighty feet in height1 and ,i enjoyed myself in watching the waves as upon a line of a quarter of a league they rushed in as if to assail my rocky seat1 the green crest of each wave rounding and rearing1 wave urging wave as though in actual and intelligent racing4 ,now and then a sea would strike so that my very headland seemed to tremble1 and burst as with a thunder clap at my very feet4 ,advancing1 retiring1 returning1 breaking1 the wildly sportive waves were for a long time quite admirably regular in their movements4 ,but on a sudden this regularity was at an end4 ,some wild cross wave from the west suddenly struck my great regular and hitherto well behaved wave from the south4 ,such was the crash that in an instant the very sky above me was darkened by the blinding spray2 and on my lofty promontory ,i was covered1 not with the many colored and fleeting mist1 but with a huge1 dark1 massive wave1 which fell on me1 heavy1 crushing1 and thoroughly saturating4 ,ah6 ,just then ,i should very much have liked the company of those very learned ,academicians and ultra positive ,engineers1 who are so well posted up in the combats of the ,ocean1 and so very certain that the utmost height of a wave is just twenty feet6 ,no2 tranquilly seated in our studies we should not lightly question the veracity of so many bold1 hardy1 and resolved men1 who have looked ,death in the face too often to be guilty of the childish vanity of exaggerating the dangers which they have often braved--and are ready to brave again4 ,nor should we ever oppose the calm narratives of ordinary navigators on the great and well known courses to the animated and often thrilling pictures occasionally presented to us by the bold discoverers who seek the very reefs and shoals which the common herd of sailors so carefully avoid4 ,cook1 ,peron1 ,durville--discoverers such as these incurred very real dangers in the then unfrequented ,australian and ,coraline seas1 compelled as they were to dare the continually shifting sand bank1 and the conflicting currents which raise such frightful commotions in the narrow channels4 ,without tempest1 with only rollers to deal with1 and with a moderate wind right abaft1 a cross wave will give your craft such a shock1 that the ship's bell will strike1 and if these big rollers with their sweeping motion1 continue for any time1 your masts will go by the board1 your seams will open--you will be a wreck4 ,so says the experienced ,durville--gallant sailor1 if ever there was one4 ,and he tells us that he has himself seen waves from eighty to a hundred feet high4 ,these waves1 he says1 only boarded us with their mere crests1 or the craft must have been swamped4 ,as it was she staggered1 and then for an instant stood still1 as though too terrified to understand what was the matter4 ,the men upon the deck were for moments completely submerged4 ,for four long hours that night this horrible chaos endured2 and those hours seemed an eternity to turn one's hair grey4 ,such are the southern tempests1 so terrible that even ashore the natives have a presentiment of their approach1 and shelter themselves in caves4 ,however exact and interesting these descriptions may be1 ,i do not care to copy them2 still less would ,i be bold enough to invent descriptions of what ,i have not seen4 ,i will only speak briefly about tempests which ,i have seen1 and which have1 as ,i believe1 taught me the different characteristics of the ,ocean and the ,mediterranean4 ,during half a year that ,i passed at about two leagues from ,genoa1 on the prettiest shore in the world1 at ,nervi1 ,i had in that sheltered spot but one little sudden tempest1 but while it lasted it raged with a quite wonderful fury4 ,as ,i could not1 quite so well as ,i wished1 watch it from my window1 ,i went out and along the narrow lanes that separate the palaces1 ,i ventured down1 not indeed1 to the beach1 for in reality1 there is none worthy the name1 but to a ledge of black1 volcanic rock1 which forms the shore1 a narrow path1 often not exceeding three feet in width1 and as often overhanging the sea at varying heights of from thirty up to sixty feet4 ,one could not see far out2 the spray continually raised by the whirlwind1 drew the curtain too closely too allow of one's seeing far1 or seeing much1 but all that was to be seen was sufficiently frightful4 ,the raggedness1 the salient and cutting angles1 of this iron-bound coast1 compelled the tempest to make incredible efforts1 to take tremendous leaps1 as1 foaming and howling1 it broke upon the pitiless rocks4 ,the tumult was absurd1 mad2 there was nothing connected1 nothing regular2 discordant thunders were mingled or followed by sharp shrill shrieks1 like those of the steam engine2 piercing shrieks1 against which one only in vain tried to stop his ears4 ,stunned by this wild scene1 which assailed sight and hearing at once1 ,i steadied myself against a projecting wall of rock1 and thus comparatively sheltered1 ,i was better able to study the grandly furious strife4 ,short and chopping were the waves1 and the fiercest of the strife was on this side where the sea broke on the ragged1 yet sharply pointed rocks1 as they rose boldly above1 and ran out far beneath the waves1 in long1 shelving1 reefs4 ,the eye1 as well as the ear was vexed1 for a blinding snow was falling1 its dazzling whiteness heightened by contrast with the dark waves into which it fell4 ,on the whole1 ,i felt that the ,sea had less to do than the land in rendering the scene terrible2 it is exactly the contrary on the ,ocean4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,storm ,,of ,,october1 #ahei4 ,the storm1 which of all storms1 ,i had the best opportunity of observing1 was that which swept in fury over the west of ,france1 from the #bdth of ,october #ahei1 to the #cast of the same month1 the implacable and indefatigable storm1 which1 with but few and very short intervals1 raged furiously for six days and six nights1 and strewed our whole western coasts with wrecks4 ,both before and after that storm1 the barometer indicated great disturbances1 and the telegraphic communications were cut off by the breaking of the wires1 or the magnetic falsifications4 ,very hot seasons had preceded this tempest1 but it brought us a succession of very different weather2 rainy1 and cold4 ,even #ahfj1 up to the very day on which ,i write these lines1 is marked by heavy rain storms1 and cold winds from the west1 and south1 which seem to bring us all the rains of the ,atlantic1 and of the great ,south ,sea4 ,i watched this tempest from a spot so smiling and peaceful that tempest was the last thing that one would anticipate there4 ,i speak of the little port of ,saint ,george1 near ,royan1 just at the entrance of the ,gironde4 ,i had passed an exceedingly quiet five months there1 meditating what ,i should say on the subject which ,i had treated upon in #ahei2 that subject at once so serious and so delicate4 ,the place and the book are alike filled with memories very agreeable to me4 ,could ,i have written that book in any other place8 ,i know not2 but one thing is quite certain3 the wild perfume of that country2 its aspect1 at once staid and gentle1 and the vivifying odors of its ,brooms1 that pungent and agreeable shrub of the ,landes1 had much to do with that book1 and will ever be associated with it in my thought4 ,the people of the place are well matched with its aspect and its nature4 ,no vulgarity1 no coarseness1 among them4 ,the farming population are grave in manner1 and moral in speech and conduct1 and the seagoing population1 consists1 for the most part1 of pilots1 a little band of ,protestants1 escaped from persecution4 ,all around1 too1 there is an honesty so primitive that locks and bolts are absolutely unknown there4 ,noise and violence are utterly out of the question among people who are modest and reserved1 as seamen seldom are1 and who have a quiet and retiring tact not always to be found among a far more pretentious and highly placed people4 ,though well known to and well respected by them1 ,i yet enjoyed all the solitude which study and labor demanded4 ,i was all the more interested in these people and their perils4 ,without speaking to them1 ,i daily and hourly watched them in their heroic labors1 and heartily wished them both safety and success4 ,i was suspicious of the weather1 and looking upon the dangerous channel1 ,i often asked myself whether the sea1 so long gentle and lovely1 would not1 sooner or later1 show us quite another countenance4 ,this really dangerous place has nothing sad or threatening in its aspect4 ,every morning1 from my window1 ,i could watch the white sails1 slightly ruddied by the morning beams1 of quite a fleet of small coasters1 that only waited for a wind to leave the little port4 ,at this port1 the ,gironde is fully nine miles wide4 ,with some of the solemnity of the great rivers of ,america1 it combines the gaiety of ,bourdeaux4 ,royan is a pleasure place1 a bathing town which is resorted to by all ,gascony4 ,its bay1 and the adjoining one of ,st4 ,george1 are gratuitously regaled with the wild pranks of the porpoises1 that boldly venture into the river1 and into the very midst of the bathers1 leaping1 at once heavily and gracefully1 six feet1 and more1 above the surface of the water4 ,it would seem that they are profoundly convinced of the fact1 that no one thereabout is addicted to fishing2 that at that point of great daring and great labor1 where from hour to hour all hands may be called upon to succor some imperilled vessel1 folks will scarcely care to slay the poor ,porpoise1 for his oil4 ,to this gaiety of the waters1 add the especially harmonious beauty of the two shores1 as the abounding vineyards of ,medoc look across to the varied culture of the fertile fields of ,saintonge4 ,the sky1 here1 has not the fixed1 and sometimes rather monotonous beauty of the ,mediterranean1 but1 on the contrary1 is very changeable4 ,from the mingling waters of sea and river1 rise variegated mists1 which cast back upon the watery mirror1 strange gleamings of gorgeous coloring1 rod1 blue1 deepest orange1 and most delicately pale green4 ,fantastic shapes1 a moment seen1 then gone for ever1 appearing only to depart1 and seen only to be regretted1 adorn the entrance to the ,ocean with strange monuments of bold collonades1 sublime bridges1 and1 occasionally1 triumphal arches4 ,the two crescent-shaped shores of ,royan and ,saint ,georges1 with their fine sands afford to the most delicate feet a delightful promenade of which one does not easily grow tired1 tempted1 and regaled as we are by the perfume of the pines which so enliven the downs with their young verdure4 ,the fine promontories which overlook these shores1 and the sandy inland downs send near and far their healthful perfumes4 ,that which predominates on the downs has a something of medicinal1 a mingled odor1 which seems to concentrate all the sun and the warmth of the sands4 ,the inland heaths furnish the more pungent odors which stir the brain and cheer the heart2 thyme1 and wild thyme1 and marjoram1 and sage which our fathers held sacred for its many virtues1 and peppermint1 and1 above all1 the little wild violet1 exhale a mingled odor surpassing all the spicy odors of the far ,east4 ,it seems to me that on these heaths the birds sing more beautifully than elsewhere4 ,never have ,i heard elsewhere such a lark as ,i listened to in ,july on the promontory of ,vallire1 as she rose higher and higher1 her dark wings gilded and glinting in the rays of the fast setting sun4 ,her notes coming from a height of probably a thousand feet were as sweet as they must needs have been powerful4 ,it was to her humble nest1 to her upward gazing and listening nestlings that she evidently sang her wood notes wild1 her song at once so rustic and so sublime1 in which one might fancy that she translated into harmony that glorious sunlight in which she hovered1 and called to her nestlings--,come up hither my little ones1 come6 ,out of all these1 perfumes and song1 soft air1 and sea made mild by the waters of the beautiful river1 proceeded an infinitely agreeable1 though not very brilliant harmony4 ,the moon shone with a softened light1 the stars were quite visible1 but not very bright1 and the atmosphere so mild and pleasant1 that it would have been voluptuous1 that whole scene and its accessories had there not mingled with all a something1 which made one reflect1 and substituted active thought for luxuriously idle reverie4 ,and why so8 ,do those shifting sands1 those many colored and varying hues of the downs1 and that crumbling and fossiliferous limestone remind you of the eternal change1 that one only rule which here on earth has no exception8 ,or1 is it the silent but undying memory of the persecuted ,protestants8 ,it is also1 and in still greater power1 the solemnity of the roadstead1 the frequency of wrecks1 the near neighborhood of the most terrible of seas1 by which the interior becomes so serious1 so suggestive of great and solemn thought4 ,a great mystery is being enacted here1 a treaty1 a marriage infinitely more important than any human and royal nuptials2 a marriage of interest between ill matched spouses4 ,the lady of the waters of the south-west1 swelled and quickened by ,tarn and ,dordogne and by those fierce brethren the torrents of the ,pyrenees1 hastens1 that amiable and sovereign ,gironde1 to present herself to her giant spouse1 old ,ocean1 here1 more than elsewhere1 stern and repulsive4 ,the mud banks of the ,charente and the long line of sands which1 for fifty leagues1 oppose him1 put him in bad humor2 and when he cannot hurtle fiercely against ,bayonne and ,saint ,jean de ,luz1 he pitilessly assaults the poor ,gironde4 ,her outlet is not like that of the ,seine1 between sheltering shores2 she falls at once into the presence of the open and limitless ocean4 ,generally1 he repels her2 she recoils to the right and to the left1 and seeks shelter in the marshes of ,saintonge1 or among the ,medoc vineyards to whose vines she imparts the cool and sober qualities of her own waters4 ,and now imagine the boldness of the men who throw themselves headlong into the strife between two such spouses2 who go in the frail boat to the aid of the timorous craft who wait at the mouth of the pass afraid to venture in4 ,such is the boldness of my pilots here2 a boldness at once so modest1 so heroic1 so glorious1 could it but be fully described4 ,it is easy to understand that the old monarch of shipwrecks1 the antique treasurer and guardian of so much submerged wealth bears no great good will towards the bold ones who venture to dispute with him his prey4 ,if he sometimes allows them to succeed1 sometimes also he avenges himself upon them--more malignantly delighted to drown one pilot than to wreck two ships4 ,but for sometime past no such accident had been spoken of4 ,the exceedingly hot summer of #ahei1 produced only one wreck in this neighborhood2 but ,i knew not what agitation even then foretold greater disasters4 ,september came1 then ,october1 and the brilliant crowd of visitors1 loving the sea only when it is calm and smiling1 already took its departure4 ,i still remained1 partly kept there by my unfinished work1 partly by the strange attraction which that season of the year has for me4 ,in ,october we had strange eccentric winds1 such as seldom blow there2 a burning storm-wind from the ,east1 that quarter usually so peaceable4 ,the nights were occasionally very hot1 even more so in ,october than in ,august2 sleepless1 agitated1 nervous nights2 nights to quicken the pulse to the fever pace1 and without apparent cause to render one excited and peevish4 ,one day as we sat among the pines1 beaten by the wind though somewhat sheltered by the downs1 we heard a young voice1 singularly clear1 piercing1 resonant1 and1 so to speak1 metallic4 ,it was the voice of a very young girl1 small in figure1 but austere in countenance4 ,she was walking with her mother and singing snatches of an old ballad4 ,we invited her to sit down and sing us the whole of it4 ,this old ballad1 this rustic little poem admirably expressed the double spirit of the country4 ,saintonge is1 in the first place1 essentially rustic and home-loving1 with none of the wild adventurous impulses of the ,basques4 ,and yet in spite of her sedentary tastes ,saintonge turns sailor and goes forth into not unfrequent dangers4 ,and why8 ,the old ballad explains3 ,the lovely daughter of a king while washing1 like ,nausica of the ,odyssey1 loses her ring in the sea2 a young lover dives in search of it1 and is drowned4 ,she weeps his loss so bitterly that she is changed into the rosemary of the shore1 at once so bitter and so odorous4 ,this ballad1 heard in that pine wood already shuddering and moaning at the threatening storm1 touched and delighted me1 but at the same time strengthened my secret presentiments4 ,whenever ,i went to ,royan1 ,i might calculate upon being overtaken1 unsheltered1 in a storm1 before ,i could accomplish that short journey of only a few hours4 ,it pressed upon me in the vineyards of ,saint ,george and the heathy table land of the promontory which ,i first ascended2 and it pressed upon me more heavily still as ,i traversed the great semi-circular shore of ,royan4 ,even now1 in ,october1 the heath exhaled all its perfumes of wild flowers and shrubs1 and their perfumes seemed to me more pungent now than ever4 ,on the still unvexed shore1 the wind1 warmly and gently fanned my cheek1 and the no less gentle sea in murmuring ripples strove to kiss my feet4 ,but for both caressing wind and gently murmuring wave1 ,i was too well prepared1 too suspicious1 to be deceived by them4 ,by way of prelude to the great change1 after so many beautiful and almost effeminating evenings1 suddenly1 in the very middle of the night1 burst forth a frightful gale of wind4 ,again and again this occurred1 but especially on the night of the #bfth4 ,on that night ,i felt sure that some great damage must needs be done4 ,our pilots had gone out on their generous and perilous errand4 ,during those long fluctuations of the equinoctial weather they had hesitated somewhat1 delayed some little1 then they grew impatient of delay1 duty and business called to them aloud1 and they resolved to put out1 at the risk of some sudden and ruinous gust4 ,i felt that there would be some such2 ,i whispered to myself1 some one perishes now4 ,and too truly was it so4 ,from a pilot boat1 which1 in face of the bad weather1 put out to rescue a vessel imperilled in the pass1 an unfortunate man was swept from the deck1 and the boat1 herself in utmost peril was unable to lie-to for him4 ,he left three young children and a pregnant wife4 ,what rendered this calamity especially to be regretted1 was the fact that this excellent young man1 with the generous affection so common among sailors1 had married a poor girl rendered incapable of earning her bread by an accident which had mutilated her hands4 ,alas6 ,how much was she to be pitied1 helpless1 pregnant1 burdened with a young family--and thus suddenly widowed6 ,a subscription was made for her1 and ,i went to ,royan1 with my mite towards it4 ,a pilot whom ,i met there1 spoke to me1 with real grief and emotion1 of the sad accident4 ,ah1 ,sir1 said he1 such is our hard profession2 it is precisely when wind and sea are most angry1 and most threatening1 that it is especially incumbent upon us to go forth4 ,the marine commissioner1 who keeps the register of the living and the dead of that little community1 and who1 better than any one else1 knows the history and the circumstances of every family there1 appeared to me to be exceedingly saddened and anxious4 ,it was plain that he thought1 as ,i did1 that this was only the beginning of calamity4 ,i resumed my journey along the shore1 and in the course of it1 ,i had the opportunity to notice and study the dark zone of clouds which hemmed me in on every side1 to the extent of1 ,i should judge1 not less than eight or ten leagues4 ,on my left was ,saintonge1 expectant1 dull1 passive2 on my right1 ,medoc1 from which ,i was separated by the river1 lay in a gloomy and misty stillness4 ,behind me1 coming from the west and brooding over the ,ocean1 was a whole world of cloud and mist1 but in my face1 and opposing that world of cloud1 blew the fresh land-breeze4 ,sweeping down the course of the ,gironde1 it seemed that the funereal pall that rose above the ,ocean1 might be repulsed and dispelled4 ,still uncertain1 ,i looked behind me to the shoal of ,cordovan1 from which1 pale1 fantastic1 weird1 its tower rose like some spectre that said--,woe1 woe1 woe6 ,i was not mistaken4 ,i saw quite plainly that the land-breeze not only would be conquered1 but that it would be compelled to become the help-mate of its seeming foe4 ,that land-breeze blew quite low over the ,gironde1 swept away from before it all dwarfish obstacles1 but still hovered beneath the high pitched and inky clouds that swept in from the ,ocean1 and formed for those clouds1 as it were1 a slippery inclined plane over which they would glide only the more easily and the more swiftly4 ,in a brief space all was still from the landward1 every breath died away beneath the thick grey mists2 and1 unopposed1 the upper winds swept the ominous storm-clouds shoreward4 ,when ,i reached the vineyards of ,vallire1 near ,st4 ,george1 hosts of people were busily at work1 striving to improve the brief time during which they could hope to labor4 ,the first heavy drops of rain came down1 solid and smiting as so much molten lead1 and in another instant1 one was right glad to find a sheltering roof4 ,i had seen my full share of tempests4 ,i had read my full share of descriptions of them2 and ,i was prepared to expect anything and everything from their fury and from their power4 ,but nothing that ,i had either seen or read1 had prepared me for the effects of this tempest1 so fierce1 so long-enduring1 so implacable in its unceasing and uniform fury4 ,when1 from time to time1 we have a pause1 even the slightest mitigation1 even a change1 however slight1 in the ,tempest's moods and manifestations1 our over-distended senses also relax1 recuperate1 prepare themselves for the next assault4 ,but in this case1 night after night1 day after day1 for six weary and wearying nights and days1 the storm-fiend never winked an eye or spared a blow4 ,fierce1 strong1 angry1 implacable2 still the storm-fiend raged1 untiring1 and unsparing4 ,on mine honor1 see ye6 it was something to daunt the boldest1 to suggest despair to the most hopeful4 ,no thunder1 no crashing combat of the positive and negative storm-clouds1 no loud and animating crash of the meeting and contending waves4 ,all around was one dark1 leaden1 sinister1 ominous1 and mysterious pall of cloud and mist1 all above us one black sky1 terminated in the horizon by a sickly and leaden line brooding over a slowly heaving and mighty mass of leaden looking sea2--so slowly and monotonously heaving that one almost wished for the coming storm-blast to rouse them into a fierce fury1 less terrible1 less oppressive1 than their horribly oppressive monotony4 ,no poetry of a great terror could oppress one like this most prosaic and dark monotony4 ,still1 still and ever1 came from the deep bosom of the coming storm the same terribly monotonous--,woe1 woe6 ,alas1 alas1 alas6 ,our abode was close upon the shore4 ,we were no mere spectators of that scene2 we were in it1 of it1 sharers1 actors1 thrilled actors in that sublime scene4 ,every now and then the wild sea came within twenty feet of us2 at every rush1 she made our very hearth stone quiver beneath our feet4 ,happily1 the ever-rising and terrible sou' west wind struck our windows only obliquely1 or we should have been drowned as we gazed1 so vast was the torrent1 nay the deluge1 which every blast bore upon its mighty bosom1 alike from the clouds above1 and from the vexed and upheaving ,ocean below4 ,in haste1 and with no small difficulty1 we fastened the shutters1 and lighted lamps1 that we might at least look coming fate in the face4 ,in those apartments which looked out upon the landward1 the noise and the perturbation were no jot or tittle inferior4 ,i wrote on1 curious to ascertain whether this wild outburst of nature could in reality oppress and fetter a free intellect1 and ,i thus kept my intellect active1 agile1 cool1 thoroughly in self-command4 ,i wrote1 ,i noted1 ,i compared1 ,i drew mine own conclusions4 ,at length1 worn out solely by fatigue1 and abstinence1 and the want of ,tired ,nature's sweet restorer1 balmy sleep1 ,i felt myself deprived of that which ,i believe to be one of the most important of the writer's powers1 the quick1 sure1 delicate sense of rhythm2 ,i felt that my sentences became inharmonious4 ,that sense of rhythm was the first cord in my being to snap1 broken1 inharmonious1 over-strained1--ruined4 ,the mighty howling of the ,tempest had but one variation1 in the weird and strange tones of the winds that pitilessly yet mournfully assailed us4 ,the house in which ,i was seated was directly in their path2 and they therefore assaulted it in utmost fury and apparently on every side at once4 ,now it was the strong1 stern blow of the master1 impatient to enter his own house2 anon some strong hand tried to dash open the shutters2 and again came shrill shrieks down the wide chimneys1 wailing for the master's exclusion1 fiercely threatening1 if we did not admit him1 and1 at length1 furious and mighty attempts to force an entry by dislodging the very roof from its rafters4 ,and all these sounds were occasionally dominated by the sad1 deep1 melancholy1 ,heu1 heu6 ,alas1 alas6 ,woe1 woe1 and ,desolation4 ,so immense1 so potent1 so terrible was that ,heu1 heu6 of chorusing wind and sky1 that even the voice of the bold storm-blast seemed to us1 in comparison1 secondary and mild4 ,at length1 the wind managed to clear a way for the rain2 our house--,i had almost said our craft--began to leak2 the roof1 opening its seams here and there1 admitted the rain in torrents4 ,still worse1 the fury of the ,tempest1 by a desperate effort1 loosened one of the hinges of a shutter1 which still remained closed1 but from that moment shook1 creaked1 shrieked1 in the most dismal fashion that you can imagine4 ,to make it fast ,i had to open the window1 and that moment that ,i did so1 though sheltered by the shutter1 ,i felt myself in the very centre of the whirlwind1 half-deafened by the frightful force of a sound equal to that of a cannon fired close to one's ear4 ,through the cracks of the shutter ,i perceived what gave me a clear notion of the tremendous power that was raging landward1 skyward1 seaward1 horizontally1 upward1 and downward4 ,the waves1 meeting and battling1 smote each other so fiercely that they could not descend again4 ,gust after gust from beneath them1 carried them landward2 mighty and vast as they were1 they were borne landward as though so many feathers1 by the upheaving force of those mighty blasts4 ,how would it have been1 if1 shutters and windows being driven in1 our poor room had shipped one of those vast billows which the storm-wind thus hurled upon the adjacent heaths8 ,we were1 in fact1 exposed to the strange chance of being shipwrecked on the land4 ,our house1 so close to the shore1 might at any moment have its roof or even its upper story carried right away by wind and wave4 ,the villagers often told us that that was1 in fact1 their nightly thought and their nightly terror1 and they advised us to seek a more inland shelter4 ,but we still comforted ourselves with the thought that the longer this tempest had lasted1 the sooner it must come to an end2 and1 to the undoubtedly reasonable advice thus given to us1 our reply was1 still1 ,to-morrow1 to-morrow4 ,the overland news that came to us1 told of nothing but wrecks1 still wrecks4 ,close by us1 on the #cjth of ,october1 a vessel from the ,south ,sea1 with a crew of thirty hands1 foundered1 with a loss of all hands and her rich cargo--and this at the very entrance of the roadstead4 ,after having passed through so many storms and calms1 after having safely weathered so many rocks and shoals1 she had arrived within sight1 within hail1 almost within touch of a little beach of fine sand1 the fine-weather bathing place of delicate and timid women4 ,well6 ,that seemingly gentle little sandy beach1 upheaved into a huge and impassable sandbar--was the grave of the good ship1 which ran upon it with frightful force1 and was crushed1 shivered into small pieces--converted from a thing of life1 into a mutilated corpse4 ,what became of the crew8 ,not a trace of them has ever been found2 they were probably swept1 vainly struggling1 from the deck1 and swallowed up by the sands4 ,this tragical event very naturally led us to suspect that many similar ones had occurred1 elsewhere1 and nothing was thought of or talked of but probable calamities4 ,but the sea seemed by no means at the end of her work4 ,we on shore had had quite enough of it4 ,not so our enraged sea4 ,i saw our pilots1 sheltering themselves behind a rocky wall from south-west1 keep an anxious look-out seaward1 and shake their heads in ominous doubt of what was even yet to come4 ,happily for them1 no craft made her appearance in the offing--or they were there to risk1 most probably to lose1 their lives4 ,and ,i1 also1 looked anxiously out upon that sea1 on which ,i looked no less in hate than in anxiety4 ,true1 ,i was in no real danger1 but for that very reason ,i was all the more despairingly the victim of ennui4 ,that sea had a look at once hideous and terrible2 her vagaries were as absurd as her strength was irresistible4 ,nothing there reminded one of the fanciful descriptions of the poets4 ,by a strange contrast1 the more ,i felt myself depressed1 and as it were1 lifeless1 the more vigorously and vehemently did she seem to feel and manifest her life2 as though1 galvanized by her own furious motion1 she had become animated by some strange1 fantastic soul4 ,in the general rage1 each wave seemed animated by its own special and sentient rage2 in the whole uniformity1 7paradoxical as it may seem1 it1 yet1 is quite true7 there was1 as it were some diabolical swarming4 ,was all this attributable to my worn brain and wearied eyes8 ,or were the reality and the impression alike true8 ,those waves reminded me of some terrible mob1 some horrid rabblement1 not of men1 but of howling dogs1 a myriad of howling and eager dogs1 wolves--maddened and furious dogs and wolves4 ,dogs and wolves1 do ,i say8 ,let me rather say1 a dread concourse of nameless1 and detestable1 and spectral beasts1 eyeless and earless1 but with hugely yawning jaws1 foaming and eager for blood1 blood1 still more blood6 ,monsters6 what more do ye require8 ,are ye not surfeited with wrecked ships and slain men8 ,do we not from all sides hear of your horrid triumphs8 ,what more1 ,i ask1 do ye demand8 ,and the horrid phantoms answer--,thy death1 universal ,death1 the destruction of the ,earth1 a return to black ,night and ancient ,chaos4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,beacons4 ,impetuous is the channel where her strait receives the full rush of the ,north sea1 and very turbulent is the sea of ,brittany1 rushing over basaltic shoals in swift and furious rapids4 ,but the gulf of ,gascony1 from ,cordouan to ,biarritz1 is just one long maritime contradiction1 one enigma of mighty strifes4 ,as she goes to the southward1 she suddenly becomes extraordinarily deep1 as though her waters sank1 on the instant into some vast and fathomless abyss4 ,passing over that sudden and immense depth1 the onward wave under the impulse of the terrible pressure leaps upward to a height and onward with a velocity unequalled by any other of our seas4 ,the great surge from the north-west is the motive-power of this huge liquid machinery2 from a little more north it threatens to crush ,saint-,jean-de-,luz2 farther west it repels the ,gironde1 and crowns with her terrible billows the luckless ,cordouan4 ,that poor ,cordouan1 that respectable martyr of the seas and victim of the tempests1 is only too little known4 ,i believe it is the oldest of all the ,european beacons4 ,at all events1 only one1 the celebrated ,genoese lantern1 can rival it in antiquity4 ,but there is a vast difference between them4 ,the ,genoese1 crowning a fort and solidly seated upon solid rock1 looks smilingly1 almost scornfully1 down upon the impotently furious storms4 ,but ,cordouan is upon a shoal which the water never wholly leaves4 ,and1 in truth1 he was a bold man who conceived the notion of erecting a beacon here1 amidst the waters2 what say ,i8 in the eternal wave-combat between such a river and such a sea4 ,from one or the other1 it1 at every instant1 receives tremendous blows4 ,yes1 even the ,gironde urged on the one hand by the winds1 and on the other by the rude torrents from the ,pyrenees1 assails this stern calm guardian1 as though it were responsible for the assailing and repelling fury of the ocean4 ,yet1 ,cordouan is the only saving and consoling light that gleams over this stormy sea4 ,run before the north wind1 and miss ,cordouan1 and verily1 my storm-tossed brother1 you are in very real danger2 you1 likely enough1 will fail to sight ,arcachon4 ,this sea1 most stormy among seas1 is also the darkest4 ,at night1 storm-driven upon that sea1 there is no guiding mark1 if you miss the beneficent light4 ,during our whole six months stay upon this coast1 our usual contemplation1 ,i had almost said1 our almost sole companion1 was the beacon of ,cordouan4 ,we felt that this guardian of the sea1 this constant watchman over the strait became less a mere building than an actually living and intelligent person4 ,standing erect over the vast western horizon1 it shows itself under a hundred various aspects4 ,now it is gilded1 glorified by the setting sun2 anon1 pale and indistinct amidst the shifting mists1 it tells us nothing of good augury4 ,at evening1 when suddenly it flashes its ruddy and glowing light athwart the heaving waters1 it looks like some zealous inspector impressed and anxious in its conscious and deep responsibility4 ,whatever happens from the seaward1 our ,cordouan is held responsible for it4 ,throwing his ruddy beams into the gloom of the tempest1 he1 the preserver1 is held to be the cause of that which he only1 and savingly1 exhibits4 ,thus1 only too often1 it is that genius is accused of evoking the evils which it exposes only that it may reform them4 ,we1 also1 were ourselves thus unjust towards ,cordouan4 ,was he late in displaying his guiding light8 ,how ready we were to exclaim3 ,cordouan1 ,cordouan1 pale phantom1 can you show yourself only to conjure up the storm1 and the storm fiend8 ,and yet ,i believe1 quite firmly1 that to ,cordouan thirty of our fellows owed their lives in the great storm of ,october4 ,their vessel was a total wreck1 but they escaped with their lives4 ,it is much that we can see our shipwrecking1 to go down in full light1 knowing exactly where we are1 what are our perils1 and what chances we have of evading or overcoming them4 ,great ,god6 ,if we must perish1 give us to perish in the broad1 bright light of day6 ,when the ship of which ,i speak1 driven by the strong surge from the open sea1 reached this shore in the deep night1 there were a thousand chances to one against her making her way into the ,gironde4 ,on her starboard the bright point of the ,grave warned her off from ,medoc2 on her larboard the little beacon of ,saint-,palais showed her the dangerous rock of the ,grand',caute on the ,saintonge side2 and between those fixed white lights1 high over the central shoal flashed the ruddy ,cordouan1 showing from moment to moment the only safe channel4 ,by a desperate effort she got through1 but only1 and barely2 wind1 wave1 and current conspired to drive her on ,saint-,palais4 ,the saving light showed the much harrassed1 but still undaunted crew1 where only lay their chance of safety from the driving sea behind and the terrible sands in front4 ,fearing1 yet daring1 they leaped1 fell1 ,i know not how or where1 and were saved1 bruised1 fainting1--but still living4 ,who can even imagine how many ships and how many men are saved by these beneficent beacons8 ,light1 suddenly dispelling the dense shadows of those horrible nights when the bravest lose their courage and their presence of mind1 not only points the path1 but clears the head and strengthens the heart4 ,it is a great moral support to be able to say in some mortal peril1 ,again6 ,again6 ,haul away my brothers1 be bold6 ,though wind and wave are both against us1 we are not alone4 ,see1 yonder6 ,humanity is still watching over us1 and guiding us from yonder lofty tower6 ,the seamen of the old times1 ever hugging the shore1 and anxiously marking every headland1 were still more in need than we are of the friendly beacon light4 ,the ,etruscans1 we are told1 first kept the night-fires burning upon their sacred stones2 the beacon was at once an altar1 a temple1 a column1 and a watch tower4 ,the ,celts1 too1 had their round towers which were beacons also2 the most important of them were built on precisely those points where the friendly light could most widely flash over the dark waters2 and the ,romans lit up watch fires from height to height and promontory to promontory along their whole shores of the ,mediterranean4 ,the great terror of the ,northern sea kings1 and the perilled and trembling life of the dark middle age1 put out all those guiding and saving lights4 ,the people cared not to favor the inroad of the sea rover2 the sea was an object of dread1 almost of hatred4 ,every ship was an enemy1 and1 if it ran aground1 was deemed lawful as well as unpitied prey4 ,the pillage of a wreck was the gain of the noble2 the noble and the wrecker were one6 ,the ,count de ,leon1 made wealthy by the fatal shoal upon his ,county's shore1 said of that murderous rock1 that it was a precious stone1 far more precious than any that glitters in a kingly crown4 ,even in our own time1 innocently1 the poor fishermen have1 again and again1 by those fires which they have kindled upon the beach1 seduced our poor seamen into shipwreck and death4 ,the very beacons themselves have1 not seldom1 played the bad part of the false hearted wrecker1 alluring1 only to betray2 so easy is it to mistake one light for another4 ,now and then1 that mistake1 so readily made1 leads to very horrible consequences4 ,it was ,france1 who1 at the close of her great wars1 took the lead in making the lighthouse the great saviour of the benighted and well nigh wrecked seamen4 ,provided with that great refracting lamp of ,fresnel1 7a lantern equal to four thousand common ones1 and throwing its ruddy gleam over a dozen1 or so1 of leagues71 it can cast1 that good modern beacon1 its directing and saving light1 hither and thither so that strait and shoal are made visible and safe in the deep midnight as in the full broad glow of the bright noon4 ,to the sailor1 who steers by the stars1 this invention gave him1 as it were1 a new heaven and added constellations4 ,planets1 fixed stars1 all were created anew for him1 and in those newly invented constellations there was even an improvement upon the celestial lights1 in the variety of color1 intensity and duration1 of their glow and of their flashing4 ,to some1 we gave the calm1 fixed1 pale and steady gleaming which sufficed for the tranquil night and the comparatively safe sea2 to others1 the revolving and flashing1 and fierce and ruddy glow that shone to every point of the compass4 ,these latter1 like the phosphoric creatures of the deep1 palpitate and flash fitfully1 now gleaming and anon paling1 now leaping into dazzling glow1 and anon dying into deepest darkness4 ,in the darkest and most tempestuous nights1 they are ever restless as ,ocean's self1 and seem to give him back motion for motion1 and gleam for gleam to the lurid and fitful lightnings4 ,let us remember that in #ahbf1 and even as late as #ahcj1 our seas were still terrible in their drear darkness4 ,in all ,europe there were but few lighthouses2 in ,africa1 there was but the single one on the ,cape1 and1 in all vast ,asia there were only those of ,bombay1 ,calcutta1 and ,madras1 while the whole vast extent of ,south ,america displayed not even one4 ,since the latter date all nations following1 imitating1 even rivaling1 ,france1 have said1 on every bold headland that overlooks every dangerous shoal and strait have said ,let there be light6 and every where the friendly light1 gleams tranquilly1 or fitfully flashes4 ,just here ,i should like you to make with me the circumnavigation of our seas from ,dunkirk to ,biarritz1 and to take a survey of our lighthouses4 ,but1 it would occupy us too long4 ,calais1 with her four lights of different colors1 throws out her friendly warnings and hospitable imitations even to distant ,dover2 and the noble gulf of the ,seine1 between ,heve and ,barfleur1 lights the ,american seaman on his otherwise perilous passage to ,havre and thence to the very home1 the very heart of ,france4 ,and the good heart of ,france goes to her very threshold to welcome the coming and sea borne guest2 lighting up1 as1 with an admirable skill and hospitality she does1 every bold point of ,brittany4 ,at the outpost of ,brest1 at ,saint ,matthew1 at ,penmark1 at the isle of ,fen1 every headland has its warning and guiding light1 now flashing1 now darkening1 from minute to minute1 or from second to second1 and saying by sudden flash or momentary gloom1 ,seamen6 ,beware6 ,luff it is6 give that rock a wide berth6 ,keep off that shoal6 ,port6 ,hard aport6--,weather1--it is6 ,midship helm6 ,so6 ,steady6 ,safe you are1--at your moorings6 ,and observe1 all these watch towers over the perilous deep1 often built as they are among the breakers1 and as it were in the very bosom of the tempest1 solve for art the difficult problem of absolute solidity or seemingly treacherous and unsafe foundation4 ,many of them are quite enormously high4 ,the architecture of the middle ages1 about which so much is as boastfully as untruly said and sung1 never ventured to build so high1 save on condition of giving their edifices clumsy buttresses and of clamping with clumsy and costly clamps of iron1 the peaked summits of their towers4 ,a glance at the much boasted1 though really anything but artistic steeple of ,strasbourg1 will convince you of this4 ,our modern builders resort to no such rude expedients4 ,the ,haux beacon1 recently erected by ,m4 ,reynaud on the dangerous shoal of the pes de ,trguier1 displays all the sublime simplicity of some gigantic ocean tree4 ,it has no buttresses1 and it needs none2 its foundation is sunk boldly and bodily into the living rock2 from its base of sixty feet1 it rears its tall column of twenty-four feet in diameter1 and each of its huge granites is1 neatly as firmly1 dovetailed into the other1 so neatly1 so closely1 so firmly1 that cement is a sheer superfluity2 and so solidly is all built that from base to summit the tall tower is solid as1 nay1 we may almost venture to say1 more solid than1 the old rock from which science1 and art1 and perseverance and what the ,american so graphically calls pluck have hewn each separate stone4 ,your wild wave knows not where to find a rent in the armor of this tall ocean-espying giant4 ,she may smite1 she may rage1 but her blows will not harm1 her rage will be spent in vain2 from that rounded and great mass the giant blow glances harmlessly off2 the mightiest thunder strokes of the ever enraged and ever baffled ocean have only succeeded in giving to this grand edifice a far slighter inclination than that of the purposely inclined leaning tower of ,pisa4 ,behold1 then1 instead of those sad bastions which1 in the olden day1 overlooked and threatened old ocean1 like those with which ,spain threatened the ,moor1 our modern civilization erects peaceful towers of most benevolent and beneficent hospitality2 beautiful and noble monuments1 often sublime as they appeal to art1 always touching as they appeal to sentiment2 those towers which1 flashing forth their ruddy or gleaming with their silvery fires1 make upon the confines of our living1 swarming1 and much imperilled earth1 a new firmament1 saving1 and guiding1 blessing and blessed1 as the firmament above us4 ,when no star shines upon us from that firmament above1 the seaman hails this art-created light as the star of brotherhood2 ,bids its ruddy lustre hail ,and scorns to strike his timorous sail4 ,pleasant it is to seat oneself below one of these noble beacons1 those friendly fires1 those true and welcoming homes of the storm tried mariner4 ,even the most modern of them is a venerable thing to all who1 for one moment1 reflect how many lives the most modern of them has already saved4 ,with even the most modern1 many a touching memory1 many a wild and beautiful1 and no less authentic story is connected4 ,two generations1 merely1 are enough to make your beacon already ancient1 linked with old memories1 consecrated1 honorable1 hallowed4 ,often1 oh often does the mother say to her little ones--,behold6 ,that friendly beacon saved your grandfather2 but for it you would never have been born4 ,and how often does our brave beacon receive the loving1 and tender1 and pure visits of the anxious wife or brother who watches for the return of the far husband or son6 ,in the darkening evening1 and even far into the dark night1 the one or the other gazes anxiously up to the lofty tower1 wishing1 begging1 imploring1 for the first gleaming of the blessed and blessing light that shall guide the absent one safely back into port4 ,oh6 ,very justly did the men of the old day1 confound these honored stones with the altars of the man guiding and man saving gods2 to the heart that weeps1 and hopes1 and prays and battles amidst the howlings of the tempest1 see ye6 they are still one and the same2 they are still the saving guides1 the very altars of the saving and the guiding ,deity4 ,for1 in very truth1 what are man's best works1 but the realization of the ,almighty will and the great directing mercy8 ,,book ,,second4 ,,the ,,genesis ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,fecundity4 ,five minutes after midnight of ,st4 ,john's--#bdth to #beth of ,june1 commences the great ,herring ,fishery1 in the ,north ,seas4 ,phosphoric lights gleam and flash upon the waters1 and from deck to deck is heard the hearty hail1 ,look out1 there6 ,the ,herring lightning6 ,and a real1 and a vast lightning that is1 as from the depths that vast mass of life springs upward in eager quest of heat1 light1 and dalliance4 ,the soft1 pale1 silvery light of the ,moon is well pleasing to that timorous host2 a beacon to guide them to their great banquet of ,love4 ,upward they spring1 one and all2 not one idler or straggler remains behind4 ,gregariousness is the fixed rule1 the indefeasible law of that race2 you never see them but in shoals4 ,in shoals they lie buried in the vast dark depths1 and in shoals they come to the surface to take their summer part in the universal joy1 to see the light1 to revel--and to die4 ,packed1 squeezed1 crushed1 layer on layer1 it seems that they never can be close enough1 they swim in such compact masses that the ,dutch fishermen compare them to their own ,dykes--afloat6 ,between ,scotland1 ,holland and ,norway1 one might fancy that an immense island had suddenly risen1 and that a whole continent was about to arise4 ,one division detaches itself eastward1 and chokes up the ,baltic sound4 ,in some of the narrower straits you actually cannot row1 so dense and solid is the mass of fish4 ,millions1 tens of millions1 tens of thousands of millions2--who can even guess at the number of those hosts upon hosts8 ,it is on record that on one occasion1 near ,havre1 one fisherman1 on one morning1 found in his nets no fewer than eight hundred thousand2 and in ,scotland1 the mighty mass of eleven thousand barrels was taken in a single night6 ,they come as a blinded and doomed prey2 no amount of destruction can discourage them4 ,constantly preyed upon alike by fish and by men1 they still come on in myriad shoals4 ,and no marvel either2 for they love and multiply1 even as they move4 ,kill them as fast as we may1 they just as fast reproduce2 their vast1 deep columns1 even as they float along1 give themselves wholly up to the great work of reproduction4 ,the wave of the sea and the electric wave impel that whole vast mass at every instant4 ,no weariness1 no satiety1 no weakness1 not even a pause1 take one where you will and it either has just propagated1 is propagating1 or is about to propagate4 ,in that vast polygamous host1 pleasure is an adventure and love a navigation4 ,over every league of its passage it pours out its torrents of fecundity4 ,at some two or three fathoms deep the water is completely discolored by the incredible abundance of the ,herring-spawn2 and at sunrise1 far as the eye can reach1 you may see the water whitened with the marvellous abundance of the thick1 fat1 viscuous billows in which life is fermenting into new life4 ,over hundreds of square leagues it seems as though a volcano of teeming and fecund milk had burst forth and overwhelmed the sea4 ,full of life as it is at the surface1 the ,sea would be actually choked up with it but for the fierce and eager union of all sorts of destructions4 ,let us remember that each ,herring has forty1 fifty1 or even seventy thousand eggs4 ,but for the thinning process1 each of them giving the average increase of fifty thousand1 and as each of these in its turn giving the same average increase1 a very few generations would suffice to solidify the ,ocean into a stagnant and putrid mass1 and make our whole globe a desert4 ,here we see the imperative necessity to ,life1 of life's twin sister1 ,death2 in their immense strife there is harmony2 destruction is the handmaiden of preservation4 ,in the universal war carried on against the doomed race1 it is the fierce giants of the deep that prevent the mass from dispersing1 and drive it in dense shoals to our shores4 ,the whale1 and the other cetace1 plunge into the living mass1 swallow down whole tons1 and drive shoreward the still vast1 the seemingly undiminished1 host4 ,and at the shore commences quite another and more vast destruction4 ,in the first place1 the smallest of fish devour the spawn of the ,herring1 swallowing1 like any human spendthrift1 the great future for the small present4 ,and for the present1 for the full-grown ,herring1 nature has provided a very efficiently gluttonous foe1 dull-eyed1 huge appetited1 eager1 insatiable1--the whole tribe of fish-devouring fish1 ,cod1 ,whiting1 c4 ,the ,whiting gloats1 devours1 crams itself so with ,herring that it becomes one luscious mass of fat4 ,the ,cod similarly stuffs itself with ,whitings1 and becomes fat1 fecund1 overflowing with fecundity--with a really threatening superabundance of fecundity4 ,just consider6 ,what we have seen of the fecundity of the ,herring is a mere nothing when compared to the fecundity of the ,cod1 which not seldom has nine millions of eggs6 ,a cod weighing fifty pounds has fourteen pounds of eggs2 and its breeding season is nine months of every year4 ,this is the creature that1 unchecked1 would soon solidify the ,ocean and destroy the world4 ,and accordingly we cry ,help6 ,to arms6 ,launch ships and away1 to check this too vigorous fecundity4 ,england alone sends some twenty or thirty thousand seamen to the ,cod ,fisheries4 ,and how many are sent from ,america1 from ,france1 from ,holland--from everywhere8 ,the ,cod alone has caused the foundation of whole towns--of whole colonies6 ,the catching and curing of the ,cod form an art1 and that art has its own idiom--the patois of the ,cod fishery4 ,but what could man do against the enormous fecundity of the cod8 ,nature knows well that our petty efforts of fleets and fisheries would be insufficient and that the ,cod would conquer us2 and nature evokes another and a more efficient destroyer of the superfluous life that would produce universal death4 ,down from its spawning bed in the river1 thin1 famishing1 eager1 fierce with hunger1 comes the ,sturgeon1 that great devourer4 ,real rapture it is to the famishing glutton to find1 on his return to the sea1 ready fattened for him1 the succulent and unctuous ,cod1 the concentrated substance of whole shoals of ,herrings6 ,this great devourer of the cod1 though less fecund than its prey1 is fecund1 producing fifteen hundred thousand eggs4 ,the danger reappears4 ,the ,herring threatened with its terrible fecundity1 the ,cod threatened1 the sturgeon threatens still4 ,nature1 therefore1 produced a creature superb in destroying1 almost powerless to reproduce1 a monster at once terrible and serviceable that could cut through this otherwise invincible and ruinous fecundity1 an omnivorous monster1 huge of jaw and constant in appetite1 ready for all prey1 living or dead1 the great1 the perfectionated1 the matchless devourer--the ,shark4 ,but these furious devourers are anticipatively kept down2 mighty in destroying1 they are very slow in reproducing4 ,the ,sturgeon1 as we have seen is less prolific than the ,cod1 and the ,shark is actually sterile1 if compared to any other fish4 ,not like them does it overspread and discolor the sea4 ,viviparous1 it sends forth its rare youngling1 fierce1 fully armed1 savage and terrible4 ,in her dark and teeming depths1 the ,sea can smile in scorn at the destroyers to which she gives birth1 well knowing1 as the great proud fertile ,sea does1 that no might of destruction can surpass her might of reproduction4 ,her chief wealth1 her most vast and countless produce1 defies all the fury of the devourers1 is inaccessible to their attacks4 ,i speak of the infinite world of living atoms1 of the microscopic atomies that live and love1 enjoy1 struggle1 suffer and die from the surface to the utmost depths of the sea4 ,it has been affirmed that1 in the absence of solar light1 life1 also1 must be absent2 yet the darkest depths of the sea are studded with sea stars1 living1 moving1 microscopic infusori and molluscs4 ,the dark crab1 the phosphorescent seaworm1 and a thousand strange and nameless creatures swarm in those uttermost depths and rise only now and then1 describing long lines of variegated light upon the heaving surface4 ,in its semi-transparent density1 the sea has its own lucidity1 its own glowing gleam1 like that which fish1 living or dead1 reflect4 ,the ,sea6 glorious ,sea1 hath her own lights1 her own ,sun1 ,moon1 and ,stars4 ,gaze inquisitively and intelligently on a mere salt well and you at once perceive how prolific the ocean depths must be2 that seeming deposit of dead and inert matter hath its real life2 it is a mass of infusori1 microscopic1 but organized and sentient4 ,all voyagers on the wide ,ocean concur in telling us that in their far wanderings they still and ever traverse living waters4 ,freynel saw millions of square yards covered by a crimson glow--that glow1 consisting of living animalcul so minute that a myriad is packed into every square inch4 ,in the bay of ,bengal1 in #ahed1 ,captain ,kingman sailed for thirty miles through one vast white blotch which made the sea look like a great snow field4 ,not a cloud above1 but one unbroken leaden grey1 in strange contrast with the brilliant whiteness beneath4 ,look closely and you see that that seeming snow is gelatinous2 bring your microscope into play and you see that that seeming jelly is a mass of living1 moving1 phosphoric animalcul1 flashing forth strange and marvellous lights4 ,peron1 too1 tells us that for thirty leagues his good ship ploughed her way through what seemed a sort of greyish dust2 examined with the microscope1 this seeming dust was seen to be the eggs of some unknown species1 covering and concealing the waters over all that immense space4 ,even along the desolate shores of ,greenland1 where we vainly fancy that prolific nature must needs expire1 the sea is enormously populous4 ,through waves two hundred miles by fifteen you sail through deep brown waters1 colored by microscopic medus1 of which1 de ,schleiden tells us1 more than a hundred and ten thousand live and love1 battle1 and die in every cubic foot4 ,these productive and nourishing waters are supersaturated with all sorts of fatty atoms adapted to the delicate nature of the fish which lazily drink in the nourishment provided for them by the fertile and generous common mother4 ,do they know what they thus swallow8 ,scarcely4 ,its minute but abounding nurture1 its nourishing mother's-milk1 comes to it without its care1 and is received without its gratitude4 ,our great fatality1 our sad calamity1 fierce and terrible hunger1 is known only on the land4 ,exertion and want of food are unknown in the great world of waters4 ,there1 life must glide away like a glad dream4 ,what can the creature there do with his strength8 ,all use of it is superfluous1 impossible2--all save only one2 all strength1 all energy1 are reserved for the great work of love4 ,the one great law1 the one great work of the seas1 is to increase and multiply4 ,love fills up the whole of its fecund depths1 and is wealthiest in reproduction among those which are so small that to our unassisted eye they are invisible1 unknown as though they were non-existent4 ,we have spoken of mere atomies2 but are there1 in reality1 any such8 ,when we imagine that we have got the lowest1 the utterly indivisible1 we have but to examine with more earnest and penetrating gaze and we see that this seemingly frail atomy still loves1 still reproduces itself in miniature4 ,at the very lowest stages of life you find all the forms of life and reproduction4 ,such is the ,sea1 such the great ,female of the ,globe1 whose ceaseless yearning1 whose permanent conception1 whose production and reproduction1 never end4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,milky ,,sea4 ,the water of the ,sea1 even the purest1 examined when you are far away from land1 and from all possible admixture1 is somewhat viscuous2 take some between your fingers1 and you find it somewhat ropy and tenacious4 ,chemical analysis has not yet explained this peculiarity2 there is in that an organic substance which ,chemistry touches only to destroy1 taking from it all that it has of special1 and violently reducing it back to general elements4 ,the marine plants and animals are covered with this substance1 whose mucousness gives them the appearance of a coating of jelly1 now fixed1 anon trembling1 and always semi-transparent4 ,and nothing more than this contributes to the fanciful illusions presented to us by the world of waters4 ,its reflections are irregular1 often strangely variegated1 as1 for instance1 on the scales of fish and on the mollusc1 which seem to owe to it the exquisite beauty of their pearly shells4 ,it is that which most attracts and enchains the interest of the child when he first sees a fish4 ,i was very young when ,i first saw one1 but ,i still remember how vividly ,i felt the impression4 ,that creature with variously colored lights flashing from its silvery scales1 threw me into an astonishment1 a fascination1 a rapture1 which no words can describe4 ,i endeavored to catch it1 but found that it could no more be held than the water which glided through my small weak hand4 ,that fish seemed to me to be identical with the element in which it swam1 and gave me a confused idea of animated1 organized and surpassingly beautiful water4 ,a long time after1 in my maturity1 ,i was scarcely less impressed when on a sea beach ,i saw1 ,i know not what of shining and transparent substance1 through which ,i could clearly see the sand and pebbles4 ,colorless as crystal1 slightly1 very slightly solid1 tremulous when ever so slightly touched1 it seemed to me as to the ancients and to ,raumur1 that which ,raumur so graphically named it--gelatinised water4 ,still more forcibly do we feel this impression when we discover in the early stage of their formation the yellowish white threads in which the sea makes her first outlines of the fuci and alg which are to harden and darken to the strength and color of hides and leather4 ,but when quite young1 in their viscuous state1 and in their elasticity1 they have the consistence of a solidified wave1 all the stronger because it is soft4 ,what we now know of the generation and the complex organization of the inferior creatures1 animal or vegetable1 contradicts the explanation of ,raumur and the ancients4 ,but all this does not forbid us to return to the question which was first put by ,borg4 de ,saint ,vincent2 viz3 ,what is the mucus of the ,sea8 ,that viscuousness which water in general presents8 ,is it not the universal element of life8 ,much engaged with these and the like reflections1 ,i called upon an illustrious chemist1 a man at once positive and sound1 an innovator no less prudent than bold1 and ,i abruptly asked him this plain question--,what1 in your opinion1 is that whitish1 viscuous matter which we find in sea water8 ,nothing else than life1 was his reply1 then retracting1 or rather explaining his somewhat too simple and too absolute dictum1 he added1 ,i should rather say a half organized and wholly organizable matter4 ,in certain waters it is a dense mass of infusori1 in others a matter which is not yet1 but which is to become infusori4 ,in fact1 we have yet to begin1 at all seriously1 the study of this matter4 ,this was spoken on the #agth of ,may1 #ahfj4 ,on leaving our great ,chemist1 ,i went to a ,physiologist1 whose opinion has no less weight with me1 and to him ,i put the same question4 ,his reply was very long and very beautiful4 ,in substance it ran thus3 ,we know in reality no more about the composition of water than we know about that of blood4 ,what we best know and can most safely affirm about the mucus of sea water1 is that it is at once an ,alpha and an ,omega1 a beginning and an end4 ,is it the result of the numberless deaths which furnish forth materials for new lives8 ,no doubt1 that is the general law2 but in the case of the sea1 that world of rapid absorption1 the majority of the creatures there are absorbed while in full life2 they do not slowly linger on towards death1 as we on land do4 ,the sea is a very pure element2 war and death purvey to it4 ,but life1 without arriving at its final dissolution1 is incessantly approaching it1 exuding and exhaling all that is superfluous4 ,with us1 the animals of the earth1 the epidermis1 through its millions of pores1 wastes the body at every instant2 we suffer1 as it were1 a partial death at every breath we draw4 ,now this partial death1 this vast exudation1 in the case of the marine world1 fills that vast world of waters with a gelatinous wealth of which the young world has the instant benefit4 ,it finds in suspension the oily superabundance of this common exudation1 the still living atoms and liquids which have not had time to die4 ,all this does not fall back into the inorganic1 but enters quickly into new organisms4 ,of all the theories on the subject1 this seems the most reasonable2 rejecting this theory1 we plunge into a sea of extreme difficulties4 ,these ideas of the most enlightened and earnest thinkers of the present day1 are not irreconcilable with those which1 nearly thirty years ago were promulgated by ,geoffrey ,saint ,hilaire1 upon that general mucus in which nature seems to find all life4 ,he calls it the animalisible substance1 the raw material of organic bodies4 ,not a creature1 whether animal or vegetable1 but both absorbs and produces it from the earliest to the latest breath2 indeed1 the weaker the creature1 the more abundant that is4 ,this remark suggests a broad and bright light upon the life of the seas4 ,their tenants seem1 for the most part1 foetuses in the gelatinous stage1 which absorb and produce the mucous substance1 permeate and saturate with it all the waters1 and give to them the fecund and nourishing powers of a vast womb1 in whose depths an infinite succession of generations1 perpetually float1 as in warm milk4 ,let us make ourselves present in this divine work4 ,let us take a drop from the sea2 in it we shall be able to espy the very process of the primitive creation4 ,nature's ,god is ever consistent2 he does not work in one fashion to-day1 and in another to-morrow4 ,this drop of water1 ,i doubt not1 will tell us in its transformations1 the tale of the ,universe4 ,let us be patient1 and observe4 ,who can foresee or guess the history of this drop of water8 ,which will it first produce1 the vegetable-animal1 or the animal-vegetable8 ,will this drop be the infusori1 the primitive monad1 which1 vibrating1 shall shortly become vibrion1 and ascending step by step1 from rank to rank1 polypus1 coral1 or pearl1 may perchance in ten thousand years reach the dignity of insect8 ,will it produce the vegetable thread1 so slight and silken that one would scarcely discern it1 and yet already is no less than the first born hair1 amorous and sensitive1 which is so well known as ,venus's hair8 ,this is no fable--it is true natural history4 ,this hair1 of double nature1 at once animal and vegetable1 is1 in fact1 the commencement of life4 ,look quite down into the depths of a vessel of water2 at first you discover nothing2 patience for a few moments and you perceive drops1 atomies1 that are moving4 ,bring a good glass into the service1 and you see a whole cloud of these atomies4 ,are they gelatinous or fleecy8 ,under the microscope this seeming fleece becomes a group of filaments1 of finest and silkiest threads2 a thousand times finer1 it is believed1 than the finest hair that adorns the head of woman4 ,you are now looking upon the first timid attempt of life that is struggling to achieve organization4 ,these conferv1 these hair-weeds1 are to be found wherever there is stagnant water1 whether fresh or salt4 ,they are the commencement of that double series of the primary vegetation of the sea which became terrestrial when the earth emerged from the watery depths4 ,once above and beyond the waters1 they become the vast1 the numberless ,fungus-family2 in the water1 they are the hair-weeds1 the many-formed and many-named ,alg4 ,this is the primitive1 the indispensable element of organized vitality1 and we find it even where we should1 at the first glance deem it to be impossible4 ,even in the dark depths of the ferruginous waters1 supersaturated with iron2 even in the all but boiling hot springs1 you find this mucus1 this abounding mass of little creatures1 moving1 writhing1 agitated ever1 which to your first glance1 seem only so many lifeless specks4 ,you need not greatly care into what class our finite and dim science consigns them4 ,if ,candolle honors them with the title of animals1 if ,dujardin1 on the other hand1 degrades them into the low rank of the lowest vegetation--let us not stay to heed these mere names4 ,such as they are1 all that they ask is that they may live and that their humble existence may open up the long series of beings which1 but for them1 would never be4 ,these atomies1 whether we call them living or dead1 or passing from life to death1 or vigorously struggling from death into organic life1 are self-supporting1 independently struggling1 and ever taking and giving from and to the maternal waters1 the life creating and the life supporting gelatine4 ,it really is without any approach1 even1 to probability1 that they show us1 as specimens of the first creation1 the primitive organization1 the fossil imprints1 more or less complex1 whether of animal or vegetable--of the ,trilobites1 for instance1 already furnished with the superior organs--eyes1 c41--or gigantic vegetation1 widely branched and richly foliaged4 ,it is beyond all computation more probable that these were preceded and heralded1 and prepared1 by species far more simple1 but of such yielding and destructible matter that it could make no impress1 leave no mark behind4 ,how can we expect that those gelatinous1 those almost liquid creatures should not die and make no sign when we see that the hard shells are ground into very dust8 ,in the ,south ,seas we see fish with teeth so sharp1 at once1 and of such iron strength that they browse on the tough coral1 even as the timid sheep browses on the tender grass-blades4 ,oh6 ,depend upon it1 generation after generation of the soft gelatinous germs of life have breathed before nature put forth its robust ,trilobite and its imperishable ferns4 ,let us be just to these conserv2 let us restore to them their pretty obvious right to eldership in this glad and various world of ours4 ,be they animal or be they vegetable1 or do they vibrate and struggle between both--let us at least do them justice1 let us speak about them all that is evidently true4 ,upon them1 and at their expense1 arose the immense1 the really marvellous marine ,flora4 ,at that starting point ,i will not hesitate to express my tender sympathy4 ,for three very sound and sufficient reasons ,i love and ,i bless that vast vegetation2 small or large1 that vegetation has three lovely qualities3-- ,firstly1 how innocent are all its members4 ,not one of them all is poisonous4 ,vainly in the whole marine vegetation shall you search for one poisonous plant4 ,seek in every sea1 and in every latitude1 you will find the vegetation wholesome1 genial1 a blessing and a mercy4 ,those innocent plants ask for nothing more than to nourish or to heal animality4 ,many of them1 the ,laminaires1 for instance1 contain a luscious sugar2 and others1 as1 for instance1 the ,corsican or ,irish ,moss1 have a health-restoring bitter2 and all1 without exception1 contain a concentrated and most nourishing mucilage1 not a few of them saviours to the weak1 worn1 perishing lungs of presumptuous and ungrateful man4 ,where we now exhibit iodide1 the ,english formerly used nothing but a confection of that same ,corsican1 or ,irish1 ,moss4 ,the third characteristic of that vegetation is its marvellous amorousness4 ,we cannot doubt that if we pay the slightest attention to its strange hymeneial metamorphoses1 here is the striving to be1 beyond being1 to be potent beyond power4 ,we see it in the fire flies and the like small things1 and we see it no less1 if we will only look for it1 in the sea weeds which1 at the consecrated moment1 seem to quit their merely vegetable life and leap into animality4 ,where do these wonders commence8 ,where are these first sketches of animality made8 ,where are we to look for the primitive scene of organization8 ,formerly these things were hotly disputed2 in our own day there seems to be a certain agreement in the learned world of ,europe4 ,i can find the reply to these questions in many recognized and authorized volumes1 but ,i prefer to borrow it from an ,essay recently crowned by the ,academy of ,sciences1 and1 consequently1 shielded by its high1 unquestionable authority4 ,living creatures are found in the hot waters of eighty1 even up to ninety1 degrees4 ,it is when the cooled globe gets down to that temperature that life becomes possible4 ,the water has then absorbed1 at least in part1 that terrible element of death--carbonic acid gas4 ,it becomes possible to breathe4 ,all the seas were at first like those parts of the great ,pacific ,ocean1 which are comparatively shallow1 and are studded with small1 low islets4 ,these islets are extinct craters of by-gone volcanoes2 the seaman knows them only by the summits which the slow but steadfast toil of the coral insect has upheaved from the depths4 ,but the depths between these volcanoes are probably themselves no less volcanic1 and must have been1 for the first essays of primitive creation1 so many receptacles of life4 ,popular tradition has1 for ages past1 attributed to volcanoes the guardianship of buried treasures1 which from time to time give out to our upper world the gold that lies buried in the depths4--,poetic fiction1 which yet has its firm foundation in fact4 ,the volcanic regions have within themselves the treasure of our globe1 potent virtues of fecundity4 ,it is they that most largely dower the otherwise sterile earth2 from the dust of their lavas1 from their still warm ashes1 life springs1 expands1 glows1 and creates new life4 ,we recognize the wealth of ,vesuvius1 and of ,etna in the long offshoots that they send far into the ,sea1 and we know what a lovely paradise is formed under the ,himalayas1 by the volcanic circle of the vale of ,cachemire4 ,and the same thing is repeated in the lovely isles of the far ,south ,sea4 ,even under the least favorable circumstances1 the vicinity of volcanoes1 and the warm currents which are their concomitants1 create and preserve animal life1 even in the most desolate and dreary places4 ,amidst all the freezing horrors of the ,antarctic pole1 not far from the volcanic ,erebus1 ,captain ,james ,ross found living coral insects at the depth of a thousand fathoms below the surface of the frozen sea4 ,in the early ages of our world1 innumerable volcanoes exerted a submarine action far more powerful than they exhibit now4 ,their clefts and their intermediate valleys allowed the marine mucus to accumulate in places1 and to be electrified into life by the warm currents4 ,no doubt the mucus affected those parts1 fixed itself there and worked and fermented to the utmost of its young power4 ,its leaven was the attraction of the substance for itself4 ,the creative elements1 originally dissolved in the sea formed combinations1 leagues1 ,i had well nigh written marriages4 ,first appeared1 merely elementary lives--death following almost inseparably1 indistinguishably1 upon young life2 and other lives following close upon1 and nourished by1 those wrecks and spoils1 had firmer hold on life1 became preparatory beings1 slow but sure creators1 which1 thenceforth1 began beneath the waters that eternal labor which1 even in our own day and beneath our own scrutiny1 they still continue4 ,the sea nourishing them all1 gives to each that which best suits it4 ,each draws from that great nursing-mother1 in its own fashion1 and for its own especial behoof1 that which it most needs1 must have1 to make it what we see of naked1 or of shelled1 of seeming vegetable1 or of fierce1 vigorous1 and pugnacious life4 ,and whether in life or in death1 whether building actively or passively decomposing1 they clothe the sad nudity of the virgin rocks1 those daughters of the volcanic fires from which flaming and sterile1 they were hurled from the planetary nucleus4 ,quartz1 basalt1 porphyry1 and semi-vitrified flints1 each and all receive from these minute laborers a new1 a more graceful1 and a more fecund garb2 from the fecund maternal milk 7for such we must call the mucus of the ,sea7 they absorb and restore1 and thus build up1 and secure1 and fructify1 and beautify1 this1 our habitable earth4 ,it is from these more favoring localities that have arisen our primal species4 ,these works must have been commenced among the volcanic isles and islets1 in the depths of their ,archipelagoes1 in those sinuous windings1 those peaceful labyrinths where the tides enter timidly and gently1 warm and sheltered cradles for the newly-born4 ,but the bolder strength of the fully-expanded flower1 is to be sought for in1 for instance1 the vast depths of the ,indian ,gulfs4 ,there1 the ,sea is veritably a great artist4 ,there she gives to the earth its most adorable forms1 lively1 loving1 and lovable4 ,with her assiduous caresses she rounds or slopes the shore1 and gives it those maternal outlines1 and ,i had almost said the visible tenderness of that feminine bosom on which the pleased child finds so softly safe a shelter1 such warmth1 such saving warmth1 and rest4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,atom4 ,from the bottom of his nets a fisherman one day gave me three almost dying creatures1 a sea hedge-hog1 a sea star1 and another star1 a pretty ophiure1 which still moved and soon lost its delicate arms4 ,i gave them some sea water1 but forgot them for two days1 and when ,i again saw them1 all were dead4 ,on the surface of the water a thick gelatinous film had formed4 ,i took an atom of this on the point of a needle2 that atom1 when placed under the microscope1 showed me the following scene4 ,a whirling crowd of short1 thick1 strongly built animals--,kolpodes--rushed to and fro as though intoxicated with their sense of life1 delighted1 ,i may say1 that they were born and keeping their birthday with a perfectly bacchanalian joy1 while microscopic eels--,vibrions--swam less than vibrated to spring forward4 ,wearied with the contemplation of such movement1 the eye1 however1 soon remarked1 that all was not in motion1 there were some vibrions yet stiff and still1 and there were some intertwined in heaps which had not yet detached themselves and which looked as though expecting the moment of their deliverance4 ,in that living fermentation of still motionless creatures1 the disorderly ,kolpodes rushed and raged1 hither and thither1 regaling and fattening themselves at will4 ,and this grand spectacle was displayed within the compass of an atom of film taken on the point of a needle6 ,how many such scenes would be enacted in the whole of the gelatinous film which had so promptly formed on the surface of the water containing three dead creatures6 ,the time had been wonderfully put to profit4 ,in two days the dead had made a world2 for three animals that ,i had lost ,i had gained millions1 abounding in youth1 absorbed in a real fury of new life6 ,that infinite world of life which every where surrounds us was almost unknown until lately4 ,swammerdam and others1 who formerly recognized it1 were stopped at their first step2 and it was as lately as the year #ahcj1 that the magician ,uhrenberg looked1 revealed1 and classified it4 ,he studied the figure of these invisibles1 their organization1 their manners2 he saw them absorb1 digest1 chase1 and fiercely battle4 ,their generation remained a mystery to him4 ,what is the nature of their amours8 ,have they any amours8 ,for creatures so elementary1 would nature go to the expense of a complicated generation8 ,or do they spring up spontaneously1 and1 in vulgar phrase1 like mushrooms8 ,a great question6 at which more than one naturalist smiles and shakes his head4 ,one is so certain of having solved the great mystery of the world and secured1 laid down1 once and forever1 the true laws of life6 ,it is for ,nature to obey6 ,when1 a hundred years ago1 ,raumur was told that the female silk worm could produce alone and without the male1 he denied it in the brief phrase--,out of nothing1 nothing comes4 ,but the fact1 often denied but always proved1 is now thoroughly established and admitted1 not only as to the silk worm1 but as to the bee1 certain butterflies1 and still other creatures4 ,in all times1 in every nation1 both the learned and unlearned have said1 ,out of death cometh life4 ,it was especially supposed that the imperceptible animalcul immediately sprang up from the wrecks of death4 ,even ,harvey1 who first laid down the law of generation1 did not venture to contradict that ancient belief1 for though he said every body comes from the egg1 he immediately added--or from the dissolved body of a preceding life4 ,it is precisely the theory which has been so brilliantly revived by the experiments of ,m4 ,ponchet4 ,he has established the fact that from the remains of the infusori and other creatures1 there proceeds a fecund jelly1 the prolific membrane from which spring1 not new beings1 indeed1 but the germs1 the eggs from which new creatures will spring4 ,we live in an age of miracles4 ,this is not to astonish us4 ,any one would formerly have been laughed at who had ventured to say that some animals1 disobedient to the general laws of nature1 take the liberty to breathe through their paws4 ,the noble labors of ,milne ,edwards have brought this to light4 ,and ,cuvier and ,blainville had observed1 it is said1 that other creatures1 destitute of the regular organs of circulation1 supply their place by the intestines1 but those great naturalists deemed the fact so enormous and so incredible1 that they did not venture to publish it4 ,it is now perfectly established by ,milne ,edwards1 ,m4 de ,quatrefages1 c4 ,whatever may be thought of their birth1 our atoms1 when once born1 present a world infinitely and admirably varied4 ,all forms of life are there honorably represented4 ,if they know themselves1 they must consider that they compose among themselves a harmony so complete as to leave but little to desire4 ,they are not dispersed species1 created apart2 they clearly form a kingdom in which the various species have organized a great division of the vital labor4 ,they have collective beings like our polypus or coral insect1 engaged in the servitude of a common life2 and they have their minute molluscs which already display their minute and delicate shells2 they have their swiftly swimming fish and whirling insects1 proud crustace1 miniatures of the future crabs1 armed1 like them1 to the teeth2 warrior1 atoms that chase and devour inoffensive atoms4 ,and all this in an enormous and marvellous abundance1 which shows the comparative poverty of our visible world4 ,without speaking of those ,rhizopodes which have made their part of the ,apennines and the ,cordilleras1--the ,foramineferes1 alone1 that numerous tribe of shelled atoms1 amount1 according to ,charles d',orbigny1 to two thousand species4 ,they are contemporary with every age of the earth2 they present themselves at all the various depths of our thirty crises of the globe2 sometimes varying a little in form1 but always existing as species2 identical witnesses of the life of the earth4 ,in the present day the cold current from the south pole which the point of ,america cuts in two1 sends forty species towards ,la ,plata and forty towards ,chili4 ,but the great scene of their creation and organization appears to be the warm stream of the sea which flows from the ,antilles4 ,the northern currents kill them4 ,the great paternal torrent drifts myriads of their dead to ,newfoundland in our ocean1 whose bottom is paved with them4 ,when the illustrious godfather of the atoms1 ,ehrenberg1 baptised them and introduced them to the scientific world1 he was accused of being too favorable to them1 and of exaggerating the character of those little creatures4 ,he declared them to be a complicated and elevated organization4 ,so liberally did he endow them1 that he gave them a hundred and twenty stomachs4 ,the visible world became jealous of these invisibles1 and1 by a violent reaction1 ,dujardin reduced them to the lowest degree of simplicity4 ,the asserted organs he treated as mere appearances2 but1 as he could not deny their obvious and great powers of absorption1 he granted them the gift of being able to improvise stomachs proportioned to what they had to swallow4 ,m4 ,pouchet does not coincide with this opinion1 but rather inclines to that of ,ehrenberg4 ,what is incontestable and admirable in these atoms is the vigor of movement4 ,many have all the appearance of a precocious individuality4 ,they do not long remain subject to the communistic life led by their immediate superiors1 the true ,polypes4 ,very many of these invisibles are individuals at the first leap2 that is to say1 that1 at the first moment of their existence1 they can come and go alone and at their own will2 true citizens of the world whose movements depend only upon themselves4 ,whatever can be seen or imagined of various modes of locomotion in the visible world1 is equalled1 even surpassed1 among these invisibles4 ,the impetuous whirl of a potent star1 of a sun which attracts around him1 as his planets1 the weaker one which he meets1 the more irregular course of the eccentric comet1 the graceful undulation of the slender one in the water or upon the land1 the rocking barque that veers right round in an instant1 the rush of the swift shark and the slow crawl of the wretched sloth--all and every movement1 clumsy or graceful1 slow or swift1 is to be found in the various species of atoms4 ,and with what a marvellous simplicity of machinery6 ,here you see one1 a mere thread1 advancing1 twisting1 a veritable elastic cork-screw2 there you see one that for oar and rudder has only an undulating tail or a pair of little vibrating eye-lashes4 ,the beautiful little polypus-worms1 like flowers in a vase1 anchor together upon an isle--a little plant1 or a miniature crab1 and then separate and cast off by detaching their delicate peduncle4 ,what is even more surprising than the organs of motion1 is what we may term the expression1 the attitudes1 the original signs of character and temper4 ,you may recognize here the apathetic1 there the vivacious and fantastic1 some all alert for war1 and others1 as it would seem1 fretful and agitated without any apparent cause4 ,again1 you will occasionally see a whole crowd of remarkably quiet and peaceable atoms suddenly dispersed and knocked over by some scapegrace atom1 conscious of superior strength1 and spoiling for a fight4 ,a prodigious comedy is that of our atoms6 ,they seem to be satirically rehearsing the various farces which are played in our own noble and serious world1 of atoms of larger growth6 ,at the head of the infusori1 we must make respectful mention of the majestic giants1 the highest type of motion and of strength1 slow1 but terrible and great4 ,take some moss from a roof1 steep it for a few hours in water1 then place it under the microscopic inspection1 and you behold a vast1 a mighty animal1 the elephant or the whale of the invisibles1 moving with a youthful grace which those large animals do not always display4 ,respect this king of all the atoms1 this rotifer1 so called because on either side of his head he has a wheel2 these wheels are his organs of locomotion1 like the paddle-wheels of a steamship1 or perhaps they also serve him as his arms of chase to catch his small game1 the inferior and peaceable atoms6 ,all fly1 all yield to the rotifer1 save one2 one atom only fears nothing1 yields nothing1 but trusts to his superior weapons4 ,he is a monster1 but he is provided with superior senses4 ,he has two great gleaming1 purplish eyes4 ,he is slow1 but he can see1 and he is admirably armed4 ,to his strong paws he adds strong1 sharp talons1 which serve him to hold on with1 and1 at need1 to serve him in the fight4 ,potent initial essays of ,nature1 that with such small expenditure of matter1 can create in such majestic fashion6 ,sublime first note of the sublime overture4 ,these1--of what consequence is mere size8--have a colossal power of absorption and of movement1 far beyond that which will be given to the enormous animals that are classed so much higher in the animal scale4 ,the oyster fixed upon its rock1 the crawling slug1 are to the rotifers creatures as disproportioned as man to the ,alps or ,cordilleras--so disproportioned that one cannot compare them by glance1 hardly by reflection and calculation4 ,yet among those animal mountains1 where will you find the vivacity1 the ardor of vitality1 displayed by the rotifer8 ,what a fall we have as we ascend6 ,our atoms are too vivacious1 dazzlingly agile1 and these gigantic beasts are smitten with paralysis4 ,what if the rotifer could conceive1 for instance1 the superb1 the colossal starred sponge1 which one may see in the ,museum at ,paris8 ,it is to the rotifer what this globe1 with its twenty-seven thousand miles of circumference is to man4 ,well6 ,if the rotifer could compare himself to the huge sponge1 rely upon it that the rotifer would move his wheels in utmost excitement1 and exclaim--,i am great4 ,ah6 ,rotifer1 rotifer6 we should despise no one1 and nothing4 ,i am well convinced of your advantages and your superiority4 ,but who knows if the captive and slumbering life which you1 for instance1 despise in the oyster or the snail1 or the slug1 be not in truth a progress8 ,your wild vertiginous movement1 and vivacity1 by no means secure a passage towards higher destinies2 for that passage1 nature prefers a motion of less enchantment4 ,she enters the dark sepulchre of that melancholy communism in which element reckons but for little2 she teaches how to dominate individual anxieties and ambitions1 and to concentrate substances for the benefit of superior lives4 ,she sleeps there1 for a time1 like the ,sleeping ,beauty in the ,wood4 ,but sleep1 captivity1 enchantment1 be it what it may1 it is not ,death4 ,in the sponge1 seemingly so dead1 what life there is6 ,it moves not1 breathes not1 has no organs of circulation1 or of sense1--and yet it lives4 ,how know we that1 do you ask8 ,twice in every year the sponge reproduces4 ,she lives after her fashion1 and even more richly than many others4 ,at the proper day1 small spheres leave the mother sponge1 armed with minute fins1 which enable them for a short time to float about in full liberty1 but soon coming to anchor1 they remain there1 growing1 reproducing1 till the sponge-hunter carries them to the habitations of man1 to the service of the greater enslaver1 man1 the civilized4 ,thus1 in the apparent absence of senses1 and of all organization1 in that mysterious enigma1 at the doubtful threshold of life1 generation opens up to us the visible world by which we are to ascend4 ,as yet there is nothing1 and in the bosom of that nothingness maternity already appears4 ,as with the fabled gods of antique and mysterious ,egypt1 as with that old ,isis and ,osiris1 who begat before their birth1 here1 also1 ,love exists before ,being4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,blood-,,flower4 ,at the heart of the globe1 in the warm waters of the ,line1 and upon their volcanic bottoms1 the sea so superabounds in life that it seems impossible for it to balance its multitudinous creations4 ,overpassing purely vegetable life1 its earliest products are organized1 sensitive1 living4 ,but these animals adorn themselves with a singular splendor of botanic beauty1 the splendid liveries of an eccentric and most luxuriant ,flora4 ,far as the eye can reach1 you see what1 judging from the forms and colors1 you take for flowers1 and shrubs1 and plants4 ,but those plants have their movements1 those shrubs are irritable1 those flowers shrink and shudder with an incipient sensitiveness which promises1 perception and will4 ,charming oscillation1 fascinating motion1 most graceful equivoque6 ,on the confines of the two kingdoms of animal and vegetable life1 ,mind1 under those fary oscillations gives token of its first awakening1 its dawn1 its morning twilight1 to be followed by a glorious and glowing noon4 ,those brilliant colors1 those pearly and enamelled flashings1 tell at once of the past night and the thought of the dawning day4 ,thought6 may we venture to call it so8 ,no1 it is still a ,dream1 which by degrees will clear up into ,thought4 ,already1 in the north of ,africa1 over the other side of the ,cape1 the vegetable kingdom1 which reigns alone in the temperate zone1 sees itself rivalled1 surpassed4 ,the great enchantment progresses1 increases1 as we near the ,equator4 ,on the land1--tree1 shrub1 flower1 weed1 are proud and gorgeous1 flaming in every bright color1 delicate in every soft shade1 and beneath the waters' slime and the ruddy corals4 ,beside parterres1 that display rainbow beauties of every color and every tint1 commence the stone plants2 the madrepores1 whose branches 7should we not rather say their hands and fingers87 flourish in a rose-tinted snow2 like peach or apple blossoms4 ,seven hundred leagues on either side of the ,equator1 you sail through this fary land of magical illusion and wondrous beauty4 ,there are doubtful creatures1 the ,corallines1 for instance1 that are claimed by all the three kingdoms4 ,they tend towards the animal1 they tend towards the mineral1 and1 finally1 are assigned to the vegetable4 ,perchance they form the real point at which ,life obscurely and mysteriously rises from the slumber of the stone1 without utterly quitting that rude starting-point1 as if to remind us1 so high placed and so haughty1 of the right of even the humble mineral to rise into animation1 and of the deep and eternal aspiration that lies buried1 but busy1 in the bosom of ,nature4 ,the fields and forests of our dry land1 says ,darwin1 appear sterile and empty1 if we compare them with those of the sea4 ,and1 in fact1 all who traverse the marvellous transparent ,indian seas are thrilled1 stirred1 startled1 by the phantasmagoria that flashes up from their far clear depths4 ,especially surprising is the interchange between animal and vegetable life of their especial and characteristic appearances4 ,the soft impressible gelatinous plants1 with rounded organs1 that are neither precisely leaves nor precisely stalks1 the delicacy of their animal curves--those ,hogarthian lines of beauty1 seem to ask us to believe that they are veritable animals1 while the real animals1 on the other hand1 in form1 in color1 in all1 seem to do their utmost to be mistaken for vegetables4 ,each kingdom skilfully imitates the other4 ,these have the solidity1 the quasi permanence1 of the tree2 the others alternately expand and fade like the evanescent flower4 ,thus the sea ,anemone opens as a roseate and pearly flower1 or as a granite star with deep blue eyes2 but when her coroll have given forth an ,anemone daughter1 you see the fair mother droop1 fade1 die4 ,far otherwise variable1 that ,proteus of the waters1 the ,halcyon1 takes every form and every color4 ,now plant1 now flower1 it spreads itself out into a fanlike beauty1 becomes a bushy hedge1 or rounds itself into a graceful bouquet4 ,but all this is so ephemeral1 so fugitive1 so timid1 so shrinking1 that at the slightest touch of the softest breath it disappears1 and returns on the instant into the womb of the common mother4 ,in these slight and fugitive forms you at once recognize the twin sisters of the sensitive plants of our earth2 closing up1 as they close at the first breath of evening4 ,when you gaze down upon a coral reef1 you see the depths carpeted1 many colored flowers with fungi1 masses of snowy brilliancy2 every hill1 every valley1 of the great deep1 is variegated with a thousand forms1 and a thousand colors1 from the ruddy and outstretched branches of the coral1 to the deep1 rich1 velvety green of the ,cariophylles or violets1 which seek their food by the gentle motion of the richly golden stamens4 ,above this lower world1 as if to shade them from the too glowing kiss of the ardent sun1 waves a whole forest of giant and dwarf trees and shrubs1 and from tree to tree feathery spirals stretch and interlace like the loving and embracing tendrils of the vine1 but finer in tendril and infinitely more splendid in their variegated and contrasting1 yet singularly harmonizing colors4 ,this glorious sight inspires1 yet agitates us2 it is a dream1 a vertigo2 that ,fay of the shifting mirage1 the ,sea1 adding to these colors her own prismatic tints1 fading1 reappearing1 now here1 now gone1 a capricious and fitful inconstancy1 a hesitation1 a doubt4 ,have we really seen it1 this lovely scene8 ,no1 it was not so4 ,was it an entity1 or a delusion8 ,yes1 yes1 it must be real1 there are certainly very real beings there1 for ,i see whole hosts of them lodged there and sporting there4 ,the molluscs confide in that reality1 for there you can see their pearly shells reflecting lights1 now flashing and brilliant1 and anon of a most tender delicacy2 and the crab1 too1 believes in it1 for see how he hastens on his sidelong path4 ,strange fish1 vast and curious monsters of the deep1 move hither and thither in their many colored vesture of purple and gold1 and deep azure and delicate pink2 and that delicate star1 the ,ophiure agitates his delicate and elegant arms4 ,in this phantasmagoria the arborescent ,madrepore more gravely displays his less brilliant colors4 ,his beauty is chiefly that of form4 ,but the chief attraction of the aspect of this vast community is in its entirety2 the individual is humble1 but the republic is imposing4 ,here you have the strong assemblage of aloes and cactus2 there you have the superbly branching antlers of the ,deer2 and anon1 you see the vast stretch of the vigorous branches of the giant cedar stretching at first horizontally1 but tending to advance upward and upward still4 ,those forms at present despoiled of the thousands and tens of thousands of living flowers1 which should cover and enliven them have1 perhaps1 in that stern nudity an additional attraction for the mind4 ,i love to look upon the trees in winter1 when their bared boughs tell us and show us what they really are4 ,and thus it is with the ,madrepores4 ,in their present nudity1 when from pictures they have become statues1 it seems as though they were about to reveal to us the whole secret of the minute populations of which they are at once the creation and the monument4 ,many of them seem to write to us in strange characters1 to speak to us in strange tones4 ,their interlacings evidently have a something to tell us1 could we but understand them4 ,but who shall be their interpreter2 who shall give us the keynote to their harmony1 mysterious harmony--but ,harmony doubtless8 ,how much less significant is the ,bee architecture in its cold1 severe1 geometry6 ,that is the produce of life1 but here we look upon life itself4 ,the stone was not simply the base and shelter of this people2 it was itself a previous people1 an anterior generation1 which1 gradually overtopped by the younger1 assumed its present consistence4 ,and all the movements of that first community are still strikingly visible1 as details of another ,herculaneum1 or ,pompeii4 ,but here everything is accomplished without catastrophe1 without violence1 by orderly and natural progress2 all testifies to serenity and peace4 ,every sculptor will here admire the forms of a marvellous art which has achieved such infinite variety of forms1 improving upon all arts of ornamentation4 ,but we have to reflect upon something far beyond mere form4 ,the arborescent variety on which the activity of these laborious tribes has been so wonderfully employed1 is the effort of a thought1 of a captive liberty1 seeking the guiding thread in the deep and mazy labyrinth1 and timidly feeling its way upward towards the light1 and gently and gracefully working out its emancipation from communist life4 ,i have in my possession two of these little trees differing from each other1 but of like species4 ,no vegetable is comparable to them4 ,one1 purely white as the most immaculate alabaster1 has an inexhaustible wealth of buds1 and blossoms and flowers1 on every one of its many spreading branches4 ,the other1 less white and less spreading1 has also its whole world upon its branches4 ,exquisitely beautiful are they both2 alike yet unlike1 twins of innocence and fraternity4 ,oh who shall explain to us the mystery of the infant soul that created these fary things6 ,we feel that it must be at work1 captive and yet free2 captive in a captivity so beloved that though still tending upward towards freedom1 it yet cares not fully to achieve it4 ,the arts have not yet seized upon those wonders from which the world has derived so much benefit4 ,the beautiful statue of ,nature 7at the entrance of the ,jardin des ,plantes7 should have been surrounded by them2 ,nature should only be exhibited as she ever lives1 amidst fary triumphs1 enthroning her on a mountain of her own beauties4 ,her first born1 the ,madrepores1 would have furnished the lower strata with their meanders1 their stars and their alabaster branches2 while above1 their sisters1 with their bodies and their fine hair would have made a living bed1 softly to embrace with caressing love the divine ,mother in her dream of eternal maternity4 ,painting has succeeded in these things no better than sculpture4 ,her animated flowers have neither the expression nor the true1 pure1 delicate coloring of the animated flowers1 of the nature of which our colored engravings give but a poor and mechanical idea1 altogether destitute of the unctuous softness1 suppleness1 and warm emotion of the flowers of the fields1 the woods1 the gardens1 or animated flowers of the seas4 ,enamels1 even attempted as by ,palissy1 are too hard and cold2 admirable for reptiles and the scales of fish1 they are too glaring to resemble these tender and soft creatures that have not even a skin4 ,the little exterior lungs of the annelides1 the slight net work in which certain of the ,polypes float1 the sensitive and ever-moving hairs which support the ,medus1 are objects not merely delicate to sight1 but affecting to imagination4 ,they are of every shade1 fine and vague1 yet warm2 as though a balmy breath had become visible4 ,you see an ever-varying1 ever-moving rainbow that delights your eye2 but for them it is a very serious matter1 the creating of that marvellous rainbow1 of various forms and colors2 it is their blood and their weak life converted into changing hues and tints1 and lights and shades4 ,take care6 ,do not stifle that little floating soul1 which mutely1 but oh how eloquently1 tells you its secret in those varying and palpitating colors4 ,the colors do not long survive1 and their creators1 the ,madrepores1 themselves survive only in their base1 which has been called inorganic1 but which in reality is condensed and solidified life4 ,women1 who have a more delicate and penetrating sense of the beautiful than we have1 do not thus mistake2 they have1 at the least1 confusedly divined that one of these trees1 the coral1 is a living thing1 and thence the just favor in which they hold it4 ,vainly did science tell them that coral was mere stone1 and then that it was a plant1 they knew quite differently4 ,madame1 why is it that you prefer this tree of a dubious red1 to all the precious stones8 ,monsieur1 it suits my complexion4 ,rubies are too vivid1 they make me look pale1 while this1 somewhat duller1 rather more favorably contrasts fairness4 ,the lady is quite right2 the coral and the lady are related4 ,in the coral1 as in the lip and the cheek of the lady1 it is iron1 according to ,voyel1 which makes the one red and the others roseate4 ,but1 ,madame1 these brilliant stones have an incomparable polish1 and dazzling lustre4 ,yes1 but the coral has something of the softness and even the warmth of the skin4 ,as soon as ,i put it on1 it seems to become a part of myself4 ,but ,madame1 there are much finer reds than that of your coral necklace4 ,doctor1 leave me this1 ,i love it4 ,why8 ,that ,i know not2 or if there is a reason1 that which will do as well as any1 is that its ,eastern and true name is 'the ,blood-,flower4' ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,world ,,makers4 ,our ,museum of ,natural ,history1 within its too narrow limits1 contains a fary palace in every part of which we see the genius of metamorphoses of ,lamarck and ,geoffroy4 ,in the dark lower hall the ,madrepores serve as the base of the more and more living world that rises1 stage above stage1 above4 ,higher up the superior creatures of the sea display their energy of organization1 and prepare the life of the terrestrials1 and above these1 ,mammifer1 over which the lovely birds spread their wings and almost seem to be still singing6 ,the multitude of visitors pass quickly and with small show of interest from the ,madrepores1 those elder born of the globe1 and hasten to the light and to the presence of things of brightest beauty1 mother of pearl1 the richly painted wings of butterflies1 and the plumage of birds4 ,i1 who stop longer below1 often find myself quite alone in that dark little gallery4 ,i love that solemn crypt of the great scientific ,church4 ,there ,i best can feel the sacred soul1 the still present spirit of our great masters1 their great1 their sublime effort1 and the immortal audacity of our voyagers and travellers1 the intrepid collectors of such a wealth of whatever is beautiful or instructive4 ,wherever their bones may lie they themselves are still present in the ,museum by the treasures which they have bequeathed1 treasures which some of them have paid for with their lives4 ,on the #aeth of last ,october1 having remained in that crypt somewhat late1 ,i had some difficulty in reading the label on some ,madrepores--that label bore the name of ,lamarck4 ,a sudden warmth1 a religious glow1 thrilled through my heart and brain4 ,lamarck6 ,great name1 and already antique6 ,it is as though among the tombs of ,saint ,denis we should suddenly read the name of ,clovis4 ,the glory1 the strifes1 the royal triumphs1 of his successor1 have obscured somewhat the name of that blind ,homer of the ,museum1 who1 with the instinct of genius created1 organized1 and named the previously almost unknown class of ,invertebrates2 a class1 nay1 a whole world1 a vast abyss of soft half organized life still destitute of vertebr2 that bony centralization and essential support of personality4 ,these are all the more interesting because they are obviously the earliest of all--those humble and so long neglected tribes4 ,raumur placed the ,crocodiles among the insects4 ,the proud ,buffon deigned not to know even the names of humble ,invertebrates1 he excluded them altogether from the ,olympus at ,versailles which he erected to ,nature4 ,these great populations1 so obscure1 so confused1 which1 nevertheless1 prepared everything and abound every where1 remained exiled from the world of science until the coming of ,lamarck4 ,it was precisely the elders that were thus excluded1 elders so numerous that to exclude them was1 in some sort1 to close the eyes and bar the gate against nature herself4 ,the genius of the ,metamorphoses was emancipated by botany and chemistry4 ,it was a bold but most precious thing to take ,lamarck1 from the ,botany in which he had passed his life1 and remove him to the vast world of animality4 ,that ardent genius1 trained in miracles by the transformations of plants1 and full of faith in the unity of life1 next drew the animals1 and that vast animal1 the ,globe1 from the state of petrifaction in which they so long had lain4 ,half blind1 he intrepidly treated a thousand things which the clear sighted scarcely dared to approach4 ,at least1 he infused his fire into them1 and ,geoffroy1 ,cuvier and ,blainville found them warm and living4 ,all is living1 or has been1 said ,lamarck2 everything is life1 either present or past4 ,great revolutionary effort1 that1 against inert matter2 effort proceeding even to suppress and banish the inorganic6 ,no longer any actual death4 ,that which has lived may sleep2 and yet preserve latent life1 the capacity to revive4 ,who is really dead8 ,no one4 ,what8 ,nothing4 ,this dictum1 so novel1 and so bold1 swelled the sails of our scientific age with a strong and a favoring gale2 it has urged on enquiries1 such as but for it we should never have dreamed of making4 ,history1 or ,natural ,history1 we demand of every thing1 who are you--and every where the answer is1 ,i am ,life1 and1 thus1 ,death retreats before the bold advance and eagle glance of science1 and ,mind moves onward still1 conquering and to conquer4 ,among these resuscitations1 ,i first note my ,madrepores1 taking the interest of life1 though previously scorned1 or unnoticed1 as dead stone4 ,when ,lamarck collected and explained them at the ,museum1 they were detected in the mystery of their activity1 in their immense creations1 and they exemplified how a world is made4 ,that once known1 it was at once suspected that if the earth makes the animal1 the animal also makes the earth2 and that each aids the other in the office of creation4 ,animality is every where1 filling every thing and peopling every thing4 ,we find the remains or the imprint of it even in the minerals1 as the statuary marble and alabaster1 which have passed through the crucible of the most destructive fires4 ,at every advance1 in our knowledge of the existing1 we discover an enormous past of animal life4 ,as soon as our improvements in ,optics enabled us to discover and to watch the ,infusori1 we behold them making mountains and paving the ocean4 ,the hard silex is a mass of animalcules1 the sponge is an animated silex4 ,our limestones are all animals2 ,paris is built with infusori1 a part of ,germany rests upon a newly buried bed of coral4 ,infusori1 coral1 shells1 chalk and lime4 ,they are constantly taking from the ,ocean1 but the fish1 which devour the coral1 restore it as chalk1 and restore it to the waters whence it came4 ,thus the ,coral ,sea in its labor of production1 of upheaving1 in its constructions incessantly augmented or diminished1 built1 ruined1 and rebuilt1 is an immense fabric of limestone which is continually oscillating between its two lives2--the acting life of the day--the other life that will act to-morrow4 ,foster quite justly decides that these circular islands are the craters of volcanoes1 raised up by the polypes4 ,he has been contradicted1 but wrongly so4 ,upon no other hypothesis can we account for this identity of figure4 ,there is always the same ring of about a hundred paces in diameter1 very low1 beaten on the outside by the waves1 but enclosing a tranquil basin4 ,a few plants of three or four species1 here and there1 crown the basin with verdure4 ,the water is of the most beautiful green4 ,the enclosing ring is of white sand1 the residue of dissolved coral1 contrasting with the blue of the ,ocean4 ,beneath the salt water1 our little laborers are at work1 the stronger and bolder at the breakers1 the weaker and more timid on the smoother sides4 ,this is not a very varied world4 ,but wait4 ,the winds and the currents are constantly at work to enrich it2 come a good tempest1 and all the neighboring isles will be laid under contribution to enrich this rising one4 ,and in this is one of the most magnificent functions of the ,tempest2 the greater1 the wilder1 and the more sweeping1 the more fecund it is4 ,a water-spout passes over an island2 the torrent that it produces carries with it slime1 rubbish1 plants1 living or dead1 and even whole forests1 which the waves carry to the neighboring isles1 raising1 and at the same time enriching1 their soil4 ,a great messenger of life1 and one of the most transportable1 is the solid cocoanut4 ,not only does it travel well1 but1 when thrown upon shoal or rock1 if it find only a little poor white sand1 which would support nothing else1 the cocoanut contents itself there1 finds brackish water not a jot less agreeable than the freshest2 germinates1 thrives1 grows into a robust cocoa tree4 ,a tree being thus planted1 fresh water comes1 falling leaves create earth1 other trees follow1 and at length we see the noble palm grove1 which arrests the vapors1 which at length form a rivulet or river1 which1 flowing from the center of the isle1 make an opening of fresh water in the cincture of white sand1 and thus keep the polypes1 inhabitants only of salt water1 at a respectful distance4 ,of the rapidity with which the ,polypes do their work1 we have some curious proofs4 ,in forty days' harboring at ,rio ,janeiro1 boats were wholly destroyed2 in a strait near ,australia1 there were formerly only twenty-six islets2 there are already a hundred and fifty--well recognized3 and the ,english admiralty believes that there are even more2 and in twenty years hence the whole strait1 forty leagues in length1 will be so completely blocked up as to be unnavigable4 ,the eastern shoal of ,australia is three hundred and sixty leagues1 7one hundred and twenty-seven without any interruption17 and that of ,new ,caledonia one hundred and forty-five leagues2 the single shoal of the ,maldives is almost five hundred miles long1 and groups of isles in the ,pacific are four hundred leagues long1 by a hundred and fifty wide4 ,to all this work of the ,polypes1 we must add1 that the banks of the isle of ,france1 and the shallows of the ,red ,sea1 are continually rising4 ,tunis and its environs present a wholly animal world2 and the rocks present forms so strange1 and colors so splendid1 that the spectator is amazed and dazzled4 ,you see them in a space of several leagues of shallow sea water--probably not averaging more than a foot of depth1 working calmly1 but perseveringly at their business of creating4 ,their first intelligent observer was ,forster1 companion of ,cook1 who found them at work1 caught them in the very fact of their great conspiracy to make1 noiselessly and marvellously1 whole chains of islands1 to be by degrees converted into a continent4 ,all this passed before his eyes1 as it might have done in the first days of the world4 ,from the submarine depths1 the central fire throws up a dome or cone1 which opens1 and its lava forms a circular crater4 ,but the volcanic strength becomes exhausted1 and the cooling lava becomes covered with a living jelly1 an animal multitude1 whose perpetual exudation of mucus continually raises the circle higher and higher1 to low water mark2 no higher1 or they would be dry2 no lower1 because they would lack the light4 ,if they have no special organ with which to perceive the light1 it circumfuses1 penetrates1 permeates their whole being4 ,the glowing sun of the tropics1 which traverses right through their transparent little frames1 seems to have for them all the irresistible attraction of magnetism4 ,when the tide ebbs and leaves them uncovered1 they1 nevertheless1 remain open1 and drink in the vivid light4 ,dumont d',urville1 who so often coasted among their little isles1 says3--,it is a real pain to see1 so near by the peace of that interior basin1 and to see all around shallow waters1 beneath which are the shelving rocks1 tenanted by the coral insects1 in perfect security1 while we are enduring all the shocks of a raging tempest4 ,but this amiable community and its edifice are a shoal1 a terrible lee shore1 scarcely hidden by the shallow waters2 touch upon that shoal and you will be crushed4 ,trust not to anchors among those peaked and jagged rocks2 your cables1 however good1 would soon wear and snap4 ,the seaman's anxiety is extreme1 in those long nights when the ,southern surges drive him among these shoals1 at once so rugged and yet as cutting as razors4 ,to such accusations as these1 our innocent shoal-makers reply--,time--give us only time1 and these rocks will become hospitable1 tenanted1 fruitful4 ,these banks1 joined on to their neighboring banks1 will no longer have these terrible threatenings for the seaman4 ,we are preparing a spare world to replace your old one should it perish4 ,ingrates6 ,come some great and overwhelming catastrophe to your old world1 if1 as some one among you has said1 the sea turns from one pole to the other in every ten thousand years1 and you perchance will bless us1 and hail with joy these southern isles which we are making1 this huge southern continent that we are preparing4 ,confess1 now1 that if1 unhappily1 ships do occasionally perish on these shoals1 our work here1 nevertheless1 is useful1 and good1 and great4 ,our improvised world may not unjustly be proud4 ,to say nothing about the beauty of its triumphant colors1 before which those of your earth grow pale2 to say nothing about the graceful curves and circles on which we pride ourselves1--how many are the problems1 which1 insolvable to you1 find their solution among us6 ,the division of labor1 a charming variety combined with a great regularity1 a geometrical order1 softened and made graceful and gracious by a rising liberty--where1 among you men1 will you find these so combined as from the beginning we have combined them among us8 ,our incessant labor in relieving the sea-water of its salts1 creates those currents which give it life and healthful power4 ,we are the very spirits of the ,sea1 giving1 as we do1 her motion4 ,and the sea is not ungrateful2 she nourishes us at fixed periods2 and not less punctually comes the glowing sun to caress us and dower us with brilliant colors4 ,we are the beloved1 the favored workers of the ,deity1 entrusted by him with the first rude sketches and outlines of his worlds1 and all our juniors upon this globe1 need us1 and are indebted to us4 ,our friend the ,cocoa tree1 that inaugurates terrestrial life upon our isle1 could not do so but from our dust4 ,in its far back origin1 vegetable life is our liberal gift1 and1 made rich by us1 it nourishes the superior creation4 ,but what need of other animals8 ,we are within our own circle complete1 harmonious and sufficing2 with us the circle of creation might be closed4 ,for as ,god crowns his isle on his old volcano of fire1 he has created a volcano of life1 and expansion of that living paradise4 ,he has created all that he needs1 and now ,he may repose4 ,not yet1 not yet4 ,a creation must rise above yours1 a thing which you do not fear4 ,that rival is not the tempest1 you would brave it2 nor the fresh water1 you would build beside it4 ,it is not even the earth1 which by degrees is invading your constructions4 ,what1 then1 is that other power8 ,in yourself1 in ,polypes1 there is an ambition to cease to be one4 ,in your ,republic there is a certain creature who in constant anxiety and yearning1 repeats that the perfection of this vegetating existence is not real life4 ,it constantly dreams of a freer and more expanded life1 navigating hither and thither1 penetrating and viewing the unknown world even at the hazard of shipwreck2--that thing is--the ,soul4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,daughter ,,of ,,the ,,seas4 ,i passed the early part of #aheh in the pleasant little town of ,hyres which1 from afar1 gazes down on the sea1 the islets and the peninsula by which its coast is sheltered4 ,the sea1 seen from this distance1 is even more potently seductive than when one is on its very shore4 ,the paths leading to it1 whether we pass between gardens with their hedges of jasmin and myrtle1 or1 ascending some little1 pass through the olive grounds and a little wood of pines and laurels1 are exceedingly tempting4 ,the wood by no means hinders us from catching1 now and then1 a glance of the bright sea4 ,the place is1 by no means unjustly1 called ,fair-,coast4 ,often in the fine days of its gentle winters we met there a most interesting invalid1 a young foreign princess who had come thither from a distance of five hundred leagues1 in the hope of adding some span to her fading and failing life4 ,that life1 short as it was1 had been a hard and sad one4 ,scarcely had she become a glad wife when she found herself rudely threatened by ,death4 ,and now she dragged on from day to day of suffering1 supported and most tenderly treated by him who lived only for her and hoped not to survive her4 ,if wishes and prayers could have preserved her she would still live2 for all prayed for her1 especially the poor4 ,but spring came1 and bloomed and ended1 and on one of those ,april days whose genial influence revives every thing we saw the two shadows pass1 pale as the wandering ,elysian spectres of ,virgil4 ,sad at heart with sympathy1 we reached the gulf4 ,between the bold rocks1 the pools left by the sea contained some little creatures that had not been able to accompany the retreating tide4 ,some shelled creatures were there1 self-concentrated and suffering from want of water1 and amongst them1 unshelled1 unsheltered1 lay the living parasol1 that for some1 anything1 rather than good reason1 we call the ,medusa4 ,why has that name of terror been given to a creature so charming8 ,never before had my attention been attracted to those wrecked beauties1 which we so often see high and dry upon the sea shore at low ebb tide4 ,this especial one was small1 not larger than my hand1 but singularly beautiful1 in its delicate colors1 passing so lightly from tint to tint4 ,it was of an opal whiteness1 into which passed1 as in a light cloud1 a crown of the most delicate lilac4 ,the wind had turned it over1 so that its lilac filaments floated above1 while the umbrella1 that is to say1 its proper body1 lay upon the rock4 ,much bruised in that tender body1 it was also wounded and mutilated in its fine filaments1 or hairs1 which are its sensitive organs of respiration1 absorption1 and even love4 ,and the whole creature thus thrown upside down was receiving in full force the rays of the ,provenal sun1 severe in its first awakening and rendered still more severe by the dryness of the occasional gusts of the south-westerly winds1 the ,mistral of our ,provenal coasts4 ,the transparent creature was thus doubly pierced1 doubly tormented1 accustomed as it was to the caressing sea1 and unprovided with the resisting epidermis of land animals4 ,close to her dried up lagune were other lagunes still full of water1 and communicating with the sea4 ,within a few paces of her1 then1 was safety1 but for her who had no organs of locomotion1 excepting her undulating hairs1 it was impossible to traverse even that petty distance1 and it seemed that remaining under that fierce sun and exposed to the arid blasts of that wind she very speedily must faint1 die1 and be actually dissolved4 ,nothing more ephemeral1 more delicate than these daughters of the sea4 ,some of them are so fluid that they dissolve and disappear as soon as taken from the sea4 ,such is that slight band of azure called the ,girdle of ,venus4 ,the ,medusa1 a little more solid has all the more trouble in dying4 ,was she dying or already dead8 ,i do not readily believe in death1 and believing that she still lived ,i resolved to convey her to a lagune of salt water4 ,to say the truth ,i felt some repugnance to touching her4 ,the delicious creature with her visible innocence1 and rainbow of tender colors1 looked like a trembling jelly which must slip from one's touch or dissolve in one's grasp4 ,however1 ,i conquered this repugnance1 slid my hand gently beneath her and as ,i turned her over her hairs fell down into their natural position1 when used in swimming4 ,i thus carried her to the water1 where she sank without giving the slightest sign of life4 ,i walked about the shore1 but in about ten minutes returned to look after my ,medusa4 ,she was swimming under water1 her hairs undulating gracefully beneath her2 and slowly1 but safely1 she had left the rock far behind her4 ,poor creature1 perhaps she got wrecked or stranded again1 ere long1 for it is impossible to navigate with weaker means or in a fashion more dangerous4 ,the ,medus fear the shore where so many hard substances hurt them1 and in the open sea they are liable to be overturned at every gust of wind1 in which case1 their swimming-feathers being above instead of below their bodies1 they are carried hither and thither1 at random1 upon the waves1 as the prey of fish or the delight of birds who find sport and profit in seizing them4 ,during a whole season which ,i spent on the banks of ,gironde ,i saw them cast ashore to perish miserably by hundreds4 ,on their arrival they were white and brilliant as crystal4 ,alas6 ,how different was their aspect in the course of a couple of days4 ,very happily they sank beneath the sand and were lost to my pitying view4 ,they are the food of every thing marine1 and have themselves scarce any aliment1 none that we know of1 but the1 as yet1 scarce organized atoms floating in the sea which they1 etherialize1 as we may say1 and suck in without making them suffer4 ,they have neither teeth nor weapons2 no defence1 excepting that some species1 ,forbes says not all1 can secrete1 when attacked1 a liquid which stings somewhat like the nettle1 but so faintly that ,dicquemare with impunity received some of it in his eye4 ,here we have1 indeed1 a creature little provided and in great peril4 ,she is superior already2 she has senses1 and1 if we may judge from her contractions1 a great sensibility to suffering4 ,she cannot1 like the ,polypus1 be divided and live4 ,divide him and you double his existence2 divide her and she dies4 ,gelatinous as the polypus1 the ,medusa seems to be an embryon cast away too soon from the bosom of the common mother1 torn from the solid base and the association to which the ,polypus owes his safety1 and launched into adventure4 ,how has the imprudent creature set out8 ,how1 without sails1 or oars1 or helm1 has she left her port8 ,what is her point of departure8 ,ellis1 as long ago as #agej1 saw a little ,medusa produced from the campanular polypus1 and many later observers have ascertained that she is a kind of polypus that has left the society4 ,to speak more simply1 she is an escaped polypus4 ,and the learned ,m4 ,forbes who has so deeply studied them1 very aptly asks1 what is there astonishing in that8 ,it only shows that to that extent the animal still obeys the vegetable law4 ,from the tree1 the collective being1 proceeds the individual1 the detached fruit which fruit will make another tree4 ,a pear tree is a sort of vegetable polypus of which the pear1 7the emancipated individual7 can give us a pear tree4 ,in like manner1 adds ,forbes1 as the leaf laden tree1 stops in its development1 contracts1 and becomes an organ of love--i4 e4 a flower1 the ,polypier1 contracting some of its polypes and transforming their contractions1 forms the placenta1 the eggs from which proceeds the young and graceful ,medusa4 ,one would guess as much from her hesitating grace1 that weakness at once so unarmed and so fearless1 which embarks without instruments of navigation1 and trusts too much to life4 ,it is the first tender and touching adventure of the new soul going forth without defence from the security of the common life1 to be itself1 an individual acting and suffering on its own account--soft sketch of free nature2 an embryon of liberty4 ,to be oneself1 oneself alone1 in a little complete world1 was a great temptation for all4 ,a universal seduction6 a beautiful folly1 which causes all the effort and all the progress of the world1 from our earth upward to the very stars4 ,but in her first attempts the ,medusa1 seems especially unjustified4 ,one would say that she was created on purpose to be drowned4 ,laden above1 and ill-ballasted below1 she is formed in conditions exactly opposite to those of her parent1 the ,physalie4 ,this latter displays on the surface of the water1 only a little balloon1 an insubmersible membrane and below has infinitely long tentacul1 of twenty feet or more1 which steady her1 sweep the waters1 stupefy the fish1 make prey of him4 ,light and careless1 inflating her pearly balloon of blue or purple tints1 she darts from her long hairy tentacul a subtle and murderous poison4 ,less formidable1 the ,velelles are no less secure4 ,they have the form of radeaux1 their minute organization is already somewhat solid1 and they can steer and trim their oblique sail to every wind4 ,the ,porpites1 that seem to be only a flower1 a sea ,margaret1 have their own peculiar levity2 even after death1 they continue to float4 ,it is the same with many other fantastic and almost arial beings1 garlands with golden bells or with rosebuds--such as the ,physopheres1 ,stephanomie1 c41 azure girdles of ,venus4 ,all these swim and float invincibly1 fear only the shore1 and sail boldly out on the open sea1 and when it is ever so rough are perfectly safe there4 ,so little do the ,porpites and ,velelles fear the sea1 that1 being able to rise at pleasure1 they exert themselves to sink to the concealing depths when the weather is bad4 ,not such is our poor ,medusa4 ,fearing the shore1 she is also in danger at sea4 ,she could sink into the depths at will1 but the watery abyss is forbidden to her2 she can live only on the surface1 in the broad light and in full peril4 ,she sees1 she hears1 and her sense of touch is very delicate1 to her misfortune1 too much so4 ,she cannot guide herself2 her most complicated organs overload and overbalance her4 ,and so we are tempted to believe that she must needs repent of so perilous a search after liberty2 and desires to be back in the inferior state1 the security of the common life4 ,the polypier made the ,medusa1 she in turn makes the polypier1 and returns to the life of community4 ,but this vegetating state wearies her1 and in the next generation she again emancipates herself and goes forth again to the perils of her vain navigation4 ,strange alternation1 in which she floats incessantly2 moving1 she dreams of repose2 in rest1 she sighs for movement4 ,these strange metamorphoses1 which by turns raise and abase the undecided creature1 keeping her alternating between two lives so different1 are apparently the case of the inferior species1 of the ,medusa which have not been able to enter decidedly into the irrevocable career of emancipation4 ,for the others1 we can easily suppose that their charming varieties mark the interior progress of life1 the degrees of development1 the sports1 the smiling graces of their new liberty4 ,this latter class1 admirably artistic1 won this so simple theme of a disk or parasol which floats1 of a light lustre of crystal which reflects the sun's glowing and coloring lights1 has made an infinity of variations1 a deluge of little marvels4 ,all these beauties floating on the green mirror of the sea in their gay and delicate colors1 and in the thousand attractions of an infantine and unconscious coquetry1 have puzzled ,science1 which to class and to name them1 has been obliged to call to its aid both the ,queens of ,history and the ,goddesses of ,mythology4 ,here we have the waving ,berenice1 whose rich hair floats another and brighter flood upon the flood2 there we have the little ,orithya1 the fair spouse of ,elus1 who1 at the breathing of her husband1 displays her pure1 white urn1 uncertain1 and scarcely supported by her fine hair1 which she often entangles beneath1 or the weeping ,dionea1 looking like an alabaster cup1 from which1 in crystalline streamlets1 flow splendid tears4 ,such1 when in ,switzerland1 ,i saw spreading themselves the wearied and idle cascades1 which1 having made too many turnings1 seemed dropping with drowsiness and languor4 ,in the great fary of the illumination of the sea on stormy nights1 the ,medusa has her separate part4 ,bathed1 like so many other beings1 in the phosphoric fluid with which they are all penetrated1 she returns it in her manner1 with a peculiar charm4 ,how dark is the night at sea when we do not see that phosphoric gleam or a fitful flashing6 ,how vast and formidable are those dark depths1 on such gloomy nights4 ,on land1 the shadows are less dense and impenetrable1 we see1 if dimly1 and make out forms1 if imperfectly1 so that we get so many directing marks4 ,but at sea1 how vast1 unbroken1 infinitely dense is the darkness of the dark nights4 ,nothing1 still nothing2 a thousand dangers to be imagined1 but not one to be seen and avoided6 ,we feel all this1 even when living on the coast4 ,it is a great gladness1 an exciting pleasure1 when1 the air becoming electric1 we see in the distance1 a slight line of pale fire4 ,what is it8 ,we see it even at home1 on the dead fish1 the ,herring1 for instance4 ,but1 living in his great sea1 he is still more luminous in the long trains that he leaves behind him4 ,that phosphoric brilliancy is by no means the exclusive privilege of ,death4 ,is it an effect of ,heat8 ,no1 for you find it at both poles1 in the ,antarctic ,seas1 in the ,siberian ,seas1 in ours--in all4 ,it is the common electricity which the half-living waters throw off in stormy weather2 the innocent and pacific lightning of which all marine creatures are then so many conductors4 ,they inhale it1 and they exhale it1 and they restore it largely when they die4 ,the sea gives it1 and the sea takes it back again4 ,along the coasts and in the straits1 the currents and the collisions1 cause it to circulate the more powerfully1 and each creature1 according to its waters1 takes more or less of it4 ,here1 immense surfaces of peaceable infusori appear1 like a milky sea1 of a mild1 white light1 which1 when more animated1 turns to the yellow of burning sulphur2 there their conical lights pirouette upon their own bases1 or roll in red balls4 ,a great disc of fire 7,pyrosome7 commences with an opaline yellow1 becomes for a moment greenish1 then bursts into red and orange1 and at last darkens down into blue4 ,these changes occur with an approach to regularity that would indicate a natural function1 the contraction and dilatation of some vast creature1 breathing fire4 ,then on the horizon1 fiery serpents writhe and glide along an immense length--sometimes to the extent of twenty-five or thirty leagues4 ,the ,biphores and the ,salpas1 transparent alike to sea and sulphur1 are the performers in this serpentine spectacle1 an astonishing company which disport themselves in this frantic dance1 and then separate4 ,separated1 its free members produce free little ones1 which1 in their turn light up the horizon with their dancing and wild lights4 ,great fleets1 more peaceful1 float over the waves of lights4 ,the ,velelles1 at night1 light up their little craft4 ,the ,beroes are triumphant as flames4 ,none more magical than those of our ,medus4 ,is it in part a physical effect like that which gives their serpentine motion to the ,salpas1 injected with fire8 ,is it1 as others think1 and as some observations would lead us to believe1 an act of aspiration8 ,is it a caprice1 as with so many beings that throw out their sparkles and flashes of a vain and inconstant joy8 ,no1 the noble and beautiful ,medus1 such as the crowned ,oceanique1 and the lovely ,idonea1 seem to express gravest thoughts4 ,beneath them1 their luminous hair1 like some sombre watch-light1 gives out mysterious lights of emerald and other colors1 which1 now flashing1 anon growing pale1 reveal a sentiment1 and1 ,i know not what of mystery2 suggesting to us the spirit of the abyss1 meditating its secrets2 the soul that exists1 or is to exist some day4 ,or should it not rather suggest to us some melancholy dream of an impossible destiny which is never to attain its end8 ,or an appeal to that rapture of love which alone consoles us here below8 ,we know that on land our fire flies1 by their fire give the signal of the bashful yet eager lover who thus betrays her retreat1 and decoys her mate4 ,have the ,medus this same sense8 ,we know not2 but thus much is certain1 that they yield at once their flame and their life4 ,the fecund sap1 their generative virtue1 escapes and diminishes at every gleam4 ,if we desire the cruel pleasure of redoubling this brilliant fary1 we have only to expose them to warmth4 ,then they become excited1 flash1 and become beautiful1 oh1 so exquisitely beautiful--and then the scene is at an end4 ,flame1 love1 and life1 all are at an end--all evanish for ever4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,stone ,,picker4 ,when the excellent ,doctor ,livingstone visited the poor ,africans who have so much difficulty in defending themselves against the ,lion and the slave merchant1 the women1 seeing him armed with all the protecting arts of ,europe1 invoked him as their friend and providence in these touching words--,give us sleep6 ,and such is the prayer which all beings in their own language address to ,nature4 ,all desire1 and all dream of1 security4 ,we cannot doubt of that when we note the ingenious endeavors which are made to obtain it4 ,those efforts have given birth to the arts4 ,man has not invented one1 which animals had not previously invented1 under that strong and abiding instinct1 the desire of safety4 ,they suffer1 they fear1 they desire to live4 ,we must not assume that creatures little advanced1 and as it were embryonic1 have1 therefore1 but little sensibility4 ,the very contrary is certain4 ,in every embryon1 that which first appears1 is the nervous system1 that is to say1 the organ and capacity of feeling and of suffering4 ,pain is the spur by which the creature is urged to foresight and expedients4 ,pleasure serves the like purpose1 and it is already observable even in those which seem the most cold4 ,it has been observed that the snail1 after the painful researches of his love1 is singularly happy on meeting again the loved object4 ,both of them with a touching grace wave their swan-like necks1 and bestow upon each other the most lively caresses4 ,who is it that tells us this8 ,the rigid1 the very exact ,blainville4 ,but alas6 how largely and how widely is pain distributed6 ,who has not noted with pity the painful efforts of the shell-less mollusc1 as he grovels along on his unguarded belly8 ,painful but faithful image of a foetus untimely torn from the mother by some cruel chance1 and cast upon the ground naked and defenceless4 ,the poor mollusc thickens and indurates his skin as well as he can1 softens the asperities of his road1 and renders it slippery4 ,but at every contact with the ragged or pointed stones1 his writhings and contractions only too plainly show how great is his sensibility to pain4 ,notwithstanding all this1 she loves1 does that great ,soul of ,harmony which is the unity of the world2 she loves all beings1 and by alternations of pleasure and of pain1 instructs them and compels them to ascend4 ,but to ascend1 to pass into a superior grade1 they must first exhaust all that the lower one can furnish of trials more or less painful1 of instinctive art1 and of stimulants to invention4 ,they must even have exaggerated their species1 perceived its excesses1 and1 by contrast1 be inspired with the craving and the need of an opposite one4 ,progress is thus made by a kind of oscillation between contrary qualities1 which by turns are separated from life1 and incarnated with it4 ,let us translate these divine things into human language1 familiar1 indeed1 and little worthy of the grandeur of such things1 but which will make them understood3 ,nature1 having long delighted to make1 unmake1 and remake the ,medus1 thus infinitely varying the theme of infant liberty1 smote her forehead one morning1 and said--,i have a new and a delicious idea4 ,i forgot to secure the life of the poor creature4 ,it can continue only by the infinity of number1 the very excess of its fecundity4 ,i must now have a creature at once better guarded and more prudent4 ,it shall if need be1 be timid1 even to excess1 but above all1 it is my will that it shall survive4 ,these timid creatures1 when they appeared1 were of a prudence carried to its extremest limits4 ,they shut themselves in1 shunning even the light of day4 ,to save themselves from the rude contact of sharp and ragged stones1 they employed the universal means1 a glutinous mucus from which they secreted an enveloping tube1 which elongated in proportion to the length of their journey4 ,a poor expedient1 that1 which kept these miners1 the ,tarets out of the light and out of the free air1 and which compelled an enormous expenditure of their substance4 ,every step cost them enormously2 a creature thus ruining itself that it may live1 can only vegetate--poor1 and incapable of progress4 ,the next resource was not much better1 temporarily to bury themselves1 going below the sands at low water1 and rising to the flood-tide2 the resource of the ,solen4 ,a varying life that1 fugitive twice a day1 and consequently full of anxiety4 ,among very inferior creatures a thing as yet obscure1 which was in time to change the world1 began to appear4 ,the simple sea stars had in their fine rays a certain support1 a sort of jointed carpentry1 and on the outside some thorns1 suckers1 which could be thrust forward or withdrawn at will4 ,an animal very humble1 but timid and serious1 seems to have profited by this coarse specimen4 ,it said1 ,i imagine1 to ,nature3 ,i am quite without ambition4 ,i do not ask for the brilliant gifts of the molluscs2 ,i covet neither pearl nor mother of pearl1 much less the brilliant colors1 the gorgeous array which would discover and betray me2 least of all do ,i envy your silly medus1 with the fatal charm of their waving and fiery hair1 which serves only to drown them1 or give them a helpless prey to fish below or birds above4 ,oh1 mother ,nature1 ,i ask but one thing1 to be1 to exist1 to have life2 to be one1 self concentrated1 and without compromising external appendages2 to be strongly and solidly built1 self centred1 and of rounded figure1 as that is the figure that is least easily taken hold of4 ,i have but little desire to travel2 sometimes to roll from high to low water will suffice me4 ,fastened to my rock1 ,i will solve the problem which your future favorite1 man1 will vainly brood over1 the problem of safety2 the strict exclusion of enemies1 and the free admission of friends1 especially water1 air1 and light4 ,i know that to achieve this1 ,i must work hard and work long4 ,covered with movable thorns1 ,i shall be avoided1 ,i shall live a strictly retired life2 and my name shall be oursin1 little ,bear1 or sea hedge-hog4 ,how superior is that prudent animal to the ,polypes1 in their own stone1 which they make from their own secretion1 without hard labor1 indeed1 but also without affording them any safety2 how superior1 even to his superiors themselves1 ,i mean to so many molluscs1 who have more various senses1 but are destitute of the unity of his vertebral provision1 of his persevering labor1 and of the skillful tools with which that very labor has provided him4 ,the great marvel1 however1 of this poor rolling ball1 which we might mistake for a thorny chestnut1 is that he is at once one and multiple1 fixed and movable1 and consists of two thousand four hundred pieces1 which separate at his will and pleasure4 ,let us see his history of creation4 ,it was in a narrow creek of the ,sea of ,brittany1 where there was no soft bed of polypes and of ,alg1 such as the sea hedge-hogs of the ,indian ,sea enjoy1 in addition to their exemption from labor4 ,our ,breton1 on the contrary1 was in presence of great peril and difficulty2 like ,ulysses1 in the ,odyssey1 who1 cast ashore1 and anon washed seaward again1 endeavored to fasten himself to the rock1 with his torn and bleeding fingers4 ,every ebb and flow of the tide was to our little ,ulysses1 as bad as a mighty tempest2 but his iron will and potent desire made him cling so closely and lovingly to the rock1 that he became fastened to it as though the air had been expelled from between them by the cupping glass4 ,at the same time his strong thorns scratched and scratched1 and endeavored to get a hold1 and one of them subdivided and formed a triple and real anchor of safety in aid of the cupping glass1 if this latter should fail to act quite perfectly on a by no means smooth surface4 ,after he had thus doubly secured himself to his rock1 he gradually comprehended that he would be a great gainer if he could form a concavity in it1 gradually dig himself out a hole1 and thus form himself a snug nest1 for the day of sickness or of age4 ,for1 in fact1 one is not always young and strong4 ,and how pleasant it would be1 if1 some day1 the veteran oursin could relax somewhat of the effort necessitated by this constant holding on1 this anchorage by day and night4 ,so he worked and worked1 to make a hollow2 it was for dear life that he was working1 and you may be sure that he never relaxed4 ,formed of detached pieces1 he worked with five claws1 which1 always pushing together1 united and formed an admirable pick4 ,his pick of five teeth1 of the finest enamel1 is attached to a frame work1 delicate1 but very strong1 and consisting of forty pieces1 which work in a sort of sheath1 playing in and out1 in the most perfect and regular manner1 with an elasticity preventing too violent shocks1 and self-repairing1 in case of any accident4 ,rarely1 in the softer stone1 which he holds in contempt1 but almost always in the solid rock1 in the hardest granite1 it is that this heroically laborious sculptor goes to work4 ,the harder the rock1 the firmer he feels himself secured4 ,and1 then1 in fact1 what does it matter about the length of the task8 ,time is of no consequence to him1 centuries are before him2 supposing that his tools and his life should end to-morrow1 another would take his place and continue his work4 ,during their life1 they hold but little communication1 these hermits2 but in death a brotherhood exists1 even for them1 and the young survivor1 who shall find the work half done1 will bless the memory of the good workman who has preceded him4 ,do not fancy that he strikes1 and strikes continually4 ,he has an art1 a labor-saving art of his own4 ,when he has well attacked the layers of the rock1 and well cleaned it1 he tears away the asperities as with little pincers4 ,a work of great patience1 and one which requires long intervals1 too1 in order that the water may aid in doing the work upon the denuded parts4 ,he then proceeds to the second layer1 then to the next1 and so on till the long1 long labor is at length completed4 ,in this uniform life1 however1 there are occasional crises1 even as in the life of the poor human laborer4 ,the sea retires from certain shores2 in the summer1 this or that rock becomes quite insupportably hot2 and our oursin must have two houses1 one for summer1 and one for winter4 ,a great event1 that1 of moving from place to place1 for a creature without feet and covered all over with points4 ,m4 ,cailland had an opportunity of observing the conduct of the creature under those circumstances4 ,the weak and movable scoops which play backward and forward1 are by no means insensible though he protects them somewhat by covering them with a little soft gelatine4 ,at length he steadies himself on his thorns1 as on so many crutches1 rolls his ,diogenes' tub1 and attains his port as he best may4 ,arrived there1 he shuts himself up again1 and in the little nest which he almost always finds partly made1 he concentrates himself in the enjoyment of his solitary and thrice blessed security4 ,let a thousand enemies prowl without1 let the storm-lashed wave moan or rage1 all that is for his pleasure4 ,let the very rock tremble at the dash of the breakers2 he well knows that he has nothing to fear1 that it is only his kind nurse that is making all that noise2 he is safe in his cradle1 and with a glad good night1 he sleeps4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,shells1 ,,mother ,,of ,,pearl1 ,,and ,,pearl4 ,the oursin has carried the genius of defence to its utmost limit4 ,his cuirass1 or1 preferably1 his fortress of pieces1 is at once movable and resisting1 yet sensitive1 retractile1 and capable of being repaired in case of accident2 this fortress is fast-joined and anchored to the rock1 and still farther lodged within a hollow of the rock1 so that the enemy has no means of attacking the citadel2--it is a system of defence so perfect that it can never be surpassed4 ,no shell is comparable to it2 far less are any of the works of human industry4 ,the oursin is the completion of the starred and circular creatures2 in him they have their highest and most triumphant development4 ,the circle has few variations2 it is the absolute form2 in the globe of the oursin1 at once so simple and so complicated1 is the perfection and completion of the first world4 ,the beauty of the world next to come1 will be the harmony of double forms1 their equilibrium1 the gracefulness of their oscillation4 ,from the molluscs even up to man1 every being in this next world is to be made up of two corresponding halves2 in every animal is to be found 7far better than unity7 ,union4 ,the master piece of the oursin had gone even beyond what was needed2 that miracle of defence had made him prisoner2 he was not only shut in but buried2 he had dug his own grave4 ,his perfection of isolation had banished him1 deprived him of all connections1 and of all possibility of progress4 ,to have a regular ascent1 we must commence from a very low stage1 from the elementary embryon1 which at the outset will have no other movement than that of the elements4 ,the new creature is the mere serf of the planet2 so completely so1 that even in the egg1 it turns as the earth turns1 with its double turning on its own axis1 and the general rotation4 ,even when emancipated from the egg1 growing up1 become adult1 it will still remain the embryon1 the soft mollusc4 ,it will vaguely represent the progress of the superior lives2 it will be as the foetus1 as the larv or nymph of the insect1 in which1 folded and hidden1 there yet are the organs of the winged creature which is yet to come4 ,one trembles for a creature so weak2 even the polypus though not less soft is less in danger4 ,having life equally in all its parts1 wounds1 even mutilations will not kill the polypus3 wounded and mutilated he still lives on1 apparently forgetful of the excised parts4 ,but the centralised mollusc is far more vulnerable4 ,what a door in his ease is open to death6 ,the uncertain motion of the ,medusa1 which sometimes1 perchance1 may save her2 the mollusc1 at least at the outset1 possesses but very slightly4 ,all that is granted to him is his sloughing or exuding a gelatine matter1 which walls him in1 and replaces the cuirass of the oursin and the oursin's rock4 ,the mollusc has the advantage of finding his defence within himself4 ,two valves form a house1 light and fragile1 indeed1 so much so that those which float are transparent2 in the case of those which are to be stationary1 the mucus forms a filamentary anchoring cable1 called the hyssas4 ,it is formed exactly as silk is from an element originally quite gelatinous4 ,the gigantic ,iridacne1 moors so fast by that cable1 that the ,madrepores mistake it for an islet1 build upon it1 envelope it1 and strangle it4 ,passive and motionless life4 ,it has no other event than the periodical visit of the sun and light1 and no other action but to absorb what comes1 and to secrete the jelly which makes the house1 and will by degrees do the rest4 ,the attraction of the light1 always in the same direction1 centralizes the view2 and behold the eye4 ,the secretion fixed by a constant effort1 becomes an appendage1 an organ which lately was a cable1 and which by and bye will become the foot1 a shapeless and inarticulated mass1 which will bend itself to anything4 ,it is the fin of those that swim1 the pick of those that burrow in the sand1 and the foot of those who at first rather crawl than walk4 ,some species arch it so that they can make a clumsy essay at leaping4 ,poor tribe1 terribly exposed1 pursued by many enemies1 tossed by the waves and bruised on the rocks4 ,those of them which do not succeed in building a house1 seek a shelter in living beds2 they find a tent with the polypes1 or with the floating ,halcyons4 ,the pearl-bearing ,avicule1 tries to find a quiet life in the hollows of the sponge4 ,the ,pholade1 tries in his stony retreat1 to imitate the arts of the oursins1 but with what inferiority6 ,instead of the admirable chisel of the oursin1 which might be envied by our stone cutters1 the ,pholade has but a little rasp1 and to dig out a shelter for her fragile shell1 she wears out the shell itself4 ,with but a few exceptions1 the moluscs know themselves the prey of everything1 and are therefore the most timid of creatures4 ,the ,cone so well knows that he is sought after1 that he dares not leave his shelter1 and dies there1 from fear of being killed4 ,the ,volute and the ,porcelain drag slowly along their pretty houses1 and conceal them as well as they can4 ,the ,casque1 to get along with his palace1 has only a little ,chinese foot1 so small and so useless that he scarcely attempts to walk4 ,such the life1 such the dwelling2 in no other species is there more complete identity between the inhabitant and the habitation2 taken from his own substance1 his house is but a continuation1 a supplement of his own body2 alike it even in form and tints4 ,the architect1 beneath the edifice1 is himself its very foundation-stone4 ,a very simple thing it is for the sedentaries to remain sedentary4 ,the oyster1 regularly fed by the sea1 has only to gape when he would dine1 and sharply to close his shells1 when he has any suspicion that he may become himself a dinner for some hungry neighbor4 ,but for the travelling mollusc the thing is more complicated4 ,he can travel1 but he cannot leave behind him his beloved house which he will need for defence as well as shelter2 and it is precisely while on his journey1 that he is most liable to be attacked4 ,he must shelter1 above all1 the most delicate part of his being1 the tree by which he breathes1 and whose little roots nourish him4 ,his head is of little consequence1 often it is lost without the destruction of life2 but if the viscera were left uncovered and wounded1 he must die4 ,thus1 prudent and cuirassed he seeks his livelihood4 ,come nightfall1 he asks himself whether he will be quite safe in a wide open lodging8 ,will not some inquisitives intrude a look--who knows--may not some one find the way in with claw and tooth as well as glance8 ,the hermit reflects4 ,he has but one instrument1 his foot1 from that he developes a very serviceable appendage with which he closes the aperture and behold him safe at home for the night4 ,his great and permanent difficulty is this1 to combine safety with connection with the outer world4 ,he cannot1 like the oursin1 utterly isolate himself2 without the aid of his instructors and nurses1 light and air1 he cannot strengthen his soft body and make his organs4 ,he must acquire senses2 he needs scent and hearing1 those guides of the blind2 he must acquire sight1 and above all1 he must be able to breathe freely4 ,great and imperative function1 that6 ,how little we think of it while it is easy2 but what terrible pain and agitation if it become too difficult6 ,let our lungs become congested1 let the larynx even be embarrassed for a single night and our agitation and anxiety are so extreme1 so unendurable1 that often1 at all risks1 we have every window thrown open4 ,with the asthmatic1 the anxiety and torture are so extreme that when they cannot breathe freely through the natural organ1 they create a supplementary means4 ,air1 air1 air1 or death6 ,nature1 when thus pressed1 is terribly inventive4 ,we not wonder if the poor sedentaries1 stifling in their houses1 have discovered a thousand means1 invented a thousand sorts of pipes through which to admit the vital air4 ,one admits air between plates around his feet1 another by a sort of comb1 another by a disc or buckler1 and others by extending threads1 some with pretty side plumes1 and lastly1 some have on their back a little tree1 a pretty miniature aspen1 which trembles continually and at every movement inhales or exhales a breath4 ,sometimes those most sensitive and important organs affect the most elegant and fanciful forms2 we would say that they wish to plead1 to melt1 to secure mercy1 taking every form and every color4 ,these little children of the sea1 the molluscs1 in their infantine grace1 in their rich variety of colors1 are their ocean mother's eternal ornament and joy4 ,stern as she may be1 she has but to look on them1 and she must smile4 ,but a timid life is full of melancholy4 ,one cannot doubt that she greatly suffers from her severe seclusion1 that fairest of the fair1 that queen beauty of the seas1 the ,haliotide4 ,she has a foot1 and could1 if she chose1 get along1 though slowly2 but she dares not4 ,ask her why1 and she will reply3 ,i am afraid4 ,the ,crab is continually watching me1 and a whole world of voracious fish are continually swimming over my head4 ,my cruel admirer1 man1 punishes me for my beauty2 pursuing me from the ,indies to the ,pole1 and is now loading whole ships with me at golden ,california4 ,but the unfortunate1 though unable to go out1 has discovered a subtle means of procuring air and water2 in her house1 she has little windows1 which communicate with her little lungs4 ,hunger at length compels her to risk something1 and towards evening she crawls a little around1 and feeds on some sea-weed1 her sole nourishment4 ,here let us remark1 that those marvellous shells1 not only the ,haliotide1 but the ,widow 7black and white7 and the ,golden ,mouth 7of mingled pearly and gold color17 are poor herbivori1 inoffensive1 temperate1 feeders4 ,a living1 and decisive refutation1 that1 of those who fancy that beauty is the daughter of ,death1 of blood1 of murder1 of a merely brutal accumulation of animal substance4 ,but to these1 our beautiful shell-tenants1 the merest modicum of subsistence suffices4 ,their chief aliment is the light which they drink in1 by which they are permeated1 by which they color and tint1 with more than rainbow beauty1 and variety of tint1 their inner dwelling1 in which they conceal and cherish their solitary love4 ,each of them is double1 hermaphrodite2 lover and loved1 in one4 ,as the palaces of the ,east are concealed by dark and repulsive outer walls1 so1 here1 also1 without1 all is rude1 within1 all is of the most dazzling beauty2 the hymeneal seclusion is lightened up by the gleaming and many-hued reflections of a little sea of mother of pearl1 which1 even when the house is closed to the outer light1 create a fary1 a mysterious1 and a most lovely twilight4 ,it is a great consolation that when our poor prisoners cannot have the sun1 they can at least have a moon of their own1 a paradise of soft and trembling lights1 ever changing1 yet ever renewed1 and giving to that sedentary life1 that little variety which is absolutely needed by every creature4 ,the poor children who work in the mines1 ask visitors1 not for food1 or sweetmeats1 or money1 or toys--all they ask for is the means of getting more light4 ,and it is the same with our ,ocean children1 the ,haliotides4 ,every day1 blind though they be1 they feel1 and greedily welcome1 the return of the light1 receiving it1 and contemplating it1 with the whole of their transparent bodies2 and when the light has departed1 from without1 they still preserve and nurse some portion of it within themselves4 ,they watch1 they wait1 they hope for its return2 their whole little soul consists of that hope1 that watching1 that eager desire1 that incessant yearning4 ,who can doubt that the return of the glad light is as delightful to them as it is to us1 nay1 even more so than it is to us1 who have the manifold distractions of so busy and varied a life8 ,their whole lives pass in thinking1 wishing1 divining1 hoping1 or regretting2 their great lover1 the ,sun4 ,never seeing him1 they yet1 in their own fashion1 certainly comprehend that that warmth1 that glorious light comes to them from without1 and from a great centre1 powerful1 fecund and beneficent4 ,and they love that great deeply felt1 though never seen1 central light1 which caresses them1 fills them with joy1 floods them with life4 ,had they the power1 they no doubt would rush to seek his rays4 ,and1 at least1 attached as they are to their abode1 they1 like the ,brahmin at the door of the ,pagoda1 silently offer him up their homage1 at once meditative and thrilling4 ,first flower of instructive worship4 ,already they love and pray1 who say the little word which the ,holy prefers to all prayer--that ,oh6 that heart utterance1 which contents and pleases ,heaven4 ,when the ,indian utters it at sunrise1 he well knows that all that innocent world of mother of pearl1 pearl1 and humblest shells1 utters it with him1 from the depths of the seas4 ,i fully understand what the sight of the pearl suggests of feeling and fancy to the charmingly untutored heart1 the woman heart1 that dreams1 and fancies1 and is stirred by a sweet1 and strange1 and uncomprehended emotion4 ,that pearl is not exactly a person1 but neither1 on the other hand1 is it exactly a thing4 ,what adorable whiteness2 no1 call it not mere whiteness1 but candor1 virginal candor2 no1 not virginal1 but better still4 ,for your young virgins1 sweet and modest as they are1 have always a slight dash of young tartness1 and verdancy4 ,no1 the pearl's candor rather resembles that of the innocent young bride1 so pure1 yet so submissive to love4 ,no ambition to shine4 ,our pearl softens1 almost suppresses1 its lights4 ,at first1 you see only a dull white2 it is only when you have taken a second and a closer glance that you discover its mysterious iris1 its exquisitely glancing and pure light4 ,where lived it8 ,ask the deep ,ocean4 ,on what8 ,ask the sunbeams2 like some clear spirit it lived on love and light4 ,great mystery6 ,but our beautiful pearl herself explains it4 ,we cannot look upon her without feeling that this creature1 at once so lovely and so meek1 must for a long time have lived in quietude1 waiting and waited for1 willing nothing and doing nothing1 but the will of the beloved one4 ,the son of the sea put his beautiful dream into his shell1 the shell into the mother of pearl1 and she into the pearl1 which is but a concentration of herself4 ,but the pearl we are told only comes to her mother in consequence of some wound1 some continued suffering1 which withdraws or absorbs all vulgar life into that divine poetry4 ,i have been told that the great ladies of the ,east1 more delicate and tasteful than our vulgar rich1 shun the diamond and allow their soft skin to be touched only by the pearl4 ,and in truth1 the brilliancy of the diamond is not in accord with the light of love4 ,a necklace and a pair of bracelets of fine pearls are the harmonious and true decorations for woman2 instead of diverting the glance of the lover1 they move him1 make tenderness more tender--say to him--,no noise--let us love6 ,the pearl seems amorous of woman1 and woman of the pearl4 ,the ladies of the ,north1 when they have once put on pearl ornaments1 never afterwards remove them1 but carry them day and night concealed beneath their attire4 ,on very rare occasions1 if the rich fur cape1 lined with white satin1 chances to slip aside1 we may catch a momentary glance of the happy ornament1 the inseparable necklace4 ,it reminds one of the silken tunic which the ,odalisque wears close to her person1 and loves so much that she will not part with it until it is worn and torn beyond all possibility of repair2 believing it as she does to be a talisman1 an infallible love charm4 ,it is just so with the pearl2 like the silk1 it drinks in and is impregnated with the very life of the wearer4 ,when it has slept so many nights upon her fair bosom1 the ornament is no longer an ornament1 it is a part of the person1 and is no longer to be seen by an indifferent eye4 ,one alone has a right to know it1 and to surprise upon that necklace the mystery of the beloved woman4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,sea ,,rovers 7,,poulpe1 ,c47 ,the ,medus and the ,molluscs are generally innocent creatures1 and ,i have thus far dwelt1 as it were1 with them in their amiable and peaceful world4 ,thus far ,i have met with few carnivora2 and even those few killed only in the stern necessity of hunger1 and even of those part fed only on atoms1 animal jelly1 life unorganized1 and scarcely commenced4 ,as a consequence1 pain1 anger1 cruelty were absent4 ,their little souls had1 nevertheless1 a ray1 the aspiration towards the light alike of ,heaven and of ,love1 revealed in the changing flame which illumines and rejoices the seas4 ,but1 now1 ,i have to enter into quite another world3 a world of war1 slaughter1 fierce pursuit1 and greedy devouring4 ,i must confess that from the beginning1 from the first appearance of life1 death also appeared2 a rapid and useful purification of the globe from the weak and slow1 but prolific tribes whose fecundity would otherwise have been mischievous4 ,in the oldest strata we find two wondrous creatures1 the ,devourer and the ,sucker4 ,the first is made known to us by the imprint of the ,trilobite1 a species no longer existing1 an extinct destroyer of extinct species4 ,the second is known to us by a frightful remnant1 a beak of almost two feet pertaining to the great ,sucker1 the ,leiche or ,poulpe of ,dujardin4 ,judging from that immense beak1 this monster must have had an enormous body1 and sucking-arms of twenty or thirty feet1 like a prodigious spider4 ,sad reflection1 these murderous creatures are those which we earliest find in the depths of the earth4 ,are we then to suppose that death preceded life8 ,no doubt2 but the soft creatures upon which these monsters fed have perished utterly1 not leaving remains or even imprint of themselves4 ,the devourers and the devoured1 were they two nations of different origin8 ,the contrary is more probable4 ,from the mollusc1 form undecided1 matter still fit to be converted to any form1 the superabundant strength of the young world1 richly plethoric1 abounding in alimentation1 there must at an early period have proceeded two forms1 contrary in appearance1 but tending and qualified to the same end4 ,swelling and breathing1 and measurelessly inflating itself1 the ,mollusc became an enormous balloon1 an absorbing bladder1 absorbing all the more as it stretched the more1 ever craving and ever consuming1 but toothless1--and we have the ,sucker4 ,on the other hand1 by the self-same force1 the ,mollusc gradually developing articulated members of which each had its shell1 and hardening this shelled creature everywhere1 but especially at the claws and mandibles formed for gnawing and grinding1 to pulp or powder1 the very hardest substances became--the ,devourer4 ,let us in the first place1 in this chapter1 speak of the first1 the ,sucker4 ,the ,sucker of the soft gelatinous world1 was himself soft and gelatinous4 ,warring upon and devouring the molluscs1 he himself none the less1 remained mollusc1 that is to say1 still a mere embryon4 ,there would be something absurd1 caricatural1 were it not so terrible1 in this sight of a mere foetus1 soft and transparent1 yet cruel1 raging1 eager1 breathing nothing but murder4 ,for he1 see you1 goes not to war for the mere sake of food4 ,he has a real passion for destroying1 for destruction's sake2 whenever he has gorged himself1 well nigh to bursting1 he will destroy still4 ,destitute of defensive armour1 his threatening snortings disguise1 but by no means quiet1 his real anxiety2 his real1 his only safety1 is an attack4 ,he is the veritable bully of the young world2 really vulnerable himself1 and yet so terrible to others2 he sees in everything that he meets only enemy or victim4 ,at all risks he casts hither and thither his long arms1 or rather his whip-lashes1 tipped with cupping glasses1 and upon enemy or victim1 before the fight or the capture commences1 he sends out his stupefying1 paralysing effluvia4 ,double power4 ,to the mechanical strength of these outstretched arms1 add the magical force of that mysterious fluid1 and a singularly acute hearing and quick eye4 ,you see in all these1 a creature to alarm you4 ,what must it have been1 then1 when the early world so lavished its wealth of alimentation1 that these monsters of the deep could feed and swell indefinitely8 ,they have decreased now1 both in number and in size4 ,yet1 even lately1 ,rang tells us that he has seen them big as a hogshead2 and ,peron has seen them quite as large in the ,south ,sea4 ,the creature rolled1 and snorted in the rolling wave1 with a noise to terrify1 to astonish1 all meaner creatures4 ,his arms1 six or seven feet in length1 turning1 twisting1 writhing1 and grasping in every direction1 imitated some furious pantomime1 some fantastic dance of at once furious and eccentric serpents4 ,after these matter of fact statements1 it seems to me1 that we should not be quite so incredulous1 not quite so scornful1 when we read the accounts of the old voyagers2 we should not curl the lip quite so insolently as we read1 in ,denis de ,montford1 that he saw a monstrous ,poulpe1 grasp1 with his enormous arms1 lash1 scourge1 smite1 stupefy with his electric lashes a fierce and strong mastiff which1 in spite of all his efforts1 and his terrible howlings1 had to succumb1 did succumb1 did die in that giant and terrible embrace4 ,the ,poulpe1 that terrible and living steam machine1 can accumulate such incalculable force and elasticity1 that1 as d',orbigny tells us 7see his article ,cephal47 it can leap from the sea to the deck of a ship4 ,this at once relieves our old voyagers from the charge so often and so lightly made against them1 of exaggeration and mere romance4 ,they told us1 and it now seems quite truly told us1 that they came athwart a gigantic ,poulpe that leaped inboard1 twining its prodigious arms around masts and shrouds2 and the monstrous creature would have had possession of the craft1 and would have devoured all hands1 but that these latter cut away its arms with their axes1 as they would have cut away masts in a case of impending wreck1 and the mutilated but still threatening creature fell into the sea4 ,some have given this creature credit for arms of sixty feet in length2 and others have reported that while cruising in the ,north seas1 they fell in with the ,kraken1 a monstrous creature1 half a league in circumference1 no doubt1 one of our terrible ,poulpes1 able to embrace1 stupefy1 and devour1 a whale a hundred feet long4 ,the prolonged existence of these monsters1 would have endangered ,nature herself1 would have absorbed our very globe4 ,but1 on the one hand1 gigantic birds 7perhaps1 for instance1 the ,epiornis7 made war upon them2 and on the other hand the exhausted earth destroyed the monster by cutting off its supply of alimentation4 ,thank ,heaven1 our existing ,poulpes are somewhat less terrible4 ,their elegant species of the present day1 the ,argonaut1 that graceful swimmer in its wavy shell1 the ,calmar1 good sailor1 if ever there was one1 and the handsome ,seiche1 blue-eyed1 and beautiful to look upon1 traverse the ,ocean1 hither and thither1 annoying nothing but the small creatures that they need for their support4 ,in them we see exhibited the first approach to the vertebral bone2 they display1 too1 a perfect rainbow of changing colors1 that come and go--shine1 fade1 dazzle and die4 ,we may quite fairly call them the ,chameleons of the sea4 ,they have the exquisite perfume1 ambergris1 which the whale only owes to the countless multitudes of ,seiches which it has absorbed4 ,and the porpoises1 too1 make an enormous destruction of them4 ,your ,seiches are very gregarious4 ,about the month of ,may1 they seek the coast to deposit their eggs1 and the ,porpoises await them there1 sure of a splendid banquet4 ,and your ,porpoise is somewhat of a gourmet though sufficiently gourmand2 he feeds delicately1 though we cannot deny that he feeds largely4 ,the head and the eight arms are his tid-bits1 tender and easy of digestion2 the rest of the carcass they may have who come for it4 ,tens of thousands of these mutilated ,seiches you find upon the coast at ,royan2 and there1 too1 you will see the ,porpoises making their mighty bounds when in chase of their coveted prey1 the ,seiches1 or in bacchanal enjoyment and revelling when the prey has been taken and the banquet is over4 ,notwithstanding the strange1 not to say grotesque1 appearance of its beak1 the ,seiche is decidedly an interesting creature4 ,all the various shades of the most brilliant and various rainbow1 come and go1 die and reappear on his transparent skin1 according to the play of the light as he turns now hither and now thither1 and as he dies his azure eyes look upon you with an expression1 now flashing and now fading1 which seems to rebuke you for your cruelty in killing1 or to express a regret at parting with life4 ,the general decrease of that class1 so immensely important in the past ages1 is less remarkable as to the navigators 7,seiches1 c47 than in the ,poulpe1 properly so called1 the sad frequenter of our shores4 ,it has not the same firmness as the ,seiche1 strengthened as the latter is by an interior bone1 and it has not1 like the ,argonaut1 a resisting exterior1 a shell to protect the most vulnerable organs4 ,neither has it the kind of sail which aids its navigation and spares it the labor of rowing4 ,it paddles about along our shores1 hugging the shore like some timid coaster4 ,and its conscious inferiority teaches it habits of treachery2 it is at once timid and bold--lying in ambush until quite sure that it can devour without the preliminary necessity of a fight4 ,lying in wait in some rocky crevice1 it awaits its prey4 ,that having passed in unsuspicious security1 your ,poulpe throws out the terrible lashes1 the weaker of the prey are devoured1 the stronger get loose and escape4 ,a man when swimming1 if thus attacked1 finds no difficulty in mastering his at once insolent and imbecile assailant4 ,disgusted1 but not alarmed1 he handles the creature without gloves1 crushes1 collapses him1 and feels actually vexed with himself for having even for an instant been provoked by an enemy so contemptible4 ,bah6 one is tempted to exclaim1 on having so easily vanquished such a thing--,bah6 ,you came swelling1 blowing1 threatening1 and after all you prove to be only a sham1 a mask rather than a being4 ,without fixity1 without substance1 a blown-up bladder1 now collapsed1 to be to-morrow a mere drop1 a nameless portion of the dark blue waters of the ,sea4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,crustac--,,battle ,,and ,,intrigue4 ,if1 from some rich collection of armor1 of the middle ages1 immediately after examining the mighty masses of iron in which our knights of old oppressed and half stifled themselves1 we go to the ,museum of ,natural ,history1 and examine the armor of the ,crustac1 we shall actually feel something very like contempt for our human skill4 ,the former are a mere masquerade of absurd disguises1 that seem especially designed for encumbering their warlike wearers1 and rendering them impotent4 ,but these latter1 especially the armor of the terrible ,decapodes1 the ten-footed warriors of the waters1 are so marvellously armed that had they but the stature and bulk of our human warriors1 none of us could dare even to look upon them4 ,the veni vidi of ,csar1 would be eternally followed by his soon-ended ,vici2 they would not need to seize1 or to strike2 their very aspect would thrill1 magnetise--utterly stupefy and subdue us4 ,there they are1 all ready for the fight1 armed at all points4 ,within that terrible arsenal1 offensive and defensive1 how lightly1 yet how strongly are they armed4 ,there are the strong nippers1 mandibles1 ready to craunch through iron itself1 and the cuirasses1 furnished with the thousand darts1 every one of which cries aloud to the foe ,noli me tangere4 ,we ought to be very thankful to ,nature1 that has made them thus diminutive4 ,if only the stature and bulk of man were given to them1 who1 who1 and by what means1 could engage with them8 ,fire arms would be in vain2 the ,elephant1 vast and mighty1 and intelligent as he is1 would have to hide2 the fierce ,tiger1 with lashing tail1 blood-shotten eyes and fatal paw1 would seek shelter on the topmost branches of the tallest trees1 and the trice solid hide of the ,rhinoceros1 would no longer be invulnerable4 ,we perceive at once that the interior agent1 the motive power of that machine1 centralized within an almost invariable convex1 has1 even from that single peculiarity1 a perfectly enormous force4 ,the slender and delicate elegance of man1 his longitudinal figure1 divided into three parts1 with four great and diverging appendages1 distant1 all1 from his centre1 make him1 whatever we may say to the contrary1 an essentially weak animal4 ,in those armors of the old knights1 in the great1 telegraphic arms1 and in the heavy1 pendant legs1 we1 at a glance1 see1 and sadden1 as we see1 the unsteady1 uncentralized creature2 halting and staggering1 that the slightest collision will beat to the earth4 ,in the crustac1 on the contrary1 the appendages are at once so firmly1 so neatly1 and so closely1 conjoined to the short1 rounded1 and compacted body1 that every blow1 every touch1 every grasp1 has the whole weight1 and the whole force and impetus of the entire mass4 ,even to the extremity of its claws1 every inch is instinct with nervous energy1 mighty with the whole physical force4 ,it has two brain systems1 head and body2 but to concentrate its power thus1 it must have no neck2 head and body must be undivided1 a dual unity4 ,marvellous1 perfectly marvellous1 simplification6 ,the head combines eyes1 feelers1 claws and jaws4 ,when the quick eye has discerned the enemy1 or the prey1 the feelers touch1 the claws grasp1 the jaws crush1 and1 immediately behind them1 the stomach1 which is itself furnished with a strong crushing machinery1 triturates and digests whatever enters it4 ,in an instant the prey is seized1 crushed1 digested1 and disappears4 ,in this creature1 every organ is superior4 ,the eyes can discern1 both in front1 and in rear4 ,convexed1 exterior1 and en facettes1 they can1 at a glance1 sweep almost the entire horizon4 ,the antenn1 the feelers1 organs of touch and trial1 of warning and of guiding1 have the sense of touch at their extremities1 of hearing and of scent1 at their base4 ,an immense advantage1 such as we do not possess4 ,how would it be if the human hand could hear and smell8 ,how rapid and concentrated would then be our power of observation4 ,divided among three senses1 each of which works independently of the other1 our impressions are1 for that very reason1 very often inexact or evanescent4 ,of the ten feet of the ,decapodes1 six are hands1 hard1 griping pincers1 and1 moreover1 are1 at their extremeties1 organs of respiration4 ,and in this last particular our singularly armed warrior1 by a quite revolutionary expedient1 solves the problem which so much embarrassed our poor mollusc2 how to breathe1 in spite of the shell4 ,to this he calmly replies3 ,i breathe through hand and foot4 ,this great1 this fatal difficulty of breathing1 which would so surely overcome me1 ,i overcome by the very same weapon with which ,i smite1 the very same implement by which ,i seize and masticate my food4 ,the chief and most potent enemies of the ,crustac1 are the tempest and the rock4 ,little in the deep sea1 they almost constantly lurk along shore in waiting for their prey4 ,often1 as they lurk there waiting for the oyster to open and furnish them with a breakfast1 a hard gale drives them from their ambush1 and then their armor becomes their fatality4 ,hard1 and destitute of elasticity1 it receives the full and unmitigated shock of every collision2 dashed upon the rocks1 they leave it1 if alive1 only with broken weapons and rent armor4 ,happily for them1 they1 like the ,oursin1 can replace an organ1 lost or mutilated4 ,so well do they know that strange power1 that they voluntarily shake off a claw1 if confined by it4 ,it would seem that ,nature especially favors servants so useful4 ,to counterbalance the infinite fecundity of other species1 the crustac have an infinite power of absorption4 ,and they are everywhere2 on every coast2 ubiquitous as the seas themselves4 ,the ,vultures1 and other carrion birds1 share with the crustac the essential office of health preservers4 ,let some large animal die1 and1 on the instant1 the bird above1 and the crab below and within1 are at work to prevent it from polluting the atmosphere4 ,the ,talitre1 that small and skipping crab that we might almost mistake for an insect1 burrows in the sands of the sandy shores4 ,let a tempest drive a quantity of ,medus or other such prey upon the beach1 and you will immediately see the sands all in motion1 and myriads of crabs swarming1 leaping1 hungry1 and apparently determined to clear away the spoil before the next flood tide4 ,large1 robust1 and full of wiles1 the great crabs are a very combative race4 ,so highly are they gifted with the instinct of war that they even resort to noise in order to intimidate their enemies2 advancing to the fight they clash their claws together with a noise like that of castanettes4 ,yet1 they are very prudent when they have to do with a stronger enemy4 ,i remember to have watched them from the top of a high rock1 when the tide was out4 ,but1 high above them as ,i was1 they perceived that they were watched1 and speedily beat a retreat2 the warriors hurrying sidelong1 as is their wont1 into their secure ambush4 ,they resemble ,achilles far less than ,hannibal4 ,when they feel that they are the stronger1 they will attack both the living and the dead1 and the helplessly wounded man may well dread them4 ,it is related that1 on some desert isle1 several of ,drake's sailors were attacked and devoured by these greedy creatures4 ,no living creature can fight them with equal weapons4 ,the gigantic ,poulpe who should enlace the smallest of the crab family1 would do so at the risk of losing his antenn1 and the greediest of fish would not venture to swallow so hard a morsel4 ,when the ,crustace are large they are the tyrants and the terror of both land and sea2 their impregnable armor enables them to attack everything4 ,they would multiply to such an excess as to disturb the balance of living creatures1 but that their armour itself is their great peril and destroyer4 ,hard and inelastic1 it will not yield to the increasing growth of the animal and thus becomes its prison always1 and at certain periods its torture4 ,to find1 despite this solid wall1 the means of breathing1 it is obliged to place the organ of respiration in that very organ1 the claw1 which it most frequently loses4 ,to allow for the growth of its interior substance1 it is obliged--most perilous obligation6--to submit that the hard cuirass shell shall at times be discarded2 that the creature shall have its seasons of moulting2 that the eyes1 and the claws1 and the tentacles1 which supply the place of lungs shall suffer with all the rest4 ,a strange and pitiful sight it is to see the ,lobster writhing1 twisting1 struggling1 to get out of its too confining armor4 ,so violent is the struggle that he sometimes actually casts off his claws4 ,then he remains soft1 weak1 exhausted4 ,in two or three days a raw shell covers the naked body2 but the ,crab does not so easily repair damages2 it takes him much longer to renew his armor1 and during that time he is the victim of all that previously were his unspared and unpitied prey4 ,even handed justice now becomes terrible to him4 ,the victims now have their revenge2 the strong is subjected to the law of the weak2 falls1 as a species1 to their level1 and pays full share in the great balance between ,life and ,death4 ,if one died but once in this world1 there would be less of sadness1 but every living thing must partially die daily2 daily suffer moulting1 that partial death which is essential to the continuance of life4 ,hence1 a weakness and a melancholy to which we do not readily confess4 ,but what is to be done8 ,the bird in its moulting time is sad and silent2 still more sad is the poor snake when it casts its skin4 ,we1 also1 in every month1 every day1 every instant1 are parting with portions of our living frame1 but as gently as constantly1 and only feel weakened1 in those moments of dreamy melancholy1 when the vital flame is weakened1 that it may become stronger and more vivid4 ,how far more terrible it must be for the creature whose whole external frame work must be rent asunder and cast off4 ,it is weak1 timorous1 crushed2--at the mercy of the first comer4 ,there are crustac of the fresh water that must thus partially die a score of times in every two months4 ,others 7the crustacean suckers7 succumb to this terrible operation1 are unable to renew their armor1 and lose all power4 ,so to speak1 they resign their piratical commission1 and1 coward-like1 take shelter in the viscera of the larger animals1 which1 in spite of themselves1 have to forage for them and to feed them4 ,the insect in its ,chrysalis seems utterly to forget itself1 not only does it not suffer1 but it even seems to enjoy that semblance of death1 that unconscious life1 which the infant enjoys in its warm cradle4 ,but the crustac1 in their moulting time1 see themselves and feel themselves as they are1 suddenly hurled from energetic and terrible life and power to the most complete impotency4 ,they are alarmed1 helpless1 lost1 and can but creep under some sheltering stone1 seeing nothing1 hearing nothing1 feeling nothing but the terror of the coming foe and the unpitied death4 ,never having encountered terrible foe1 or even serious obstacle1 and relieved from all necessity of industry by their potent armor1 they no sooner lose that than they find themselves utterly without resource4 ,each might protect the other1 but they are all defenceless at the same time4 ,yet it is said that1 in certain species1 the male does strive to protect the female1 and that if we take one we take both4 ,that terrible necessity of moulting1 and the eager research of man1 more and more lord of the shores1 and the extinction of the old species that afforded them such abounding alimentation1 have necessarily kept down the increase of the crustace4 ,even the ,poulpe which1 being good for nothing1 is neither hunted after nor eaten1 has considerably decreased in number4 ,how much more so1 then1 the crustace whose flesh is so excellent and so coveted by all creatures4 ,they actually seem to be aware of this4 ,the weaker among them resort to the grossest little rogueries to protect themselves2 they are ingenious1 intriguing4 ,this latter epithet is the true one2 they really resemble intriguers who1 without visible means1 contrive to support themselves upon the means of others4 ,a kind of bastards1 neither quite fish1 nor quite flesh1 they make increment alike of the living1 the dying and the dead2 occasionally even of land animals4 ,the ,oxystome makes himself a kind of miser1 and thieves by night2 the ,birgus at nightfall quits the sea on a marauding expedition1 and1 for want of better1 even ascends the cocoa tree and eats the fruit4 ,the ,dromios disguise themselves1 and ,bernard the ,hermit1 unable to harden his exterior1 seizes a ,mollusc1 devours the body1 and clothes himself in the shell4 ,thus fitted out1 he prowls at evening in search of food1 and we detect the furtive pilgrim by the noise which he cannot avoid making as he halts and staggers along1 under the load of his ill acquired and ill fitting armor4 ,others1 at most times1 but especially in the winter1 seek the land1 and burrow4 ,perhaps they would change their nature altogether and become insects1 were the sea not so dear to them4 ,as once in every year the twelve tribes of ,israel were wont to wend their way to ,jerusalem to celebrate the feast of ,tabernacles1 there are certain shores to which these faithful children of the sea repair to pay her their homage and to consign to her tender care their eggs1 thus recommending their offspring to her who nursed their ancestry4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,fish4 ,it was inevitable that the free element1 the ,sea1 should1 sooner or later1 produce a creature like unto herself1 eminently free1 undulating and fluid1 gliding like the wave1 but with a marvellous mobility founded on an interior miracle greater still1 on an internal organization at once delicate and strong1 and very elastic1 such as no creature had previously ever approached to4 ,the ,mollusc1 crawling on its belly1 was the poor serf of the glebe1 and the ,poulpe1 with all his swelling and threatening pride1 swimming badly and unable to walk or crawl at all1 was still more completely the serf of chance4 ,the warlike crustace1 by turns so high and so low1 alternately the terror and derision of all1 were at times the slave1 the prey of even the weakest creatures4 ,great and terrible servitudes those2 how were they to be remedied8 ,strength is the very soul of liberty4 ,from the very beginning1 ,life seems gradually but confusedly to have sought the creation of a central axis which should give the creature unity1 and enormously increase its strength of motion4 ,the rayed family and the molluscs exhibit a presentiment1 a partial sketch of it1 but they were too much led away by the insoluble problem of the exterior defence4 ,the covering1 always the covering1 was that which constantly occupied the attention of these poor beings4 ,as to that one point1 they produced masterpieces2 the thorny ball of the ,oursin1 the shell at once open and closed of the ,haliotide1 and1 finally1 the armors of jointed pieces of the ,crustace1 are the very perfection of armor at once defensive and terribly offensive4 ,what more could be required8 ,it would seem1 nothing4 ,nothing8 ,say1 rather1 everything4 ,let us have a creature who shall trust entirely to motion1 a creature of freedom and audacity1 that shall look down upon all these creatures as infirm1 or miserably slow2 a creature that shall consider the envelope as a merely secondary matter1 and concentrate his whole strength within himself4 ,the crustace shroud themselves1 as it were1 in an exterior skeleton4 ,the fish has his skeleton within1 to which nerves1 muscles1 and all organs are attached4 ,this seems a fanciful invention1 and one quite contrary to good sense2 to place the hard and the solid beneath the thick covering of the soft6 ,to place the bone1 so useful without1 precisely where it seems it must be so useless6 ,the crustace must needs have laughed in derision when they first saw the short1 thick1 soft fish of the ,indian ,ocean1 for instance1 without defensive armor1 having no strength save inwardly1 protected only by its oily fluidity1 by the exuberant mucus that surrounds it1 and which by degrees consolidates into elastic scales1 a slight cuirass1 which ever yielding1 never yields entirely4 ,it was a revolution comparable to that of ,gustavus ,adolphus1 when he relieved his soldiery of their heavy iron armor1 and covered their breasts only with the at once stout and yielding buff leather4 ,a late revolution1 but a wise one4 ,our fish1 being no longer confined like the crab or lobster1 imprisoned in armor1 is at the same time relieved from the cruel condition inseparable from that armor1 the moulting1 with its attendant danger1 weakness1 struggle1 and enormously wasteful expenditure of strength4 ,like the superior animals and man1 he moults slowly4 ,he economises and hoards up strength1 and creates for himself the treasure of a powerful nervous system1 with numerous telegraphic threads that connect spine and brain4 ,even when the bone is soft or absent1 and the fish preserves its embryonic appearance1 he has nevertheless his great harmony in that abundant provision of nervous threads4 ,we do not find in the fish the elegant weakness of the reptile and the insect1 so slender that in those parts one can cut through them as through a thread2 his segments are within1 and well protected4 ,he uses them for contractile power1 but does not1 as the less perfect reptile and insect do1 expose them to external injury4 ,like the crustace1 the fish prefers strength to beauty1 and for this end has no neck2 head and trunk form one mass4 ,admirable principle of strength1 which enables him1 in cleaving through so yielding an element as water1 to strike1 at will1 with a thousand fold more force than is necessary1 and then his motion is as the flight of an arrow or the flash of lightning6 ,the interior bone1 single in the ,seiche1 is in the fish at once one and multiple2 one for force of unity1 multiple for elasticity1 enabling the muscles alternately to contract and expand1 and thus create swift motion4 ,marvellous1 really marvellous is that formation of the fish1 so solid without and contractile within1 that inward keel to which are attached the motor muscles which work with an alternating shock4 ,exteriorly1 he exposes only his auxiliary oars1 short fins which are but little in danger1 being strong1 slippery1 and sharp to wound1 or to scrape4 ,how superior in all this is the fish1 to the ,poulpe and the ,medusa1 which present to all comers soft flesh1 a tempting morsel for the crustace or the porpoise4 ,this true son of the water1 gliding and mobile as his mother1 glides by means of his mucus1 cleaves with his head1 impelled by his contractile muscles1 and finally1 with his strong fins rows and steers4 ,the least of these powers would suffice1 but he unites them all2 a perfect model and absolute type of swift motion4 ,even the bird is less mobile1 seeing that he has to perch4 ,he is fixed for the night1 but the fish1 never2 even asleep1 he still floats4 ,so extremely mobile1 he at the same time is in the highest degree strong and lively4 ,wherever there is water1 there is the fish3 he is the universal creature of the globe4 ,in the loftiest lakes of ,asia and of the ,cordilleras1 where the atmosphere is so rarefied that no other creature can endure it1 the fish lives and thrives4 ,it is the red fish of the ,gudgeon species1 which thus looks down upon all the earth4 ,in like manner1 in the great depths1 beneath the most enormous weights1 live the ,herring and the ,cod4 ,forbes1 who divides them into ten superposed beds or stages1 finds them all inhabited1 and in the lowest of all1 supposed to be so dark1 he finds a fish provided with eyes so admirable that he finds sufficient light in that which seems to us the uttermost darkness of night4 ,there is yet another privilege of the fish4 ,many species1 as ,salmon1 ,shad1 ,eels1 ,sturgeon1 c41 can live equally in fresh water or sea water1 and regularly migrate from one to the other4 ,many families of fish include both sea fish and fresh water fish1 as for instance1 the ,thornback4 ,nevertheless1 peculiar degrees of heat1 peculiar food1 and peculiar habits1 seem to confine them within certain limits in the seas1 free as that element is4 ,the warm seas are as a confining wall beyond which the polar species cannot pass2 and on the other hand1 the fish of the warm seas are stopped by the cold currents at the ,cape of ,good ,hope4 ,we know of only two or three species that can be properly called cosmopolitan4 ,few of them frequent the open sea2 most of them hug the shore1 and have favorite shores to frequent4 ,those of the ,united ,states are not those of ,europe4 ,then1 too1 fish have peculiarities of taste which attach them to certain localities1 though they do not actually confine them there4 ,the ,thornback grovels in the mud1 ,soles in sandy bottoms1 the ,bullhead loves the high bottoms1 and the ,sea ,eel the rocks4 ,the ,scorpene1 or flying fish1 swims and flies by turns2 when pursued by fish1 she darts from the water1 and for some distance sustains herself in the air2 and when pursued by birds she drops back into the water4 ,the popular phrase1 ,as happy as a fish in water1 is founded on a truth4 ,in fine weather he floats at his ease1 enabled as he is to rise or sink at pleasure1 to make himself a balloon more or less filled with air1 and therefore lighter or heavier4 ,he moves in peace1 rocked and caressed by the wave1 and1 if he so chooses1 even sleeps as he floats4 ,he is at once surrounded and isolated by the unctuous substance which renders his skin and his scales slippery and impenetrable by the water4 ,his temperature varies but little and is neither too hot nor too cold4 ,what a difference between a life so convenient1 and that which is allotted to us dwellers upon the land2 where at every step we meet with asperities and obstacles1 which fatigue and exhaust us as we toil up or down our hills and mountains6 ,the atmosphere varies1 and often most cruelly1 with our various seasons4 ,for days and nights together1 the cold rains pour pitilessly down1 penetrating us2 at times frozen1 and piercing us with its sharp crystal points4 ,the felicity and fullness of life of the fish is shown at the ,tropics by the splendor of his colors1 and at the ,north by the swiftness of his motion4 ,in ,oceania and the ,indian ,sea they rove and sport in the oddest forms and colors1 taking their pleasure among the corals1 and living flowers4 ,our fish1 of the temperate and cold seas1 are potent rowers2 thorough sailors4 ,their slender and elongated figures give them an arrowy swiftness and grace of movement1 which might serve as ensample to our ship builders4 ,some of them have as many as ten fins which serve them1 at will1 as sails or oars1 and may be kept wide spread or close-reefed4 ,their tail1 that marvellous rudder1 is also the principal oar4 ,the best swimmers have it forked1 the entire spine ends there and which contracting its muscles gives the fish his swift motion4 ,the ,thornback has two immense fins1 two great wings to cleave the waves4 ,his long1 supple1 and slender tail is a weapon with which to lash and divide the waters4 ,so slender and displacing so little water1 this fish has no need of the air bladder which supports the thicker fish4 ,thus each has the peculiar provisions that fit it for its peculiar locality and surroundings4 ,the ,sole is oval and flat that it may glide in the sand1 the ,eel long and slender that it may glide through the mud1 and the ,lophies1 that they may cling to the rocks1 have hand like fins that remind one rather of frogs than fish4 ,sight is the great sense of the bird2 scent is that of the fish4 ,the ,hawk1 from above the clouds1 pierces1 with his glance1 the deep space and marks the scarcely visible prey below2 in like manner the ,shark1 from the depths of the water1 scents his tempting prey1 and darts upward upon it4 ,those that1 like the ,sturgeon1 rummage the mud for food have exquisite touch4 ,in the watery world half darkened1 and having only uncertain and delusive lights1 scent1 and1 in some cases1 touch1 must be relied on4 ,the ,shark1 the ,thornback and the ,cod1 with his great eyes1 see badly1 but have an exquisite sense of scent4 ,the ,thornback has that sense in such excess that he is provided with a veil for the express purpose of deadening it at will1 when it probably affects his brain unpleasantly4 ,to this powerful means of chasing their prey1 we must add admirable teeth1 sometimes like those of a saw4 ,some species have several rows of them1 lining the mouth1 the palate1 the throat1 and even the tongue4 ,these teeth being so fine are1 therefore1 fragile2 and behind1 therefore1 are others ready to replace them if they break4 ,at the commencement of this second book1 we said that it was necessary that the sea should produce these terrible and mighty destroyers to combat her own too great fecundity4 ,death by persevering excision and bleedings relieved her of a plethora which1 otherwise1 would have destroyed her4 ,against that alarming torrent of production which we have instanced in the case of the ,herring and the ,cod1 those frightful multiplying machines which would have choked up the ocean and desolated the earth1 she defends herself by the machine of ,death1 the armed swimmer1 the fierce and voracious fish4 ,great1 splendid1 impressive spectacle6 ,the universal combat between ,death and ,life1 which we witness upon the land1 fades into insignificance when we compare it to that which is going on in the depths of the sea4 ,there1 its surpassing grandeur1 at first1 almost alarms us1 but when we examine more closely we see that all is harmonious and in marvellous equilibrium4 ,that fury is necessary2 that dazzlingly rapid exchange of substance1 that prodigality of slaughter1 are safety4 ,nothing of sadness1 but a wild fierce joy seems to reign in all this4 ,in this opposition in the sea of two forces1 that seem so inevitably destructive of each other1 the sea finds her marvellous health1 her incomparable purity1 and a beauty at once sublime and terrible4 ,she triumphs alike in the living and in the dead1 giving to them and receiving from them the electricity1 the light which beams1 flashes1 sparkles everywhere1 even in the long1 dark1 polar night4 ,what is melancholy in the sea is not her carelessness to multiply death1 but her impotence to reconcile progress with the excess of movement4 ,she is a hundred times1 a thousand times richer1 and more rapidly fecund than the earth4 ,she even builds up for earth4 ,the increase of the land1 as we have seen in the case of the ,corals1 is given by the sea2 the sea is no other than the parturient and laboring womb of the globe4 ,her sole obstacle is in the rapidity of her births2 her inferiority appears in the difficulty1 which1 so rich in generation1 she finds in organizing ,love4 ,it is melancholy to reflect that the myriads upon myriads of the inhabitants of the sea have only a vague1 elementary1 and imperfect1 ,love4 ,those vast tribes that1 each in its turn1 ascend and go in pilgrimage towards pleasure and light1 give in floods the best of themselves1 their very life1 to blind and unknown chance4 ,they love1 and they will never know the beloved creature in which their dream1 their desire1 was incarnated2 they produce multitudes1 but never know their posterity4 ,a few1 a very few of the most active1 warlike1 and cruel species love after our human manner4 ,those terrific monsters1 the ,shark and his female1 are obliged to approach each other4 ,nature has imposed upon them the peril of embracing4 ,a terrible and suspicious embrace4 ,habitually they devour1 eagerly and blindly1 everything that comes in their path--animals1 wood1 stone1 iron--anything1 but in their fierce love1 they restrain their hunger4 ,they approach each other with their sawlike and fatal teeth1 and the female intrepidly allows the male to seize her with his1 and thus fastened together1 they sometimes roll furiously about for weeks1 unwilling to separate1 even though famishing1 and invincible in their fierce embrace1 even by the fiercer tempest4 ,it is affirmed that even after they have separated1 they lovingly pursue each other1 the faithful male following his mate till the birth of his heir presumptive1 the sole fruit of that marriage1 and never1 never devours him1 but follows and watches over him4 ,in fact1 in case of peril to the sharkling1 the excellent farther takes him into his vast throat1 but to shelter1 not digest him4 ,if the life of the sea has a dream1 a wish1 a confused desire1 it is that of fixity4 ,the violent and tyrannical embrace of the ,shark1 the fury of his union with the female give us an idea of a perfectly desperate love4 ,who knows if in other species1 gentler and better fitted for families1 who knows if this impotence of union1 this eternal fluctuation of an objectless voyage1 is not a cause of sadness8 ,these children of the sea become owners of the land4 ,many of them ascend the rivers amorous with the fresh water1 which they find so poor and possessed of so little nutriment1 that they may deposit there1 far from the raging waves1 the hope of their posterity4 ,at the very least they approach the shore in search of some sinuous and land locked creek4 ,at this time they even become industrious1 and with sand1 mud1 and grass endeavor to make little nests4 ,a touching effort6 ,they have none of the implements of the insect1 that marvel of animal industry4 ,they are far more destitute than the bird4 ,by sheer dint of perseverance1 without hands1 or claws1 or beak1 and solely with their poor bodies1 they yet pass and repass over it till they have pressed it into a sufficient cohesion1 as ,coste informs us in his description of the ,sticklebacks4 ,and what obstacles still await them6 ,the female1 blind and greedy1 threatens the eggs1 the male will not quit them1 but guards and protects them1 more motherly than the mother herself4 ,this instinct is found in several species1 especially in the humblest1 the ,gobies1 a small fish1 unfit for food1 held in such contempt that if1 by chance1 caught1 it is thrown back again to the water4 ,well1 this lowest of the low is a tender father4 ,weak1 small1 destitute as he is1 he1 nevertheless1 is the ingenious architect and laborious workman of the nest1 and constructs it unaided1 save by his tenderness and his strong will4 ,it moves one to pitying reverie1 to perceive that such an effort of the heart is arrested at the first effort of art1 and by the fatality of the world1 in which its nature detains it4 ,we feel that that world of waters is not all sufficient for itself4 ,great mother that hath commenced life1 thou canst not perfect it2 allow thy daughter1 the ,earth1 to continue the work4 ,you see it1 even in your bosom2 your children think of ,earth and long for its fixity2 they approach her1 offer her their homage4 ,it is for thee still to commence the series of new beings1 by an unexpected prodigy1 a grandiose rough draft of the warm amorous life1 of blood1 of milk1 of tenderness which will have its development in the terrestrial races4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,the ,,whale4 ,the fisherman belated at night in the ,north ,sea1 says ,milton1 saw an isle1 a shoal1 which1 like the back of an enormous mountain1 lay upon the water1 and in that isle or shoal he fastened his anchor4 ,the isle fled and carried him away4 ,that isle was ,leviathan4 ,an error only too natural4 ,d',urmont ,durville was similarly though not so fatally deceived4 ,he saw at a distance what seemed a bank with breakers and eddies all around it1 and certain patches upon it looked like rocks4 ,above and around this seeming bank the swallow and the stormy petrel raced and sported4 ,the bank looked venerably grey1 covered as it was with shells and madrepores4 ,but the mighty mass suddenly moved1 and two enormous columns of water which it threw high into the air1 revealed the awakened ,whale4 ,the inhabitant of another planet who should descend towards ours in a balloon and survey it from a vast height would say to himself1 ,the only creatures that ,i can discover there are from one hundred to two hundred feet long1 their arms are only twenty feet long1 but their superb tail1 thirty feet1 magnificently beats the ,sea1 and enables them to advance with a speed and a majestic ease which make it very evident that they are the sovereigns of that planet4 ,and by and bye he would add3 ,it is a great pity that the solid part of that globe should be deserted1 or at best peopled only by creatures so small that they are invisible4 ,the sea alone is inhabited and by a kind and gentle race4 ,here the family is held in honor1 the mother nurses and suckles her young ones with tenderness1 and although her arms are very short she contrives during the raging of the tempest to protect her little one by pressing it to her vast body4 ,whales are given to companionship4 ,formerly they were seen sailing along not only in pairs1 but occasionally in large families of ten or twelve in the solitary seas4 ,nothing exceeded the grandeur of those vast and living fleets1 sometimes lighted up by their own phosphorescence1 and throwing to the height of thirty or forty feet in the ,polar seas columns of water which smoked as it rose4 ,they would approach a vessel1 peaceably and in evident curiosity2 looking upon her as some specimen of a new and strange species of fish2 and they sported around and welcomed the visitor4 ,in their joy they raised themselves half upright and then fell down again with a huge noise1 making a boiling gulf as they sank4 ,their innocent familiarity went so far that they sometimes touched the ship or her boats4 ,an imprudent confidence which was most cruelly deceived6 ,in less than a century1 the great species of the ,whale have almost disappeared4 ,their manners and their organization are those of our herbivora4 ,like our ruminating animals they have a succession of stomachs where their nourishment is elaborated2 they need no teeth and have none4 ,they easily graze the living prairies of the sea1 ,i mean the gigantic1 soft1 and gelatinous1 fucus1 the beds of infusori1 the banks of the imperceptible atoms4 ,for such aliments the chase is not necessary4 ,having no occasion for war1 they have no necessity for the sawlike teeth or the frightful jaws of the ,shark and other destructive creatures4 ,boitard tells us that they never pursue4 ,their food is borne to them on every wave4 ,innocent and peaceable1 they engulf a world of scarcely organized creatures which die ere they lived1 and pass unconsciously into the crucible of universal change4 ,not the slightest connection between this gentle race of mammifer1 which1 like our own1 have milk and red blood1 and the monsters of an earlier age1--horrible abortions of the primitive mud6 ,the ,whale1 of far more recent origin1 found a purified water1 a free ,sea1 and a peaceful globe4 ,he had finished1 the ,globe had1 his old discordant dream of lizard-fishes1 and flying dragons1 the frightful reign of the reptile2 he had got out of the sinister fogs and mists into the lovely dawn of harmonious conceptions4 ,our carnivorous creatures were not yet in existence4 ,there was a brief time 7a hundred thousand years1 perhaps17 of great gentleness and innocence1 when the ,opossum and other pouched animals were on the earth2 excellent creatures1 that tenderly loved their families1 that carried their young1 and1 in case of the fatigue or danger of those little creatures1 sheltered them in their pouches4 ,in the ,sea appeared vast and gentle giants4 ,the milk of the sea1 its superabundant oil1 its warm animalized mucus1 saturated with a marvellous power tending to life1 swelling at length into those gigantic creatures1 those spoilt children of nature which she endowed with an incomparable strength1 and with the yet greater gift of the beautiful and warm red blood1 which now for the first time appeared4 ,that is the true flower of the world4 ,all the pale and cold blooded creation is languid and seemingly heartless1 when compared with the generous and exulting life which boils with anger or love in the rich purple4 ,the strength of the superior creation1 its charm1 its beauty1 reside in that blood4 ,with it commenced a new youth in nature1 a flame of desire1 of love1 and the love of family and race2 to be completed and crowned in man by divine ,pity4 ,but with this magnificent gift of red blood1 the nervous sensibility was enormously increased2 the being became more vulnerable1 more sensitive alike to pleasure and to pain4 ,the ,whale having scarcely any sense of scent or hearing1 every thing in his organization is favorable to the sense of touch4 ,the thick blubber which so well protects him from the cold1 does not at all guard him against hurts4 ,his finely organized skin of six tissues shudders and vibrates in them all at every blow1 and their papill are most delicate instruments of touch4 ,and all this is animated and made vivid by rich1 red blood1 which1 even allowing for difference of bulk1 is infinitely more abundant than that of the terrestrial mammifer4 ,the ,whale1 when wounded1 ensanguines the ocean to a great distance2 the blood that we have in drops1 is lavished upon him in torrents4 ,the female is pregnant nine months4 ,her milk is sweetish and warm1 like that of the human female4 ,but as she has always to breast the wave1 her front mamm1 if placed on the chest1 would be exposed to all shocks2 they are1 therefore1 placed a little lower on the belly4 ,here the young one is sheltered and safe from the shock of the wave1 which is already broken1 ere it reaches him4 ,the form1 inherent to such a life1 contracts the mother1 at the waist and deprives her of that adorable grace of woman1 that beauty of settled and harmonious life1 where all is tenderness4 ,but the ,whale1 the great woman of the sea1 however tender she may be1 is forced to conform1 in every thing1 to her continual battle with the waves4 ,for the rest1 beneath that strange uncouth disguise1 the organization1 and the sensitiveness1 are the same2 fish above1 the ,whale is woman beneath4 ,she is infinitely timid1 too2 the mere flight of a bird will sometimes terrify her so much that she dives so violently as to hurt herself by striking the bottom4 ,love with the ,whale being subject to difficult condition requires a profoundly peaceful place4 ,like a noble elephant1 who fears profane eyes1 the ,whales love only the desert4 ,their meeting place for pairing is towards the poles1 in the solitary bays of ,greenland1 among the fogs of ,behring1 and1 also1 no doubt1 in the warm sea which is known to exist close to the pole itself4 ,a solitude they must have to mate in1 be it arctic or antarctic4 ,will that warm sea be found again8 ,it is only to be reached by traversing the horrid defiles which open1 close1 and change1 with every succeeding year1 as though to prevent the return4 ,the ,whale1 it is believed1 pass under the ice from one sea to the other2 a bold and perilous journey by that dark road4 ,compelled to rise to breathe every quarter of an hour1 though they have reserves of air which will last them a little longer1 they are much endangered as they pass through that enormous crust with only here and there a breathing hole4 ,if one of these cannot be reached in due time1 the ice is so thick and solid every where else1 that no strength of the ,whale could break through it2 and he would be as helplessly drowned as ,leander in the ,hellespont4 ,but the ,whales know nothing about the fate of ,leander2 so they boldly venture1 and for the most part pass safely4 ,the solitude is great1 it is a strange scene of death and silence for this festival of ardent and passionate life4 ,a white ,bear1 a ,seal1 or1 perhaps1 a blue ,fox1 respectful and prudent1 looks on from a distance4 ,fantastically brilliant chandeliers and mirrors are not wanting4 ,bluish crystals1 huge and dazzling peaks of ice1 and masses of virgin snow1 are all around4 ,what renders this ,elephantine ,hymen the more interesting1 is1 that it is one of express consent4 ,they have not the tyrannous weapons of the ,shark by which he subdues his female1 for on the contrary their slippery skins separate them4 ,in their struggle to overcome this desperate obstacle to their happiness1 one might suppose them to be fighting4 ,the whale-men assert that they have seen this strange spectacle4 ,the couples in their burning transports rear themselves upright like two vast towers1 and endeavor to embrace with their short arms4 ,they fall down again with an immense crash2 and ,bear and ,man alike retreat1 astounded by the deafening sobs of the vast creatures4 ,the solution is unknown2 those explanations1 which have been given1 are simply absurd4 ,what is certain is1 that1 whether in the act of love or of suckling1 or of defence1 the unfortunate ,whale suffers under the double oppression of its weight and its difficulty of breathing4 ,she can only breathe with her head above water2 if she remain below she will be choked4 ,is the ,whale1 therefore1 a terrestrial animal8 ,not so4 ,if by chance she be stranded on the coast1 the enormous weight of her flesh and blubber overwhelms her respiring organs and she is strangled4 ,placed wholly in the only element in which she can respire1 she is asphyxiated just as surely as if kept beyond a certain space of time wholly beneath the water4 ,let us speak plainly4 ,this vast mammiferous giant is an incomplete creature1 the first poetic offspring of creative power1 which first contemplates the sublime and then reverts to the possible and the durable4 ,the admirable animal was well provided as to size1 strength1 warm blood1 sweet milk1 and good disposition4 ,it needed nothing but the means of living4 ,it was made without respect to the general proportions of this globe1 without respect to the imperative law of weight4 ,in spite of his enormous bones1 beneath1 his gigantic sides were not strong enough to keep his chest sufficiently expanded and free4 ,escaping from his enemy1 the water1 he found another enemy in the land1 and his mighty lungs were overwhelmed1 and collapsed4 ,his magnificent blowing apertures throwing up columns of water thirty feet into the air1 are1 in themselves1 proofs of an organization infantine and rude4 ,in throwing up that column towards the sky the panting blower seems to say1 ,oh1 nature1 why hast thou made me a serf8 ,the life of this creature was a problem1 and it seemed that this splendid but imperfect first draft of the vast and the warm-blooded could not endure4 ,their furtive and difficult love1 their suckling amidst the roar and the rush of the tempest1 in the hard choice between shipwreck and strangling2 the two great acts of their life rendered almost impossible1 and performed only by mightiest effort and most heroic will2--what conditions of existence are these6 ,the mother has never more than one little one1 and that is much for her to achieve4 ,both she and it have three great annoyances1 the difficulty of breasting the waves1 the suckling1 and the fatal necessity of rising to the surface to breathe4 ,the education of the young one is a real combat4 ,tempest-tossed and sorely beaten by the waves1 the young one sucks1 as it were1 by stealth1 when the mother can throw herself on her side4 ,here the mother is admirable4 ,she knows that the young one in endeavoring to draw the teat will be forced to leave its hold2 and1 therefore1 seizing the favorable moment1 she1 as from a piston1 discharges a tun of milk into the gaping and craving mouth4 ,the male seldom quits the female4 ,their embarrassment is great when the eager and cruel fishers attack them in the person of their young one4 ,the whale-men harpoon the young one1 well knowing that the parents will follow it4 ,and1 in fact1 they do make almost incredible efforts to save it and carry it off2 they rise to the surface and expose themselves to the utmost danger4 ,even when it is dead1 they still defend it2 though so well able to dive and save themselves1 they remain upon the water in full peril to follow the floating body of their little one4 ,shipwrecks are common among them1 for two reasons4 ,in the first place they cannot1 like the fishes1 remain during tempestuous weather in the lower and peaceable depths2 and in the next place1 whatever the danger1 they will not separate2 the strong nobly share the fate of the weak2 the whole family drowns together4 ,in ,december1 #agbc1 at the mouth of the ,elbe1 eight females perished1 and near their carcasses were their eight males2 and a similar scene was witnessed in #aghd1 at ,andierne in ,brittany4 ,in the latter instance1 fish and frightened porpoises were driven on shore by the tempest1 and strange and terrible bellowings were heard from a great family of ,whales1 tempest-driven1 and struggling for life4 ,there1 again1 the males perished with the females4 ,many of the latter were with young and defenceless against the pitiless waves2 they were cast upon the shore to die4 ,two of them1 in this situation1 brought forth their young with piercing shrieks1 and groans most harrowingly human4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,syrens4 ,behold me once more on shore4 ,i had enough1 and to spare1 of shipwreck4 ,i want durable races4 ,the ,cetace must disappear4 ,let us moderate our conceptions1 and1 of that gigantic fary of the first-born mammalia1 of milk and warm blood1 let us preserve all except the giant4 ,above all1 let us preserve the gentleness1 the love1 and the love of family4 ,let us preserve them completely in those humbler but kindly races into which both elements infuse their spirits4 ,the benedictions of the ,earth already begin to be felt4 ,on quitting the life of the fish1 many things impossible to it1 easily become harmonized4 ,thus the ,whale1 tender mother if ever there was one1 could grasp her nursling1 but could not press it to her breast1 the arms being too high and short1 and the breast1 as we have already shown1 being1 perforce1 placed far back4 ,in the new creatures1 which swim1 but which also creep upon the land1 such as seals1 sea cows1 c41 the breast1 lest it should be hurt by the ground1 is placed upon the chest1 thus foreshadowing woman1 and giving to the form and attitude1 a grace most illusive at a distance4 ,in reality1 even closely examined1 if it has less of charming whiteness1 the breast of the new creatures is a true feminine breast2 that globe which1 swelling with love1 and with the sweet necessity of giving suck1 exhibits1 in its gentle heavings1 all the sighs of the heart beneath1 and invites the child to nourishment and soft repose4 ,all this is denied to the mother that swims and floats1 but is enjoyed by her who rests4 ,the fixity of the family1 the constant tenderness1 let us at once say1 ,society1 all these commence from the moment that the child reposes on the maternal breast4 ,but how is organization to pass from creatures of the sea to creatures of both sea and land8 ,let us try to divine that transition4 ,at the outset1 the parentage of the amphibious race is evident4 ,many1 amphibious still1 to their great inconvenience1 have the heavy tail of the ,whale4 ,and this latter1 in one species1 at least1 conceals in its tail the rude outlines and distinct commencements of the two hind feet of the highest of the amphibious creatures4 ,in the seas studded with islands1 continually interposing land1 the cetace1 so frequently interrupted in their passage1 had to modify their habits accordingly4 ,their less rapid motion1 and confined life1 diminished their bulk1 and from the ,whale they were reduced to the sea ,elephant1 and reserving the memory of the superb which had armed certain of the cetace1 in their grand sea life1 the sea ,elephant still has strong1 but very harmless fore teeth4 ,even its masticating teeth are not precisely either herbivorous or carnivorous4 ,they are but ill adapted to either diet1 and must needs operate but slowly4 ,two things tended to lighten the ,whale2 his mass of blubber1 that vast mass of concentrated oil1 which floated him on the water1 and that powerful tail whose alternate strokes to right and left1 urged him onward4 ,but all this was unfitted for the amphibious creature1 grovelling in shallow waters1 or crawling on the rocks4 ,the fish1 so agile1 scorns a creature that cannot catch him1 and he consequently gets little other prey than the molluscs1 as slow as himself4 ,by degrees1 he learns to eat the abundant and gelatinous sea wrack1 which nourishes1 and fattens1 but without giving the strength of animal food4 ,such a one we may see in the ,red ,sea1 the ,malay isles1 and those of ,australia4 ,crawling or sitting1 that rare collossus1 the ,dugong1 displays its chests and breasts4 ,he is sometimes called the ,dagon of the ,tabernacles1 an inert idol1 which in spite of its imposing aspect1 cannot defend itself1 and which will soon disappear1 and enter into that region of fable which already contains so many realities1 at which we as stupidly1 as presumptuously1 laugh4 ,what has caused this great change1 created the terrestrial ,dugong1 and his brother the ,walrus8 ,the plentiful alimentation of the generous and fertile earth1 truly pacific before the coming of man1 and doubtless1 also1 ,love1 so difficult to the ,whale1 so easy in the quiet and settled life of the amphibious4 ,love1 to these latter1 is no longer a thing of flight and danger2 the female is no longer the shy giant that must be followed to the end of the world1 but is content1 on her bed of sea-weed1 to obey the will of her master1 whose life she makes pleasant4 ,few mysteries here4 ,the amphibious live frankly and honestly in the face of day4 ,the females being very numerous1 voluntarily form a seraglio4 ,from wild1 fierce poetry1 we descend to patriarchal manners and pleasures too facile4 ,the male1 good patriarch1 notable for his large head1 his moustaches1 and his great front teeth1 sits proudly between his ,sarah and ,agar1 ,rebecca and ,leah1 and his little flock of young ones1 to all of which he is most kind4 ,in his quiet life1 the great strength of this sanguineous creature1 turns wholly to family tenderness2 he embraces all his family1 and is willing to die1 if need be1 in their defence4 ,but1 alas6 his strength and his fury serve him but feebly for even his own defence3 his enormous mass delivers him over to the enemy4 ,he bellows1 and crawls1 and is willing to combat1 but unable--gigantic failure as he is2 an abortion belonging to neither world1 a poor disarmed ,caliban4 ,weight1 so fatal to the ,whale1 is still more so to these4 ,let us1 then1 still farther reduce the bulk1 make1 the spine more supple1 and above all1 either do away with that tail1 or rather1 let us fork it into two fleshy appendages1 which will be much more useful4 ,this new being1 the ,seal1 lighter1 a good fisher1 getting his subsistence in the sea1 but living on the land1 will employ his life in endeavoring to return to it1 to climb the rock to which his females and their offspring await his return from fishing4 ,having no tusks1 like those with which the ,walrus assists himself in climbing1 he presses into the service his front and back members1 clings to the sea-weed1 distending his members continually1 until they form into fingers4 ,what is finest in the ,seal1 what strikes you the moment you catch sight of his round head1 is the great capaciousness of brain4 ,boitard assures us that1 with the exception of man1 no creature has so fine a cerebral development as the ,seal4 ,we are strongly impressed by the aspect of the ,seal1 far more so than by that of the ape tribe1 whose grimaces never fail to revolt us4 ,i shall never forget the ,seals in the ,zoological ,garden at ,amsterdam1 admirable museum1 so rich1 so beautiful1 so well organized1 decidedly one of the finest establishments in the world4 ,i was there on the twelfth of last ,july1 just after a great rain fall4 ,the atmosphere was heavy and sultry1 and two ,seals sought shelter and coolness1 swimming and playing in their pond4 ,when they rested they looked up at me with their velvety eyes1 and there was a mixed intelligence and melancholy in their fixed gaze4 ,there was no language which we could mutually understand4 ,pity that1 between soul and soul1 there should be that eternal barrier6 ,the earth is the world of their greatest affection4 ,there they are born1 there they love2 thither1 when wounded1 they retire to die4 ,thither they take their pregnant females1 form for them their beds of sea-weed1 and provide them with fish4 ,they are very affectionate1 good neighbors1 mutually defending each other2 only at their season of amours they are a little apt to fight4 ,each male has two or three females that he finds a home for on some mossy rock of sufficient extent4 ,that is his estate1 and he suffers no intrusion upon it4 ,he knows how to maintain his right of proprietorship4 ,the females are gentle and defenceless4 ,if ill treated1 they weep1 are agitated and cast despairing glances upon the assailant4 ,they are parturient during nine months1 and nurse their young during five or six months1 teaching them to swim1 fish1 and select the best food4 ,no doubt they would keep them still longer1 but the husband is jealous of his own progeny1 fearing that the too weak mother will give him a rival4 ,no doubt this brevity of education has limited the progress which the ,seal would otherwise have made4 ,maternity is only complete when we come to the ,sea ,cow1 an excellent family in which the parents have not the sad courage to drive away their young4 ,the mothers nurse them for a long time2 even while suckling a second1 the mother still keeps by her the eldest1 which1 though it be a male1 the father never ill treats1 but seems to regard him with a love only second to that of the mother4 ,this extreme tenderness1 peculiar to that species1 is exemplified in the physical progress made in the organization4 ,in the ,seal1 a great swimmer1 and in the heavy and clumsy sea ,elephant the arms still continue to be fins2 closely attached to the body are incapable of extension4 ,but at length the ,sea ,cow1 the ,sea ,mama as the negroes call her1 accomplishes the miracle4 ,all extend and becomes pliant by a continuous effort4 ,nature exerts all her ingenuity upon the fixed idea of holding1 pressing1 caressing the young4 ,the ligaments yield and extend1 the fore arm appears and by and by appears the hand4 ,and then the mother has the great1 the supreme pleasure to press her young one to her breast4 ,here1 then1 are two things which may enable these amphibious creatures to make great progress4 ,already they have the hand1 that organ of industry1 that essential instrument of future toil4 ,it must be supplied1 must aid the work of the teeth as with the ,beaver1 and the ,ant1 will commence1 at the outset1 with building a home for the family4 ,on the other hand1 education1 also1 has become possible4 ,the young one rests on the maternal bosom and1 slowly drinking in her life1 remains there a long time1 and to an age when he can learn every thing1--all this depends on the kindness of the father who protects the innocent rival4 ,and it is that which allows of progress4 ,and1 if we might give credence to certain traditions1 progress did marvellously continue4 ,the developed amphibious creatures1 according to those traditions1 approached nearer and nearer to the human form and became ,tritons and ,syrens1 men and women of the ,sea4 ,only1 in contradiction to the fables of the melodious ,syrens1 these are dumb in their utter impotency to find a language in which to address themselves to man and obtain his pity4 ,these races will have perished1 as has the unfortunate ,beaver which cannot speak1 but weeps4 ,it has been very lightly affirmed that these men and women of the ,sea were ,seals4 ,but how is it possible that such a mistake could be made8 ,every species of the ,seal has been known from very early times2 even as early as the seventh century the ,seal was hunted1 not only for his skin1 but also for his flesh1 which was then eaten4 ,the men and women of the ,sea which are spoken of in the writings of the sixteenth century1 were seen1 not merely for an instant1 and on the water1 but brought to land1 shown1 and kept in the great cities of ,antwerp and ,amsterdam in the time of ,charles ,v4 and ,philip ,,ii41 and1 therefore1 under the very eyes of ,vesale and other learned men and eminent naturalists4 ,mention is made of a marine woman who1 for several years1 wore the dress of a nun and lived in a ,convent where any one might see her4 ,she could not speak1 but worked1 and could spin1 knit1 and sew4 ,only one peculiarity1 they could not cure her of1--her great love of the water1 and her incessant efforts to return to it4 ,but it will be asked--,if these creatures really existed1 how is it that we do not see them now8 ,alas6 ,we need not seek far for the reply4 ,they were so generally killed6 ,it was considered a sin to let them live1 for they were monsters4 ,this we are expressly told by the old writers4 ,whatever had not the known form of animality1 and1 especially1 whatever approached to the form of man passed for a monster1 and was pitilessly dispatched4 ,even the human mother of a greatly deformed child1 could not protect it2 the poor creature was smothered1 as being a child of the ,devil1 an invention of his malice to outrage the creation and calumniate the ,deity4 ,on the other hand1 those ,syrens1 too analogous to humanity1 were all the more taken and detested for a diabolic mockery4 ,in such horror and hate were they held in the eyes of the middle ages that their appearance was considered a prodigy1 an omen that ,god permitted to terrify sinners4 ,people scarcely dared to name them1 and made haste to get rid of them4 ,even the bold sixteenth century still believed them to be men and women in shape1 but ,devils in reality1 and not even to be touched1 excepting with the harpoon4 ,they had become very rare when miscreants made a profit of keeping and exhibiting them4 ,but do there now exist any remains1 any whole1 or even partial1 skeletons of these creatures8 ,we shall know that1 when the ,museums of ,europe shall throw open to our view the whole of their immense collections4 ,i am aware that room is wanting for that2 and it is always likely to be wanting1 if we need a palace4 ,but the most simple building1 if it only be sufficiently spacious and weather tight1 would serve to hold such collections1 and needs not to be at all costly4 ,hitherto1 we have only seen mere specimens and selections4 ,let us add that stuffed amphibious creatures1 to give us a real idea of them1 should be so placed as to exhibit these monsters in the attitudes of their actual life4 ,let the maternal ,seal1 or the ,sea ,cow1 be seen on its rock1 as a ,syren1 in the first use of her hand and pressing her little one to her breast4 ,is this to affirm that these creatures might have ascended to us8 ,or that we have descended from them8 ,mallet supposed so1 but ,i cannot see the least probability in either4 ,the ,sea1 no doubt1 commenced everything4 ,but it is not from the highest marine animals1 that has proceeded the long parallel series of terrestrials that is culminated and crowned in ,man4 ,they were already too fixed1 too special1 to form the first rude sketch of a nature so different4 ,they had carried far1 almost exhausted1 the fecundity of their species4 ,in that case the elders perish2 and it is very low down in the obscure juniors of some parent class that the new series commences that is to ascend so much higher4 ,see notes at the end of the volume4 ,man was not their son1 but their brother--a terribly tyrannical brother4 ,see him at length arrive1 the active1 the ingenious1 the cruel monarch of the world6 ,my book grows brighter1 clearer4 ,but what does it now proceed to exhibit8 ,alas6 ,what sad things must ,i now draw into that broad1 bright light6 ,this creature1 this tyrannical sovereign1 can create a second nature within ,nature4 ,but what has he done with the first1 with his mother1 and his nurse8 ,with the very teeth that she has given him1 he has cruelly gnawed her bosom6 ,how many animals that lived peaceably1 were becoming civilized1 began even to practise some of the arts1 are now hunted and terrified into the condition of mere brutes8 ,the ,ape-kings of ,ceylon1 whose sagacity was so well known in ,india1 and that ,brahmin of the creation1 the ,elephant1 have been chased1 subdued into the state of mere beasts of burthen4 ,the freest of beings1 that formerly sported so joyously and harmlessly in the sea1 those affectionate ,seals1 those gentle ,whales1 the pacific pride of the ,ocean1 have fled to the polar seas1 the terrible world of ice4 ,but they cannot all support1 for long1 so hard a life2 in a brief time they will all have disappeared4 ,an unfortunate race1 the ,polish peasants1 have learned to understand the intelligence of the dumb exile which has taken refuge in the lakes of ,lithuania4 ,the ,poles say--,woe to him who makes the ,beaver weep4 ,that artist-animal has become a timid beast1 which knows nothing and can do nothing4 ,the few that still survive in ,america1 still retire farther and farther from the vicinage of man4 ,a traveller lately found one1 far1 very far off1 beyond the great lakes4 ,it was timidly resuming its traditional labors1 and had commenced building a house for its family4 ,when it saw a man1 it dropped the wood on which it was working2 it did not even dare to escape1 but burst into tears4 ,,book ,,third4 ,,conquest ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,harpoon4 ,the ,sailor who sights ,greenland1 says ,captain ,john ,ross1 with a grave simplicity1 finds nothing to delight him with the sight4 ,i can very well believe it4 ,in the first place1 it is an iron-bound coast of most pitiless aspect1 whose dark granite does not even preserve a vestment of snow4 ,everywhere else1 ,ice2 not a trace of vegetation4 ,that desolate land which hides the ,pole from us1 seems a veritable land of ,famine and of ,death4 ,during the brief time when the water remains unfrozen1 one might contrive to live there2 but the place is frozen up for nine months in the year1 and during all that time1 what is to be done8 ,and what can one get to eat8 ,one can scarcely even search for food4 ,the night lasts for months together1 and at times the darkness is so dense that ,kane1 surrounded by his dogs1 could only discover them by the humid warmth of their breath4 ,in that long1 long1 darkness1 on that sterile land1 clothed in impenetrable ice1 there wander1 however1 two ,hermits1 who persist in living in that land of horror4 ,one of these is the fishing ,bear1 a bold and eager prowler1 in rich fur1 and in so thick an under vestment of fat1 that he can for a long time defy both cold and hunger4 ,the other1 a grotesque creature1 looks1 when seen from a distance1 like a fish reared upwards1 standing on the tip of its tail2 a fish clumsily and awkwardly built1 and having long hanging fins4 ,but this seeming fish is a man4 ,each scents the other1 the brute and the man2 both are fierce with hunger1 yet the ,bear sometimes declines the combat1 and retreats before the fiercer1 and still more famished1 man4 ,a famishing man is very terrible in his cruel courage4 ,with no other weapon than a sharpened bone1 our ,greenlander pursues the enormous ,bear4 ,but he would have long since perished of famine1 had he no other food than his terrible compatriot4 ,he saved himself from death only by a crime4 ,the earth affording nothing1 he turned his attention to the ,sea1 and as it was closed by the ice1 he found nothing there to kill except his gentle acquaintance the ,seal4 ,in him he found the oil without which he would be dead of cold1 even sooner than of hunger4 ,the day dream of the ,greenlander is that at his death he will pass to the ,moon1 where he will have wood1 fire1 the light of the hearth4 ,here below1 in ,greenland1 oil supplies the place of all these4 ,he drinks it1 in huge draughts1 and is at once warmed and nourished4 ,a great contrast between that man and the somnolent1 amphibious creatures1 that1 even in that climate1 can live without any very severe suffering6 ,the gentle eye of the ,seal1 sufficiently indicates that4 ,nursling of the ,sea he is always1 in connection with her1 and there are always clefts in the ice1 at which the excellent swimmer knows how to provide himself with food4 ,heavy and clumsy as we may take him to be1 he can adroitly mount on a piece of ice and steer himself in search of a convenient fishing place4 ,the water1 thick with molluscs1 and fat with animated atoms1 richly nourishes the fish1 for the use of the ,seal1 who1 having well filled himself1 returns to his rock1 and sleeps too soundly to feel the cold1 or to fear anything4 ,the man's life in ,greenland1 is the very contrary of this4 ,he seems to be there in spite of ,nature1 an accursed being1 upon whom everything makes pitiless war4 ,looking upon the photographs that we have of the ,esquimaux1 we can read their terrible destiny in the fixity of their gaze1 and in the harsh1 dark eye2 black as midnight4 ,they look as though petrified by perpetually seeing before them the vision of an infinite wretchedness4 ,that gazing upon eternal terror1 has hidden beneath a mask of iron the man's strong intelligence1 which1 however1 is rapid and full of the expedients suggested by the endless dangers and sufferings of such a life4 ,what was he to do4 ,his family was famishing1 his children cried for bread1 and his wife shivered upon the snow4 ,the ,north wind1 pitilessly assailed them all with mingled hail and snow1 that horrid pelting which blinds1 stupefies1 deprives one of sense and voice4 ,the ,sea was frozen up2 so1 fish was out of the question4 ,but the ,seal was there1 and how many fish there were in one ,seal2 what an accumulation of the richest oil6 ,the ,seal was there1 defenceless1 sleeping4 ,nay1 had he even been awake1 he would not have tried to escape4 ,he is like the ,sea ,cow2 you must beat him if you wish to drive him away4 ,take one of their young and it is in vain that you throw him into the ,sea1 he will get out and still follow you1 gentle and attached as your favorite dog4 ,this facile1 this affectionate1 trait in the creature's character1 must have terribly troubled the man who first thought of killing such a creature2 must have made him hesitate and resist the temptation4 ,but at length cold and famine got the upper hand1 and he committed the assassination2 from that moment he was rich4 ,the flesh nourished the famishing people1 the oil served to warm and cheer them1 and the bone and sinews served for many domestic uses1 while the skin served to clothe them4 ,and what was still more useful was1 that by industriously sowing the skins together they made a vehicle1 at once light1 and strong1 and water proof1 which the man called his canoe1 and in which he dared to put out to sea4 ,a miserable little vehicle it was2 long1 slender1 and weighing scarcely anything4 ,but it was every where very firmly closed up1 except an opening in which the rower seated himself1 drawing the skin tightly around his waist4 ,one would suppose that such a craft must upset and be swamped2 but nothing of the sort occurs4 ,it darts like an arrow over the crest of the wave1 disappears1 reappears1 now in the eddies1 now between the icebergs4 ,man and boat are one2 a marine entity2 an artificial fish4 ,but how inferior is this artificial fish to the true one6 ,he has not the floating bladder1 which enables the fish to make itself lighter or heavier as the occasion may demand4 ,still more1 the man has not the vigorous motion1 the lively contraction and expansion of the spine to communicate such power to the strokes of the tail1 nor has he the oil which1 being so much lighter than water1 will always ride above the waves4 ,what the man best imitates is the fin1 but even that only imperfectly4 ,the man's fins1 his oars1 are not attached to his body1 but1 moved by his long arms1 are weak compared to the fin1 and1 moreover1 soon fatigue the rower4 ,what is it that makes amends for so much of inferiority in the means of the man8 ,his terrible energy1 his vivid reason which1 from beneath that fixed and melancholy countenance1 flashes out from time to time1 invents1 resolves1 and finds an instant remedy for all the deficiences which1 in this floating skin1 momentarily threaten him with death4 ,frequently our rower is stopped by a mass of ice which peremptorily refuses him a passage4 ,then comes a new expedient1 the parts are changed on the instant4 ,hitherto the canoe has carried the man2 now the man carries the canoe4 ,he takes it on his shoulder and traverses the icy portage till he comes again to open water1 the ice crackling beneath him as he crosses it4 ,occasionally icebergs1 floating1 and terrible mountains1 are so close that they leave between them only a narrow passage which our man passes through at the risk of being in an instant crushed1 flattened between them4 ,those icy walls now widen1 now contract1 the space between them2 they may1 at any moment1 come together with a force that would crush a seventy-four1 to say nothing about our poor ,greenlander in his poor skin canoe4 ,such a fate did1 in fact1 once occur to a tall ship2 she was cut in two1 flattened1 crushed2 by the coming together of two icebergs4 ,these ,greenlanders tell us that their ancestors were ,whale fishers4 ,they were less wretched then1 more ingenious1 and better provided4 ,no doubt they had iron2 procured probably from ,norway or ,iceland4 ,whales have always been very numerous in the ,greenland seas4 ,a grand object of desire to those to whom oil is a thing of the very first necessity6 ,the fish give it by drops1 the ,seal in waves--the ,whale in mountains6 ,he was truly a man1 and a bold one1 who first1 with his poor weapons1 with the sea howling at his feet1 and the darkness closing around him1 dared to pursue the ,whale6 ,a bold man1 he1 who trusting to his courage1 the strength of his arm and the weight of his harpoon1 first believed that he could pierce that mighty mass of blubber and flesh and convert it to his own profit6--the man who first imagined that he could attack the ,whale and not perish in the tempest that would be raised by the plunges and terrific tail-blows of the astonished and suffering monster6 ,and1 as if to crown his audacity1 the man next fastened a line to his harpoon1 and braving still more closely the frightful shock of the agonized and dying giant1 never once feared that that giant might plunge headlong into the deep1 taking with him harpoon1 line1 boat1--and man6 ,there is still another danger1 and no less terrible4 ,it is that instead of meeting the common ,whale1 our man should fall in with the ,cachalot1 that terror of the seas4 ,he is not very large1 perhaps not more than from sixty to eighty feet4 ,but his head alone measures about a third2 from twenty to twenty-five feet4 ,in case of such a meeting1 woe to the fisher2 he would become the chased instead of the chaser1 the victim instead of the tyrant4 ,the ,cachalot has horrible jaws1 and no fewer than forty-eight enormous teeth2 he could with ease devour all2 both boat and man4 ,and he seems always drunk with blood4 ,his blind rage so terrifies all the other ,whales that they escape1 bellowing1 throwing themselves on the shore1 or striving to hide themselves in the sand4 ,even when he is dead they still fear him and will not approach his carcass4 ,the fiercest species of the ,cachalot is the ,ourque or ,physetene of the ancients1 which is so much dreaded by the ,icelanders1 that when they are on the sea they will not so much as name him lest he should come and attack them4 ,they believe1 on the other hand1 that a species of ,whale1 the ,jubarte1 loves and protects them1 and provokes the monster in order to save them from his fury4 ,many think that the first who undertook so perilous a task as that of ,whale fishing must have been eccentric hot heads4 ,according to those who think so1 that perilous chase could never have originated with the prudent men of the ,north1 but must have been initiated by the ,basques1 those daring hunters and fishers who were so well accustomed to their own capricious sea1 the ,gulf of ,gascony1 where they fished the ,tunny4 ,here they first saw the huge ,whales at play and pursued them1 frenzied by the hope of such enormous prey1 and pursued them still1 onward and onward1 no matter whither2 even to the confines of the pole4 ,here the poor ,colossus fancied it must needs be safe1 for it could not fancy any one would be desperate enough to follow it thither1 and so it went tranquilly to sleep4 ,but our ,basque mad-caps approached it stealthily and silently4 ,tightening his red belt around his waist1 the boldest and most active of the ,basque sailors leaped from the deck right on to the back of the sleeping monster1 and1 fearlessly or carelessly1 drove the harpoon home to the very eye4 ,poor ,whale6 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,discovery ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,oceans4 ,who opened up to men the great distant navigation8 ,who revealed the ,ocean1 and marked out its zones and its liquid highways8 ,who discovered the secrets of the ,globe8 ,the ,whale and the ,whaler6 ,and all this before ,columbus and the famous gold seekers1 who have monopolized all the glory1 found again1 with much outcry about their discovery1 what had so long before been discovered by the ,whalers4 ,that crossing of the ,ocean which was so boastfully celebrated in the fifteenth century1 had often been made1 not only by the narrow passage between ,iceland and ,greenland1 but also by the open sea2 for the ,basques went to ,newfoundland4 ,the smallest danger was the mere voyage1 for these men1 who went to the very end of the then world1 to challenge the ,whale to single combat4 ,to steer right away into the ,northern seas1 to attack the mighty monster1 amid darkness and storms1 with the dense fog all around and the foaming waves below1 those who could do this1 were1 believe it well1 not the men to shrink from the ordinary dangers of the voyage4 ,noble warfare2 great school of courage6 ,that ,fishery was not then1 as it is now1 an easy war to wage1 made from a distance1 and with a potently murderous machine4 ,no2 the fisher then struck with his own strong hand1 impelled and guided by his own fearless heart2 and he risked life to take life4 ,the men of that day killed but few ,whales1 but they gained infinitely in maritime ability1 in patience1 in sagacity1 and in intrepidity4 ,they brought back less of oil2 but more1 far more1 of glory4 ,every nation has its own peculiar genius4 ,we recognize each by its own style of procedure4 ,there are a hundred forms of courage1 and these graduated varieties1 formed1 as it were1 another heroic game4 ,at the ,north1 the ,scandinavian1 the ruddy race from ,norway to ,flanders1 had their sanguine fury4 ,at the ,south1 the wild burst1 the gay daring1 the clear-headed excitement1 that impelled1 at once1 and guided them over the world4 ,in the center1 the silent and patient firmness of the ,breton1 who1 yet1 in the hour of danger could display a quite sublime eccentricity4 ,and lastly1 the ,norman wariness1 considerately courageous2 daring all1 but daring all for success4 ,such was the beauty of man1 in that sovereign manifestation of human courage4 ,we owe a vast deal to the ,whale4 ,but for it1 the fishers would still have hugged the shore2 for almost every edible fish1 seeks the shore1 and the river4 ,it was it that emancipated them1 and led them afar4 ,it led them onward1 and onward still1 until they found it1 after having almost unconsciously1 passed from one world to the other4 ,greenland did not seduce them1 it was not the land that they sought1 but the sea1 and the tracks of the ,whale4 ,the ,ocean at large is its home1 and especially the broad and open ,sea4 ,each species has its especial preference for this or that latitude1 for a certain zone of water2 more or less cold4 ,and it was that preference which traced out the great divisions of the ,atlantic4 ,the tribe of inferior ,whales1 that have a dorsal fin1 7,baleinopteres7 are to be found in the warmest1 and in the coldest seas2 under the line1 and in the polar seas4 ,in the great intermediate region1 the fierce ,cachalot inclines towards the ,south1 devastating the warm waters4 ,on the contrary1 the ,free ,whale fears the warm waters2 we should rather say that they did1 formerly1 fear them2--they have become so scarce6 ,especially affecting1 for their food1 the molluscs1 and other forms of elementary life1 they sought them in the temperate waters1 a little to the northward4 ,they are never found in the warm1 southern current2 it was that fact that led to the current being noticed1 and thence to the discovery of the true course from ,america to ,europe4 ,from ,europe to ,america1 the trade winds will serve us4 ,if the ,free ,whale has a perfect horror of the warm waters1 and cannot pass the ,equator1 it is clear that he cannot double the southern end of ,america4 ,how happens it1 then1 that when he is wounded on one side of ,america1 in the ,atlantic1 he is sometimes found on the other side of ,america1 and in the ,pacific8 ,it proves that there is a north-western passage4 ,another discovery which we owe to the ,whale1 and one which throws a broad light alike on the form of the globe1 and the geography of the seas6 ,by degrees1 the ,whale has led us everywhere4 ,rare as he is at present1 he has led us to both poles1 from the uttermost recesses of the ,pacific to ,behring's strait1 and the infinite wastes of the ,antarctic waters4 ,there is even an enormous region that no vessel1 whether war ship or merchantman1 ever traverses1 at a few degrees beyond the southern points of ,america and ,africa4 ,no one visits that region but the ,whalers4 ,had they chosen1 the magnates of the earth might much earlier have made the discoveries of the fifteenth century4 ,they should have addressed themselves to the sea rovers1 to the ,basques1 to the ,icelanders1 to the ,norwegians1 and to our ,normans4 ,for very many reasons1 they could not venture to do so4 ,the ,portuguese were unwilling to employ any but men of their own nationality1 and formed in their own school4 ,they feared our ,normans1 whom they chased and dispossessed from the coast of ,africa4 ,on the other hand1 the kings of ,castile always felt suspicious of their subjects1 the ,basques1 whose privileges rendered them a kind of republic within a monarchy1 and who1 moreover1 were well known to be both bold and dangerous4 ,it was this feeling which caused these princes to fail1 in more than one enterprise4 ,we need mention only one of them1 the miserably ruined ,armada1 so proudly and absurdly called the ,invincible4 ,philip ,,ii1 who had two veteran ,basque ,admirals1 gave the command of the ,armada1 to a ,castilian4 ,the advice of the veterans was neglected1 and thence the disaster4 ,a terrible disease broke out in the fifteenth century4 ,the hunger1 the thirst1 the raging thirst for gold4 ,kings1 priests1 warriors1 people1 all cried aloud for gold4 ,there was no longer any means of balancing income and expenditure4 ,false money1 cruel persecutions1 atrocious wars1 all and every thing1 were employed1 but still the cry was for gold1 and the gold was not forthcoming4 ,the alchemists confidently promised that they would soon make it2 but it was to be waited for1 that gold2 still1 still1 it was not forthcoming4 ,the treasury became furious as a hungry ,lion1 devoured the ,jews1 devoured the ,moors1 and of all that mighty devouring there was not a morsel left between the teeth of the still gold-hungry nations4 ,the peoples were quite as eager as the kings4 ,lean and sucked to the very bone1 they begged1 they prayed1 they implored1 for a miracle that would bring down gold from ,heaven4 ,we all know the story of ,sinbad the ,sailor1 that capital story in the ,arabian ,nights4 ,the poor porter1 ,hindbad1 bending under a load of wood1 stops before the doors of ,sinbad's palace1 to listen to the music1 and bitterly complains of the contrast between the lot of the poor porter ,hindbad1 and that of ,sinbad1 the returned1 renowned1 and magnificently rich ,sinbad4 ,but when the enriched sailor related all the perils he had undergone1 and all the sufferings he had endured1 ,hindbad stood aghast at the tale4 ,the entire effect of the story is to exaggerate the dangers of the great game1 the vast lottery of travelling1 but also to exaggerate the profits that may be made by it1 and to discourage steady and humble industry4 ,the legend1 which1 in the fifteenth century1 influenced so many hearts1 and turned so many brains1 was a rehash of the fable of the ,hesperides1 an ,eldorado1 a land of gold1 which was located in the ,indies2 a terrestrial paradise1 still existing here below4 ,the only difficulty consisted in finding that same golden land4 ,they did not care to seek it in the ,north1 which was the reason why so little use was made of the discovery of ,newfoundland and ,greenland4 ,in the ,south1 on the contrary1 gold dust had already been found in ,africa4 ,that was encouraging4 ,the learned dreamers of a pedantic century heaped up texts and commentaries1 and the discovery1 by no means difficult in itself1 was rendered so1 by dint of lectures1 reflections1 and utopian dreams4 ,was this land of gold1 ,paradise1 or was it not8 ,was it at our antipodes8 and1 in fact1 have we any antipodes8 ,and at this last question all the ,doctors1 all the men of the black robe1 stopped the learned quite short1 and reminded them that upon that point1 the ,church was quite positive2 the heretical doctrine of the ,antipodes having been formally and expressly condemned4 ,behold a serious difficulty6 ,our learned dreamers were stopped short4 ,but why was it so difficult to discover the already discovered ,america8 ,the reason seems to be that the discovery was at once hoped for and dreaded4 ,the learned ,italian bookseller1 ,columbus1 felt quite satisfied upon the subject4 ,he had been in ,iceland to collect traditions1 and on the other hand the ,basques told him all that they knew about ,newfoundland4 ,a ,gallician had been cast away there and had lived there4 ,columbus selected for his associates the ,pinons1 ,andalusian pilots1 who are with much probability supposed to be identical with the ,pinons of ,dieppe4 ,we say that this is very probable because our ,basques and ,normans1 subjects of ,castile1 were intimately connected4 ,they are the same who1 under the name of ,castilians1 were led by the ,norman ,bethencourt to the famous expedition of the ,canaries4 ,our kings conferred privileges on the ,castilians settled at ,honfleur and ,dieppe2 and1 on the other hand1 the men of ,dieppe had trading establishments at ,seville4 ,it is not certain that a ,dieppois found ,america four years before ,columbus1 but it is about certain that these ,pinons of ,andalusia were ,norman privateers4 ,neither ,basques nor ,normans could obtain authority to act under the commission of ,castile4 ,it was an able and eloquent ,italian1 a persistent ,genoese1 who seized upon the fitting moment1 and used it1 and set all scruple aside1--that moment when the ruin of the ,moors had cost so dear to ,castile1 and when the cry of ,gold1 ,gold1 or we perish1 became louder1 more piteous1 and more unanimous1 than ever4 ,that moment was when victorious ,spain shuddered as she counted the cost1 paid and unpaid1 of her wars of the crusade and the ,inquisition4 ,the ,italian seized upon that lever and used it most unscrupulously2 becoming most devout among the devout4 ,more apparently bigoted than the ,bigots themselves1 he pressed the very ,church into his service4 ,isabella was reminded of the great sin and scandal of leaving whole nations of ,pagans still in the valley of the shadow of death2 and it was particularly pressed upon her observation1 that to discover the golden land1 was the one thing needful to acquiring the ability to exterminate the ,turk and to recover ,jerusalem4 ,it is well known that of three ships the ,pinons shipped two1 and commanded them1 and they led the way4 ,one of them1 indeed1 mistook his course1 but the others1 ,francis ,pinon and his younger brother ,vincent1 pilot of the vessel ,nina1 signalled to ,columbus1 on the #abth of ,october1 #adib1 to steer to the south-west4 ,columbus1 who was on a westerly course1 would have encountered the gulf stream in its fullest force1 and directly thwart hawse1 and he would have crossed that liquid wall only with the greatest difficulty4 ,he would have perished1 or would have made such little way that his discouraged crew would have mutinied4 ,on the contrary1 the ,pinons1 who probably had collected some traditions on the subject1 steered as though they were well acquainted with the current2 they did not attempt to cross it in its force1 but keeping well to the southward1 crossed without difficulty and made the exact spot where the trades blow directly from ,africa to ,america in the latitude of ,haiti4 ,this is proved from the journal of ,columbus himself1 who candidly avows that he was guided by the ,pinons4 ,who first saw ,america8 ,one of ,pinon's sailors1 if we may put any confidence in the report of the royal enquiry of #aeac4 ,from all this it would seem pretty plain that a good share of both the glory and the gain ought to have been awarded to the ,pinons4 ,they thought the same1 and commenced legal proceedings1 but the king decided in favor of ,columbus4 ,why8 ,apparently because the ,pinons were ,normans1 and ,spain preferred to recognize the right of a ,genoese1 without national feeling1 than that of ,french subjects of ,louis ,,xii1 and of ,francis ,i1 to whom1 as ,french subjects1 they might some day1 from fear or favor1 transfer their rights4 ,one of the ,pinons died of despair1 caused by this very manifestly unjust decision4 ,but still1 who had overcome the great obstacle of religious repugnance8 ,whose eloquence1 tact1 and perseverance1 in fact set the expedition fairly afloat8 ,columbus1 and ,columbus alone4 ,he was the real author of the enterprise and he was also its heroic conductor1 and he merits the glory which his posterity preserves and ever will preserve for him4 ,i think with ,m4 ,jules de ,blosseville 7a noble heart and a good judge of great and heroic things7 that in all these discoveries the only real difficulty was the circumnavigation of the globe1 the enterprise of ,magellan and his pilot1 the ,basque1 ,sebastian del ,cano4 ,the most brilliant1 but at the same time the easiest1 was the crossing the ,atlantic1 catching the trade wind1 and thus getting to ,america far south of the point at which it had long before been discovered at the ,north4 ,the ,portuguese did a far less extraordinary thing in taking an entire century to discover the ,western coast of ,africa4 ,our ,normans1 in a very brief space had discovered the half of it4 ,in spite of all that is said about the laudable perseverance of ,prince ,henry1 in establishing the ,lisbon school1 the ,venetian ,cadamosto clearly proves the want of ability of the ,portuguese pilots4 ,they no sooner had one at once bold and highly gifted1 in the person of ,bartholomew ,diaz1 who doubled the ,cape1 than they replaced him by ,gama1 a noble of the king's household1 and1 above all1 a soldier4 ,the truth is1 that the ,portuguese cared more about conquests to make1 and treasure to gain1 than about discoveries1 properly so called4 ,gama was brave as brave could be1 but he was only too faithful to his orders to suffer no other flag in the same seas4 ,a ship load of ,pilgrims from ,mecca1 whom he barbarously murdered1 exasperated all the hates1 and augmented1 throughout the ,east1 that horror of the very name of ,christian1 which more and more closed ,asia1 alike against discoverers1 for the sake of discovery1 and adventurers for the sake of plunder4 ,is it true that ,magellan1 before his great enterprise1 had seen the ,pacific laid down upon a globe by the ,german1 ,behaim8 ,no2 that globe has never been produced4 ,had he seen1 in the possession of his master1 the king of ,portugal1 a chart which had it so laid down8 ,it has been said1 but never proved4 ,it is far more probable that some of the adventurers who1 already1 for twenty years1 had been traversing the ,american continent1 had seen the ,pacific1 not on globes or charts1 but with their own eyes4 ,that report1 which was circulated1 spread admirably well with the theoretical calculation of such a counterpoise1 necessary to our hemisphere1 and to the equilibrium of the globe4 ,there is not a more terrible biography than that of ,magellan4 ,throughout1 we have nothing but combat1 far voyages1 flights1 trials1 attempted assassination1 and at length1 death1 among the scourges4 ,he fought in ,africa1 he fought in the ,indies1 and he married among the brave but ferocious ,malays2--whom1 by the way1 he seems not a little to have resembled4 ,during his long residence in ,asia1 he collected all possible information1 preparatory to his great expedition1 to find the way by ,america1 to the ,spice ,islands1 the ,moluccas2 thus getting spices so much cheaper than by the old course4 ,his original idea of the enterprise1 was1 thus1 an altogether commercial one4 ,to lower the price of pepper1 was the primitive inspiration of the most heroic voyage ever made on this globe6 ,the true court spirit of intrigue1 reigned in ,portugal in full power over everything4 ,magellan finding himself ill treated there1 went over to ,spain1 where ,charles ,v4 magnificently furnished him with five ships1 but not choosing to put full confidence in a ,portuguese malcontent1 the king associated with ,magellan a ,castilian4 ,magellan sailed between two dangers1 the jealousy of the ,castilian1 and the vengeance of the ,portuguese1 who sought to assassinate him4 ,he soon had a mutiny in the fleet1 and displayed1 in crushing it an indomitable heroism1 and no less barbarity4 ,the mutineers he savagely put to death1 and his ,castilian colleague he put into irons4 ,to increase his troubles1 some of his vessels were wrecked4 ,his people were unwilling to proceed with him1 when they saw the desolate aspect of ,cape ,horn1 the truly discouraging aspect of ,terra-del-,fuego1 and ,cape ,forward4 ,the islands1 which form1 under the name of ,cape ,horn1 the southern point of ,america1 seem to have been violently rent from the continent by the fury of many volcanoes1 and suddenly cooled4 ,as the result1 they present a frightfully heterogeneous mass of sharp peaks1 huge blocks of granite1 of lava1 and of basalt1 all these1 grotesquely1 yet frightfully1 arranged1 in frowning confusion1 and clothed in ice and snow4 ,all had quite enough of this at a single glance1 and bold ,magellan's word was--,onward6 ,he filled away his sails1 steered now to starboard1 now to larboard1 then to starboard again1 and at length found himself in that boundless sea which was then so ,pacific that it then received the name which it has ever since borne2 though all who have sailed upon it1 well know that at times1 it can comport itself in an anything rather than pacific style4 ,magellan at length perished in the ,philippines4 ,four vessels were lost4 ,the only one which survived1 was the ,victory1 whose crew was reduced to thirteen men4 ,but among them was the great and intrepid ,pilot1 the ,basque1 ,sebastian1 who1 in #aeba1 returned to ,spain1 the first of mortal men who had been completely round the globe4 ,nothing could be grander4 ,the sphericity of the globe was thus made matter of certainty4 ,that physical marvel of water uniformly extended over a globe1 and constantly adhering to it1 that strange mechanical postulate1 was fully demonstrated4 ,the ,pacific was at length known1 that grand1 and till then mysterious laboratory1 in which1 far from our ken1 ,nature so profoundly labors in life-creating and life-nurturing1 making new rocks1 new islands1 new continents4 ,a revelation1 that1 of immense significance2 and not only of material1 but also of moral significance1 which gave a hundred fold increase to man's daring1 and sent him forth on another daring voyage1 on the boundless ,ocean of the ,sciences1 to circumnavigate1--with more or less of success1 as it may chance1--the ,,infinite6 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,storms4 ,it is but yesterday1 as it were1 that we have built ships fit for southern navigation2 for navigation in those seas where the long1 strong1 rollers1 pile themselves1 each upon each1 into absolutely mountainous masses of storm-lashed waves4 ,what1 then1 shall we say of the early navigators who ventured into such seas with their clumsy leewards1 heavy1 and yet scarcely sea-worthy cock-boats8 ,especially for the polar seas1 whether arctic or antarctic1 we need ships expressly built for such rude service4 ,they were bold men1 those who1 like a ,cabot1 a ,brentz1 a ,willoughby1 ventured in their clumsy1 ill-found1 badly rigged1 and scarcely sea-worthy tubs to navigate the icy seas2 to dare ,spitzbergen1 to make ,greenland by that funereal cape ,farewell1 and to coast the thousand giant icebergs in sight of which1 men in our own day1 a hundred ,whalers have gone to pieces4 ,what chiefly rendered those ancient heroes so sublime was their very ignorance1 their blind courage1 their desperate resolution4 ,they knew but little of the sea1 and of the ,heavens they knew still less2 the compass1 their only instructor and their only reliance1 they dared the most alarming phenomena without being able even to guess at their causes4 ,they had none of our instruments which speak to us so plainly and so unmistakably4 ,they went blindfolded towards1 and fearlessly into1 the uttermost darkness4 ,they1 themselves1 confess that they feared1 but also1 they would not yield4 ,the sea's tempests1 the air's whirlwinds and water spouts1 the tragic dialogues of those two ,oceans1 of air and water1 the striking1 and1 not so long since1 ominous phenomena of the ,aurora ,borealis1 all this strange and wild phantasmagoria seemed to them the fury of irritated ,nature1 a veritable strife of ,demons against which man could dare all--as they did--but could do what they also did--nothing4 ,during three centuries but little progress was made4 ,read ,cook1 read ,peron1 and you will readily comprehend how difficult1 uncertain1 and perilous was navigation1 even up to an hour so near our own4 ,cook1 that man of immense courage1 but also1 of most lively imagination1 himself confesses1 as his ,journal testifies1 that he knew how uncertain and perilous was the profession of the seaman even so lately as his day4 ,in his ,journal1 we read2 ,the dangers are so great1 that ,i venture to say1 that no one will dare to go farther than ,i have gone4 ,now it is precisely since then that voyages have become1 at once1 more distant1 more regular1 and less dangerous4 ,a great age1 a ,titanic age1 the #aith century1 has coolly1 intelligently1 and sternly noted all those phenomena which the old navigators braved1 but did not examine4 ,in this century it is that we1 for the first time1 have dared to look the ,tempest squarely1 and fearlessly1 and scrutinizingly1 in the eyes4 ,its premonitory symptoms1 its characteristics1 its results2--each and all have been calmly watched1 and carefully and systematically registered2 and1 then1 from that registration1 necessarily come explanation and generalization1 and thence1 the grand1 bold--and1 as our not very distant ancestors would have said1 impious system--the ,law of ,storms4 ,so6 ,what we took1 what we in the old1 bold1 but blind day1 took for matter of caprice1 is really1 after all1 reducible to a system1 obedient to a ,law6 ,so6 then1 those terrible facts1 that made the brain swim1 the boldest quail1 because they fought shadows and walked in the darkness1 so6 then1 those terrible facts have a certain regularity of recurrence1 and the seaman1 resolute and strong1 calmly considers whether he cannot oppose to those regular attacks a defence no less regular4 ,in brief1 if the ,tempest has its science1 can we not create and use an art8 ,an art not merely to survive the ,tempest but even to make it useful8 ,but our science and our art cannot be called into life and activity until we shall have laid aside our old and ill founded notion that ,tempests are caused by the caprice of the winds4 ,attentive observation has taught us that the winds are not capricious1 that they are the accident1 sometimes1 also1 the agent of the ,tempest1 but that1 generally speaking1 the ,tempest is an electrical phenomenon1 and often occurs in the absence of gales4 ,romme 7brother of the ,conventionalist1 principal author of the ,calendar7 laid the foundations of our very important science4 ,english seamen had remarked that in the tempests in the ,indian ,seas1 they sailed for days together1 and yet made no headway4 ,romme collected and systematized all their observations1 and pointed out the important fact that the same occurred in the tempests of ,china1 ,africa1 and the ,antilles4 ,he also first pointed out that rectilinear winds are of rare occurrence1 and that1 usually1 tempests have a circular character1--are1 literally1 a whirl wind4 ,the great whirling tempests of the ,united ,states in #ahae1 and that of #ahba 7the year of the great eruption of ,hecla7 when the winds blew from all points to a common centre1 aroused philosophical attention1 both in ,america and ,europe4 ,brande1 in ,germany1 and at the same time1 ,redfield in ,new ,york1 were the next after ,romme in profiting by these facts to lay down the law that1 generally1 the tempest is a ,whirl-wind1 advancing1 and at the same time revolving on its own base4 ,in #ahch1 the ,english engineer1 ,reid1 being sent to ,barbadoes after the too celebrated tempest which killed fifteen hundred people1 ascertained1 with mathematical precision1 this double movement of advance and rotation4 ,but his still more important discovery was that in our northern hemisphere the tempest turns from right to left1 that is to say from ,east to ,north1 and round the compass1 back to ,east2 while in southern tempests it turns from left to right4 ,a most important fact to regulate the seaman's course4 ,reid very rightfully gave his book the bold title of--,on the ,law of ,storms4 ,but it was the law of their ,motion1 not the explanation of their cause2 it told nothing1 either1 of what ,storms do1 or of what they are4 ,here ,france came to the rescue4 ,in #ahdj1 ,peltier published his ,causes of ,whirlwinds1 and his ingenious and numerous experiments established the fact that whirlwinds1 whether at sea or on shore1 were electrical phenomena1 in which the winds play only a secondary part4 ,beccaria1 a full century earlier1 had suspected that fact1 but it was reserved for ,peltier to establish the fact1 by making miniature storms4 ,electrical whirlwinds readily take their rise in the neighborhood of volcanoes1--those ventilating pipes of the subterranean world1 and therefore they are more common in the subterranean world1 than in ours4 ,the ,atlantic1 open at both ends1 and swept in all directions by the winds1 should necessarily1 have more rectilinear1 and fewer circular tempests2 but ,piddington quotes a great number of the latter4 ,from #ahdj to #ahej1 the immense compilations of ,piddington and ,maury were made1 at ,calcutta and ,new ,york4 ,maury is rendered illustrious for his charts1 his ,directions1 and his ,geography of the ,sea4 ,piddington1 less artistical1 but not less learned1 in his ,seaman's ,guide1 that ,encyclopedia of storms1 gives the results of an infinite experience1 the minutest and most precise means of calculating the distance of the whirlwind1 its rate of speed1 and the nature of its various waves4 ,he confirmed the ideas of ,peltier1 as to the electric theory1 and showed that those who had dwelt on the caprice of the whirlwind1 had1 in truth1 completely mistaken the effect for the cause4 ,the old art of auguries1 and science of presages1 never contemptible1 was most happily revived by that excellent book4 ,the setting of the ,sun1 is by no means an indifferent augury4 ,if he set red1 and if the sea retain the reflection of his blood-red rays1 rely upon it1 a storm is brewing1 in that other ,ocean--the air2 if around him you see a lurid red within a white circle1 and the stars are flickering1 and seeming to fall1 be sure that the upper regions of the atmosphere are threatening4 ,still worse1 it is1 if1 upon a dirty sky1 you see small clouds marshalling1 like so many purple arrows1 flying from all quarters to one common point1 and if1 at the same time1 the larger masses assume the shape of strange buildings1 ruined bridges1 broken rainbows1 and a hundred other eccentricities2 then rely upon it1 the storm has already commenced in the upper region4 ,at present1 all is calm1 here below1 but1 on the horizon1 you may discern the faintly flashing1 and silent lightnings4 ,listen attentively1 and1 from time to time1 you shall hear the low mutterings of the distant thunder2 and the waves1 as they break upon the beach1 seem to sob4 ,look out6 ,the sea tells you1 plaintively1 of the coming storm4 ,what are those wild waves saying8 ,they are warning you1 ,i repeat1 of the coming storm4 ,the wild1 free birds have already taken warning1 and hasten to their secure shelter in the clefts of the rocks4 ,if they are far from land when they see1 and feel1 and hear1 the first threatenings of the rising storm1 they settle down upon your masts1 and yards1 and shrouds4 ,and first among them comes that bird of evil omen1 the ,mother ,carey's ,chicken1 the ,stormy ,petrel4 ,look out1 my brothers2 ,i assure you the tempest approaches4 ,does it thunder8 ,be very glad of that1 brother seaman2 the electric discharge is taking place far above us1 and we shall have the less of the tempest4 ,it is an old popular observation1 but confirmed by the science of ,peltier and by the experience of ,piddington and others4 ,if the electricity1 accumulated on high1 discharges itself here below1 it will create circular currents1 and we shall have whirlwind1 fierce tempest1 and1 probably water spout4 ,this last sort of storm not uncommonly attacks you when you are seemingly quite safe in harbor4 ,in #afih1 ,captain ,langford1 in port and well anchored1 saw that he was about to be thus assailed1 slipped his cable1 and found safety on the open sea4 ,other craft1 whose commanders had less freight or less daring1 remained at anchor and were destroyed4 ,at ,madras and at ,barbadoes1 warning signals are given to the ships at anchor4 ,in ,canada1 the electric ,telegraph1 swifter than ,nature's own electricity1 sends warning of the coming storm from port to port4 ,to the sailor when on the broad ,ocean1 the great friend and adviser is the ,barometer2 its perfect sensitiveness gives you the most exact information of the weight with which the storm-laden atmosphere oppresses it4 ,usually1 it tells you of nothing but fine weather2 it almost seems to sleep4 ,but at the first and most distant note of the rising storm1 it suddenly awakens1 is agitated1 and its mercury descends1 ascends1 redescends4 ,the barometer has its own tempest4 ,peron when at the ,mauritius observed that flashes of pale light escaped from the mercury1 and filled the whole tube4 ,during gales1 the sensitive instrument seems actually to breathe4 ,in its fluctuations1 say ,daniel and ,barlow1 the water barometer breathed1 blew1 like some wild animal4 ,but the ,tempest advances and occasionally illuminates the horizon all around with its electric lightnings4 ,in #aggb1 during the great storm in the ,west ,indies1 when the sea rose seventy feet above ordinary high water mark1 the dense darkness of the night was dissipated by balls of lurid fires that lighted up every shore4 ,the approach of the storm may be more or less rapid4 ,in the ,indian ,ocean1 thickly studded with islands and obstacles1 the whirlwind and the water-spout approach you only at the rate of some two miles an hour2 while when they come along the course of the warm current1 that comes to us from the ,antilles1 they travel at the rate of from forty to fifty4 ,their speed would1 in fact1 be incalculably great but for their oscillation1 beaten as they are by the winds1 both internally and externally4 ,slow or rapid1 the fury of the tempest is the same4 ,in #aghi1 in a single instant and with a single rush1 the tempest dashed to pieces every vessel in the port of ,ceringa2 at a second rush the town was flooded2 at the third it was in ruins1 and twenty thousand of its inhabitants were dead4 ,in #ahbb1 off ,bengal1 a water spout was for twenty-four hours sucking up air and water1 and1 when it burst1 fifty thousand people perished4 ,in different localities1 different aspects of the ,tempest4 ,in ,africa you have the upas1 the fierce compound of simoom and tornado4 ,the atmosphere seems calm and clear1 and yet you feel a strange oppression of the lungs and a general anxiety as terrible as it is strange4 ,then a black cloud1 no bigger than a man's hand1 appears on the horizon1 approaches with lightning speed1 lengthening1 widening1 and deepening as it approaches 7vires acquirit eundo7 the storm descends1 and in a quarter of an hour all around is devastated1 utterly ruined1 and ships have utterly disappeared4 ,nature takes no heed of such small matters4 ,about ,sumatra and ,bengal1 you see in the evening or night 7never in the morning7 a dark arched cloud in the sky4 ,it rapidly increases1 and presently1 from that dark cloud1 come down flashes and sheets of pale and ghastly lights4 ,woe to the mariner who shall encounter the first wind that rushes from that sinister cloud2 he will pretty certainly go down4 ,but the ordinary form is that of a huge funnel4 ,a sailor1 who was caught in one of these terrible storms1 says3 ,i found myself1 as it were1 at the bottom of an enormous crater of a volcano2 all around was darkness1 above a glimmering of lurid lights4 ,that light is what is technically termed the eye of the ,tempest4 ,when the ,water spout1 the horrible ,typhoon1 empties itself1 human science and human daring are of no avail4 ,roaring1 howling1 shrieking1 hissing1 the storm fiends are at work above1 below1 around the luckless vessel4 ,suddenly there is a dead1 a quite horrible silence1 and there comes forth1 seemingly1 from the very centre of the water spout1 a blinding flash1 and a deafening report1 and when you1 at length1 recover power to look aloft1 you find that mast and spars have been shivered4 ,seymour tells us that1 sometimes1 after being caught in one of those horrible ,typhoons the sailors1 for a long time1 have blackened nails and weakened sight4 ,sometimes1 too1 this terrible ,typhoon sucks up not only air and water1 but also the luckless ship1 holds it suspended in the air1 and then dashes it rudely down into the watery abyss4 ,from this terrible action and pitiless power of the ,typhoon1 the ,chinese derived their notion of the terrible mother ,typhon1 who1 hovering in the sky1 picks out her victims and is ever conceiving and bearing the ,ken ,woo1 whirlwinds of fire and iron4 ,to that terrible ,typhon they have erected temples and altars1 adoring her and praying to her in the vain hope of humanising her4 ,the brave ,piddington had no adoration to spare for her2 on the contrary1 he gives her a marvellously ill name4 ,he calls her an only too strong corsair1 a pirate so strong and so tricky that there is no dishonor in getting out of her way4 ,that perfidious enemy sometimes sets a snare for you2 tempts you with a good wind4 ,avoid that same good wind1 turn your back to it if you possibly can4 ,give that dangerous companion the widest possible berth4 ,steer very clear of the storm cloud or it will suddenly sink you2 ship1 crew and cargo4 ,such is the advice of the brave and skillful ,piddington1 and1 assuredly1 one would gladly take such advice4 ,but how8 ,it would be utterly useless if the storm cloud and the ship were brought together within narrow and land locked waters4 ,but1 in general1 this enormous compound of whirlwind and water spout embraces a circle of ten1 twenty1 or even thirty leagues1 and this gives every ship1 on which a constant and intelligent look out is kept1 a fair chance of keeping at a respectful distance from so redoubtable a foe4 ,the great point to be ascertained is1 where is the centre1 the nucleus1 the terrible home1 of this terrible ,typhon4 ,and then to ascertain its rate of progression and its line of approach4 ,the sailor of the present day has two excellent lights to steer by2 his ,maury and his ,piddington4 ,on the one hand1 ,maury teaches him the general laws of the air and sea1 and the art of selecting and using the currents1 directing him1 as it were1 along the streets and highways of the ,ocean4 ,on the other hand1 ,piddington in his small1 but instructive volume1 sums up for him1 and places in his hands1 the ,experience of ,tempests2 not only how to avoid them1 when possible1 but sometimes when to make them useful4 ,and this it is that at once explains and justifies the fine sentence of the ,dutch ,captain ,jansen4 ,at sea1 says he1 the first impression is that of the power of nature1 the profundity of the depths--and our own nothingness4 ,on board of the largest ship1 we still feel that we are constantly in danger4 ,but when the mind's eye has penetrated the depths and surveyed the expanse1 man no longer fears the danger4 ,he rises to the true sense of the situation4 ,guided by ,astronomy1 shown by ,maury along the highways and byways of the ,ocean1 he steers his course safely and confidently4 ,this is truly sublime4 ,the ,tempest is not abolished1 it is true2 but ignorance1 bewilderment1 that terrible bewilderment which is born of danger and darkness1 are abolished4 ,at least if the seaman of the present day perish1 he will know the why and wherefore4 ,great1 oh1 very great is the safeguard of having the calm1 clear presence of mind1 with our soul and intellect unruffled and resigned to whatever may be the effect of the great divine laws of the world which1 at the expense of a few shipwrecks1 produce ,equilibrium and ,safety4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,polar ,,seas4 ,what most tempts man8 ,the difficult1 the useless1 the impossible4 ,of all maritime enterprises1 that to which the most persistent energy has been given1 is the north western passage1 the direct line from ,europe to ,asia4 ,and yet1 the plainest common-sense might anticipatively have told us that1 given1 the existence of such a passage1 in a latitude so cold1 so blocked up by ice1 it would1 practically1 be useless2 few would1 none could1 make any regular use of it4 ,open this year1 it is quite sure to be closed up next year4 ,remember that that region has not the flatness of ,siberia2 it is a mountain of a thousand leagues1 horribly broken1 with deep chasms1 with seas1 that1 thawed one hour1 are frozen up the next1 passages between icebergs1 which shift their position from time to time1 open to invite you1 and close to crush you4 ,at length1 in #ahec1 that passage was found1 by a man who had got so far in1 that it was safer to go ahead1 than to recede1 and who1 therefore1 went daringly and desperately forward1 till he found that which he sought4 ,now we know what that passage is2 men's minds are calmed down2 we know that there is such a passage1 and we have not even the smallest desire to make use of it4 ,when ,i spoke of that passage1 as being useless1 ,i spoke of it as a commercial highway4 ,but in following this commercially useless enterprise1 we have made many very useful discoveries for ,geography1 ,meteorology1 and the magnetism of the ,earth2 just as silly ,alchemy1 has done so much for wise1 and admirably useful ,chemistry4 ,what was the original idea8 ,to open a short way to the land of gold1 to the ,east ,indies4 ,england1 and other powers1 jealous of ,spain and ,portugal1 reckoned upon surprising them in the very heart of their distant possessions1 in the very sanctuary of wealth4 ,from the time of ,queen ,elizabeth of ,england1 adventurers having found1 or stated that they found1 some portions of gold in ,greenland1 searched into1 and made bold use of the old ,northern legend of treasure hidden beneath the ,pole2 mountains of gold1 guarded by ,gnomes1 c41 c4 ,and the legend inflamed men's minds4 ,upon so reasonable a notion1 sixteen ships were sent out1 having on board the sons and hopes of the noblest families4 ,there was quite a competition as to who should have leave to go in quest of that ,polar ,eldorado2 and those who sought it1 succeeded in finding only hunger1 icy barriers1 suffering1 and--,death6 ,but that check was unavailing2 during three hundred years1 explorers1 with a perfectly marvellous perseverance1 continued to explore1 to fail1 to be martyrized1 and to die4 ,cabot1 the earliest of them1 was only saved by the mutiny of his crew1 who would not allow him to go any farther4 ,brentz died of cold1 and ,willoughby of famine4 ,cortereul lost all1 property1 and life2 and ,hudson was set adrift by his men1 and1 as he had neither sails nor provisions1 it is but too probable that he perished miserably1 though his fate was never precisely ascertained4 ,behring1 in finding the strait which separates ,america from ,asia1 perished of fatigue1 cold1 and want1 on a desert island4 ,in our own day1 ,franklin perished1 in the ice2 he and his men having been reduced to the most horrible cannibalism4 ,every thing that can discourage man1 is combined in these ,northern voyages4 ,considerably before the ,polar circle is reached1 a cold fog freezes upon the sea1 and covers you with hoar frost2 sails and ropes are icy and stiffened1 the deck is one sheet of glare ice1 and every manoeuvre is a work of immense difficulty2 and those moving shoals1 the icebergs1 that are so much to be dreaded1 can scarcely be made out at the distance of the ship's length4 ,at the mast-head1 the look-out man1 an actual living stalactite1 every now and then warns the watch upon deck of the approach of a new enemy1 a huge white phantom1 a terrible iceberg1 often from two to three hundred feet out of the water4 ,but these preliminary horrors1 which announce to the seaman his approach to the world of ice and suffering1 so far from deterring1 increase his desire and determination to proceed4 ,in the mystery of the ,pole1 there is1 ,i know not what1 of sublime horror and heroic suffering4 ,even those who have only gone as far ,north as ,spitzbergen1 retain in memory a profound impression of its drear and horrible sublimity4 ,that mass of peaks1 chains1 and precipices1 which1 for four thousand five hundred feet1 rears its icy front1 is like a gigantic apparition1 in that gloomy sea4 ,its glaciers flash forth living lights1 dazzling flashes of the most brilliant colors1 green1 blue1 and purple1 contrasting marvellously with the uniform whiteness of the snow4 ,during the nights1 whose duration is not of hours1 but of months1 the ,aurora ,borealis1 every now and then lights up the dreary scene in the strange splendors of a sinister illumination2 vast and terrible bale fires1 that1 from time to time1 light up the whole horizon1 forming1 with their magnificent jets of lurid lights1 a fantastic ,etna1 that throws temporary and illusive light on that scene of eternal winter4 ,all is prismatic in an atmosphere surcharged with icy particles1 where the air is full of mirrors and little crystals4 ,hence1 the most astonishing mirages1 rendering one uncertain whether he may take the evidence of his own eyes as to the reality of any thing that he thinks he sees4 ,merely arial reflections and colored mists appear solid masses1 castles1 cathedrals1 islands1--anything2 and what you see upright at one moment1 is upside down a moment afterwards4 ,the strata of air which produce these effects1 are in constant revolution1 the lightest ascends above the others1 and in an instant the mirage changes form1 color1 size1 and character4 ,the slightest variation of the temperature1 lowers1 raises1 or slopes1 the huge mirror2 the image becomes confounded with the object2 they separate1 disperse1 another succeeds1 and then a third1 pale and feeble1 appears1 to disappear in its turn4 ,it is a world of illusion4 ,if you love to dream2 if1 especially1 you love day-dreaming1 with fancies wild or tender1 go to the ,north1 and there you will see real1 yet no less fugitive1 all that your waking dreams have ever painted4 ,in that world of mirages1 the atmosphere will put all your castles in the air to utter shame4 ,no style of architecture but that magical atmosphere can imitate4 ,now you have the classic ,greek1 with its porticos and colonnades2 anon1 ,egyptian obelisks appear1 the one pointing high and sharp1 towards the sky1 the other lying prostrate1 and in twain1 at the base of the former4 ,and1 then1 mountain upon mountain appears1 ,pelion upon ,ossa1 a whole city of giants1 with ,cyclopean walls1 which change into the circular sacrificial stones of the ,druids1 with dark1 mysterious caves beneath4 ,finally1 all disappears2 the wind rises1 and the mists and atmospheric reflections are dispersed4 ,in this veritable world of the upside down1 the law of gravitation is repealed1 or1 at the least1 disregarded2 the weak and the light1 carrying the strong and the heavy2 a spacious church is seen on the top of a slender spire1 an ,egyptian pyramid whirls1 dances1 upon the sharply pointed apex2 it is an eccentric1 a mad1 school of art1 where you pass at once from the beautiful to the terrible1 from the terribly sublime to the absurdly fantastic4 ,sometimes a terrible incident occurs4 ,against the great stream1 which flows majestically and slowly from the north1 there suddenly comes1 from the south1 a huge iceberg1 whose base is some six or seven hundred feet below the water4 ,it is impelled by the strong under-tow1 and advances so swiftly that it dashes aside1 or to pieces1 whatever it happens to encounter4 ,arrived at the plain of ice1 this moving giant1 this terrible iceberg is not at all embarrassed4 ,thus1 ,duncan1 writing in #ahbf1 describes a scene of the kind--,the field-ice was broken up for miles in less than a minute1 with reports loud as those of a hundred pieces of artillery4 ,as the mountainous heap approached us1 the space between it and us was filled with the mighty masses1 into which the shock of her collision had broken up the massive field ice4 ,we should assuredly have perished1 but the huge mass suddenly sheered off to the northeast1 and we were saved4 ,it was in #ahah1 after the ,european war1 that this war against nature1 this search after the north-western passage was resumed4 ,it opened with a serious and singular event4 ,the gallant ,captain ,ross1 being sent with two ships into ,baffin's ,bay1 was completely deceived by the phantasmagoria of that world of spectral delusions4 ,he distinctly saw1 as he thought1 a land which has never existed1 maintained that if he proceeded he would certainly lay the bones of his ships on that non-existent shore1 and actually returned to ,england4 ,there he was laughed at1 and accused of timidity1 and he was refused by the ,admiralty1 the command of another expedition1 which he solicited1 in the interest of his honor4 ,sir ,felix ,booth1 a ,london distiller and liquor merchant1 more liberal than the ,british ,government1 presented ,ross with a hundred thousand dollars1 and ,ross returned to the ,north1 determined to pass or die4 ,neither the one nor the other was granted to him6 ,but he remained during ,i know not how many winters1 forgotten1 in those terrible solitudes4 ,he had all the appearance of a mere savage1 so long and so horrible was his destitution1 when he was saved by some whalers1 who1 when they first saw him1 asked him if he had1 by any chance1 fallen in with the late ,captain ,john ,ross6 ,his ,lieutenant1 ,parry1 who confidently believed that he could pass1 made four attempts to do so2 trying first by ,baffin's ,bay and the ,west1 and then by ,spitzbergen and the ,north4 ,he made some discoveries by boldly pushing forward in a sledge-boat2 a sledge on the ice1 and a boat in the water4 ,but the ice always defeated his bold attempts1 and he was no more successful than ,ross4 ,in #ahhb1 a brave young ,frenchman1 ,jules de ,blassville1 conceived that ,france1 in his person1 might win the glory of discovering the north-west passage4 ,he risked1 at once1 money and life2 and purchased death4 ,he could not even get the selection of a proper ship4 ,they gave him the ,lilloise1 which sprang a leak on her very first day out1 and he had her repaired and refitted1 at his own cost of about eight thousand dollars4 ,in this unsafe vessel1 he sailed for the iron-bound coast of ,greenland4 ,according to all appearance1 he did not get even as far out as that4 ,he has never since been heard of1 nor has any portion of his unseaworthy vessel been picked up4 ,most likely she foundered1 with all hands on board4 ,the ,english expeditions have been fitted out in a very different style2 every thing was provided that prudence could suggest or liberal-expenditure supply2 yet they succeeded no better4 ,the gallant1 scientific1 and ill fated1 ,franklin1 was blocked in by the ice in #ahde4 ,for twelve years from that date the ,english1 with an honorable persistence1 sent out expeditions in search of him4 ,and not ,england alone2 ,france and ,america no less honorably assisted1 and both those great nations lost some of their brightest and best in the brave1 though fruitless1 search4 ,side by side with the name of ,franklin1 as connected with the icy peaks and capes of that desolate region1 our ,belliot1 and others1 must be named1 who devoted themselves in hope to save him4 ,and1 on the other hand1 ,captain ,john ,ross offered to organize and lead an expedition to search for ,blainville4 ,dark ,greenland is connected with a host of such brave1 sad reminiscences1 and the desert is no longer quite a desert when connected with such touching testimonies of human brotherhood4 ,there is something very touching in the persistent belief1 the inflexible affection1 of ,lady ,franklin4 ,she could not1 would not1 believe herself widowed1 but incessantly besought for further search after her brave husband4 ,she vowed that she was quite sure that he still lived for his country and for her2 and so well did she impress her own belief upon the ,admiralty board1 that1 seven years after he was completely missing1 he was officially named1 not as ,captain1 but as ,vice ,admiral4 ,and she was right2 he was then still living4 ,the ,esquimaux saw him in #ahej1 and he had then sixty of his men with him4 ,very soon after he had only thirty1 and those so worn by fatigue and want that they could not hunt1 or even walk1 and as each one died he was eaten by his far more wretched survivors4 ,if ,lady ,franklin's advice had been duly attended to1 her brave husband and most1 perhaps all1 of his men would have been ,saved4 ,for she said--and the soundest sense dictated her words--that he should be sought for to the southward1 inasmuch as it was to the last degree improbable that in his desperate situation he should aggravate it by proceeding towards the ,north4 ,but the ,admiralty1 perhaps more anxious about the north-west passage than about the lost ,franklin1 persisted in sending expeditions to the ,north1 and the afflicted lady did for herself what the ,admiralty would not do for her4 ,at a great expense1 she fitted out a vessel to search to the southward of his last known or presumed position4 ,but it was already too late4 ,only the bones of ,franklin were found4 ,in the mean time longer1 but more successful1 voyages were made towards the ,south pole4 ,there we do not find the same commingling of land and sea1 ice and tempestuous thaws1 that make up the great horror of ,greenland4 ,there is a boundless sea of immense and mighty waves1 and a glacier far more extensive than ours of the ,north4 ,very few islands2 those which have been seen1 or1 rather fancied1 have most probably been only shifting and wandering icebergs4 ,everything there varies with the varying character of the winters4 ,morel in #ahbj1 ,weddell in #ahbd1 and ,ballery in #ahci1 found an opening1 and made their way into an open sea1 which none since have been able to find4 ,the ,french ,kerguelen and the ,english ,james ,ross have1 undoubtedly1 discovered lands4 ,the first1 in #agga1 discovered the large island which he named after himself1 but to which the ,english have given the appropriate title of ,desolation4 ,two hundred leagues in length it has some excellent ports1 and1 in spite of the severity of the climate1 it is tolerably prolific in seals and birds1 with which a ship can be plentifully provisioned4 ,that glorious discovery which ,louis ,,xvi41 on his accession1 rewarded with a peerage1 was1 subsequently the ruin of ,kerguelen4 ,false charges were brought against him1 and the rivalry of noble officers overwhelmed him1 jealous rivals with a hateful intrepidity1 bearing false witness against him4 ,it was from a dungeon of six feet square that1 in #aghb1 he dated the narrative of his discovery4 ,in #ahch1 ,america1 ,france1 and ,england each fitted out an expedition in the interests of science4 ,the illustrious ,duperrey had pointed out the way to important magnetic observations1 and it was desired to continue them under the very pole4 ,the ,english expedition1 with this object1 was entrusted to the command of ,james ,ross1 nephew and lieutenant of the ,captain ,john ,ross of whom we have spoken4 ,it was a model expedition for which everything was foreseen1 and provided1 and ,james ,ross brought back his crew without having lost a man1 or even had a man sick4 ,the ,american ,wilkes and the ,french ,dumont d',urville were not thus admirably fitted out2 and perils and sickness scourged them fearfully4 ,james ,ross1 more fortunate1 doubled the ,arctic circle and found real land2 but he confesses1 with a really admirable modesty1 that he chiefly owed his success to the admirable manner in which his government had fitted him out4 ,the ,erebus and the ,terror with their powerful machines1 their ice saw1 and their iron shielded prow1 cut their way through the ice till they reached an open sea abounding in birds1 seals1 and whales1 and lighted up by a volcano of twelve thousand feet in height1 a northern ,etna4 ,but no vegetation1 no landing place1 but an enormously high and sharply scarped granite upon which not even the snows could retain their hold4 ,but it was land2 not a doubt of that4 ,that ,polar ,etna1 which they named after their good ship ,erebus1 is there to prove it4 ,a terrestrial nucleus1 therefore1 is girdled by the arctic sea4 ,april and ,may of #ahec1 were a grand date in the history of the arctic pole4 ,in ,april that passage was found which had been so perseveringly and vainly sought for during three centuries4 ,the discovery resulted from a bold stroke of desperation4 ,captain ,maclure having made his way in by ,behring's strait was1 for two years1 shut in by the ice4 ,finding it impossible to return1 he determined1 at all hazards1 to push forward4 ,he did so and in only forty miles further found himself along side of ,english ships in the ,eastern ocean4 ,his boldness saved him and the great problem was at length solved4 ,at that very time1 ,may1 #aheh1 ,new ,york sent out an expedition for the extreme ,north4 ,a young naval surgeon1 ,elisha ,kent ,kane1 only about thirty years old1 but who had already sailed far and wide1 announced an idea which greatly excited the ,american mind4 ,just as ,wilkes had proposed to find a world1 ,kane proposed to find a sea1 an open sea1 under the pole4 ,the ,english1 in their routine1 had searched from ,east to ,west2 ,kane proposed to sail due ,north and take possession1 for his country1 of that1 as yet1 undiscovered open polar sea4 ,the bold proposal was enthusiastically hailed4 ,grinnell of ,new ,york1 a great ship owner1 princely alike in fortune and in heart1 generously gave two ships2 learned societies1 and not a few of the general public1 assisted with pecuniary contributions1 with a perfectly religious zeal made up and contributed warm clothing4 ,the crews1 carefully selected from volunteers1 were sworn to three things2 to be obedient to orders1 to abstain from spirituous liquors1 and from profane language4 ,a first expedition failed1 but its failure daunted neither ,mr4 ,grinnell nor the ,american public2 and a second was fitted out1 with the aid of certain ,english societies1 who had chiefly in view the propagation of the gospel or a final search after ,franklin4 ,few voyages are more interesting than this second one of ,kane's4 ,we can readily understand the ascendancy which young ,kane acquired over his followers4 ,every line of his book is marked by his strength1 his brilliant vivacity1 and his practical exemplification of the bold ,american watchword--,go ahead4 ,he knows every thing2 is confident of everything2 prudent1 hopeful1 more than hopeful1--positive4 ,every line tells you that he is a man to be conquered by no obstacle4 ,he will go as far as mortal man can go4 ,the combat is curious between such a character and the pitiless and icy ,north1 that rampart of terrible obstacles4 ,scarcely has he sailed when he is already seized by the cold hand of winter and detained for six months amidst the ice4 ,even in the spring he had a cold of seventy degrees6 ,at the approach of the second winter1 on the #bhth of ,august1 nine out of his seventeen men1 deserted him4 ,but the fewer his men and resources1 the bolder and sterner he became1 being determined1 as he tells us1 to make himself the better respected4 ,his good friends1 the ,esquimaux1 who hunted or fished for him1 and from whom he is even compelled to take some small objects1 stole three copper vessels from him4 ,in return he kidnapped two of their women4 ,an excessive and savage chastisement4 ,it was hardly prudent to bring these poor creatures among the eight seamen who still remained with him2 all the less prudent when we consider that discipline was already so much relaxed4 ,they were married women1 too4 ,siver1 wife of ,metek1 and ,aninqua1 wife of ,marsiqua1 were in tears for five days4 ,kane laughed at them and makes us laugh too1 when he says3 ,they wept and made terrible lamentation2 but they did not lose their appetite4 ,at length their husbands and friends took back the stolen articles and took all that had passed in good part1 with the native good sense of men who had no weapons1 but sharpened fish bones1 to oppose to revolvers4 ,they agreed to every thing and promised the utmost friendship and most faithful alliance4 ,a week after1 they disappeared and we may easily imagine with what feelings of friendship6 ,of course1 wherever they went1 they would warn the natives to shun the white man4 ,and thus it is that we close the uncivilized world alike against ourselves and civilization4 ,the sequel is sad4 ,so cruel are the sufferings of the seamen that some die and others want to return4 ,but ,kane is of quite another mind1 he has promised to discover a new sea1 and discover it he will4 ,plots1 desertions1 treacheries1 all add to the horrors of his situation4 ,in the third winter he must have died1 destitute as he was of food and fuel1 had not other ,esquimaux supplied him with fish2 he aiding them by hunting4 ,in the mean time some of the men1 who had been out exploring1 had the good fortune to find that sea about which he was so anxious4 ,at least they reported that they had seen a vast extent of open unfrozen water1 and1 all around1 birds which seemed to find there the shelter of a less severe climate4 ,that was enough to warrant the return4 ,kane1 saved by the ,esquimaux1 who took no advantage either of their superior numbers or of his extreme destitution1 left there his vessel frozen up in the ice4 ,weak and exhausted1 he yet contrived1 in eighty-two days1 to get back to the ,south4 ,but he got back only to die4 ,that intrepid young man1 who approached nearer to the pole than any other man had ever done1 dying1 carried off the prize which the learned societies of ,france laid upon his tomb--the great geographical prize4 ,in his narrative1 which contains so many terrible things1 there is one which seems to me to be very touching4 ,it enables us to estimate the exceeding sufferings of such an expedition2 ,i allude to the death of his dogs4 ,he had some excellent ones of the ,newfoundland breed1 and some of the ,esquimaux2 they1 rather than men1 were his companions and his friends4 ,during his long winter nights1 those nights of months1 they watched around his ship1 and when he sallied out in the dense darkness he recognized the brave brutes by their warm breath as they came and licked his hands4 ,the ,newfoundlanders were the first to grow sick4 ,he fancied that they suffered less from the cold than from the privation of light2 when the lanterns were shown to them they seemed to revive4 ,but1 by degrees1 a strange melancholy grew upon them1 and they went mad4 ,next followed1 in the same sad course1 the ,esquimaux dogs1 and none remained but his little slut1 ,flora1 the wisest little thing--as he calls her--and she neither went mad nor died4 ,i believe this is the only point1 in his fearfully interesting narrative1 at which you can perceive that that brave1 stern heart1 for an instant sank4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,man',s ,,war ,,upon ,,the ,,races ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,on reviewing the whole history of ,voyages1 we are impressed by two quite contrary feelings3 #a4 ,we admire the courage and genius with which man has conquered the seas1 and dominated his whole planet4 #b4 ,we are astonished to find him so unskilful in all that concerns the conciliation of the inhabitants of the various seas and lands1 that he has conquered4 ,every where1 the voyager has gone1 as the enemy of the young populations1 whether human or brute1 whether terrestrial or maritime1 which1 properly treated1 would have been1 each in its own limited sphere1 so servicable to him4 ,man1 as to the globe on which he has made such grand discoveries1 is like a musical novice1 before some immense ,organ1 from which he can produce but a few notes4 ,emerging from the middle ages1 after so much of philosophy and theology1 he still remained barbarous2 of the sacred instrument1 he only knew how to break the keys4 ,the gold seekers1 as we have seen1 sought only gold1 nothing but that2 man they pitilessly crushed4 ,columbus1 though the last of them1 shows this with a quite terrible plainness and simplicity1 in his own journal4 ,his words make us shudder1 anticipating1 prophesying1 as they do1 what would be done by his successors4 ,no sooner has he landed in ,haiti1 than he enquires1 where is the gold8 ,who has got gold8 ,the natives smiled1 in their innocent astonishment1 at this fierce desire for gold4 ,they promised him that they would search for it for him1 and in the mean time1 gave their rings and ornaments to satisfy the earlier1 that eager appetite4 ,he gives us a most touching description of that unfortunate race1 so interesting for its beauty1 its kindness1 and its tender confidence4 ,but the ,geonese1 touchingly as he described that people1 had his own mission of avarice1 his hard1 stern habits of thought4 ,the ,turkish wars1 the atrocious galleys1 and their wretched slaves1 piracy and manstealing1 were the common life of that day4 ,the sight of that young1 unarmed community1 those poor1 naked children1 and lovely and innocent women1 inspired him only with the horrible mercantile thought1 that they might be very easily enslaved4 ,he would not1 however1 consent to have them carried away from the beautiful island2 they and it1 belonged1 said he1 to the ,king and ,queen1 ,ferdinand and ,isabella4 ,but he said these darkly and terribly significant words--,they are timid and well fitted for obedience4 ,they will do whatever they are ordered to do2 a thousand of them would retreat before three or four of ours4 ,if your ,highnesses give me the order to carry them off or to enslave them here1 there is nothing to hinder it2 fifty men will suffice to do it4 ,thus wrote he in his ,journal1 or ,despatch1 of #ad and #af1 ,december4 ,presently came from ,europe the wholesale sentence of that whole poor innocent people4 ,they were ordered to be the slaves of gold--all subjected to compulsory labor1 some to seek gold1 and others to feed the goldseekers4 ,columbus confesses that in twelve years1 six sevenths of that once happy population had perished2 and ,herrera adds that in twenty-five years1 that population had fallen from a million of souls to fourteen thousand4 ,what followed1 is only too well known4 ,the gold seeker and the planter exterminated the natives and incessantly replaced them at the expense of the negroes4 ,and what has been the consequence8 ,that in the low1 hot1 immensely fecund countries1 the black race alone1 are permanent4 ,america will belong to that race2 ,europe has achieved precisely the opposite of that which it intended4 ,every where1 in all directions1 the colonizing impotency of ,europe has displayed itself in ,america4 ,the ,french adventurer has not survived2 he took thither no family1 and did take thither all the worst vices of his native land4 ,as a natural consequence1 instead of civilizing the barbarians1 he added their vices to his own1 and sank to their barbarous level4 ,with the exception of two temperate countries into which they went en masse1 and in families1 the ,english have not been much more successful than the ,french in planting their race permanently and healthily in transmarine colonies4 ,in another century1 ,india will scarcely know that the ,englishmen once lived there4 ,have the ,missionaries1 whether ,catholic or ,protestant1 made any converts8 ,dumont1 the thoroughly well-informed ,dumont1 tells me--not one6 ,between them and us1 there are thirty centuries and thirty religions4 ,try to force their intellect1 and the result will be that which the truly great ,humboldt observed in those ,american villages which are to this day called ,missions2 that1 having lost their own native energies and traditions1 without acquiring ours1 they will sink into a sort of stupefaction1 become merely so many children of a larger growth1 alive in body1 but dead in mind1--all but idiots1 useless alike to themselves and to others4 ,our voyages1 upon which we moderns1 and more especially the learned1 so plume ourselves1 have they been really1 or at all1 servicable to the savages8 ,i really cannot see it4 ,while1 on the one hand1 the heroic races of ,north ,america have perished of hunger and wretchedness1 the soft1 effeminate1 gentle races of the ,south1 perish1 too1 to the great shame of our seamen1 who1 in that distant part of the world1 have thrown off even the very mask of decency4 ,population at once kindly and weak1 in whom ,bourgainville discerned such excess of complaisance1 among whom the ,english ,missionaries have gained much profit1 but not a single soul1--kindly and weak people1 they are perishing miserably beneath the double scourge of the worst vices and the most loathsome diseases of the old world4 ,formerly1 the long coast of ,siberia was well peopled4 ,under that terribly hard climate1 the nomadic natives hunted the richly1 the preciously1 furred animals which at once fed and clothed them4 ,the ,russian despotism1 at once strong and senseless1 compelled them to adopt the settled life of agriculturists1 in a climate1 and upon a soil1 where agriculture is an absurdity1 an impossibility4 ,the consequence is that these peoples have gradually died off4 ,on the other hand1 the trading spirit1 that greedy and insatiable devourer1 has refused to spare the brutes in their breeding seasons1 and as a necessary consequence1 the brutes have disappeared with the men2 and now1 for a thousand miles along that coast1 you have a terrible solitude1 where man hunts not1 and where the brutes are not4 ,the winds may whistle shrilly1 the frost may be bitter and biting as ever1 but there is neither man nor beast to listen to the one or to shudder beneath the other4 ,had our voyagers to the ,north been truly wise1 their very first care should have been to form a good1 firm friendship with the ,esquimaux1 to mitigate their miseries1 to adopt some of their children and have them well instructed in ,europe1 and thus lay the foundation of a great indigenous race of discoverers4 ,we learn from ,captain ,john ,ross1 and from not a few others1 that they are very intelligent1 and very readily acquire the knowledge and the arts of ,europe4 ,marriages would have been contracted between ,european sailors and the native women2 a mixed population would thus have sprung up1 to which all that northern portion of the ,american continent would have been native and to the manor born4 ,and that would have been the1 at once1 safe and sure way of discovering the much coveted ,north-western passage4 ,thirty years--a single generation--would have done it effectually--and in three hundred years it has been done only uselessly because you have terrified those poor savages2 because you have destroyed alike the man of the soil and the ,genius ,loci4 ,what is the use of merely seeing that desert1 when1 in the very act of seeing it you make it either depopulated or hostile8 ,we may be quite sure that if man1 civilized man1 has thus ill treated his uncivilized brother man1 he has been neither more friendly nor more merciful for the brutes4 ,he has converted the gentlest and the most affectionate of them forever1 irreclaimably1 into savage and merciless foes to man4 ,and man1 civilized man1 has done this4 ,all the old authors concur in telling us that when these poor brutes first 7most unluckily for themselves67 made the acquaintance of man1 they exhibited nothing but the most confident and inquisitive sympathy4 ,he could walk past and through whole families of ,sea ,cows and ,seals1 and they never fled from him4 ,the ,penguins1 and their kindred species1 followed him1 begged a share of his shelter1 yea1 even nestled at night beneath his garments4 ,our forefathers1 quite justly1 believed that1 to a very great extent1 the animals feel and love1 even as we do4 ,certain it is that they have a singular and very decided taste for music4 ,the very ,shad1 simple as they seem1 will follow you to the sound of bells2 ,valence tells us2 and ,nol tells us that he has often seen the poor ,whale1 the ,joubarde roll and frolic around the bark1 delighted with the music1 and1 fearless of the man6 ,what the poor1 dumb creatures most enjoy2 what they most possess of intelligent life2 what they have most been deprived of by dint of human and very cruel persecution2--is the right1 the security1 the sanctity of marriage6 ,fugitive and isolated1 they now only retain that which we1 most cruelly1 have left to them2 temporary concubinage1 that miserable temporary concubinage which makes sterile every creature that is subjected to it4 ,marriage1 fixed1 settled1 faithful1 is the very life of nature1--and we find it in even the poorest living tribes on which man's tyranny has not yet imposed unnatural laws4 ,the ,roebuck1 the ,pigeon1 that prettiest of the ,parrot family1 the ,love ,bird1 and hundreds of other species1 which we1 in our profound ignorance and fancied learning1 despise1 have this instinctive love of marriage4 ,you may notice that1 even among the other and wilder birds and beasts1 the matrimonial tie is inseparable1 at least1 until the young family is old enough to take care of itself4 ,the ,hare1 in its timid and ever anxious life1 the ,bat1 that strange prowler in the dark night hours1 are very very tender of their families4 ,the ,crustace1 even1 nay1 even the very ,poulpes have their marital affection2 take the female and the male is sure to be there1 to combat vainly1 and to be taken with her4 ,how much more1 then1 shall ,love1 the ,family1 ,marriage1 in the true sense of that word1 exist among our gentle1 truly gentle1 till brutally persecuted1 amphibious creatures6 ,slow1 sedentary1 attached to home1 how natural1 how inevitable it is1 that1 the male should be true to his mate1--and she to him6 ,among them the husband will die for1 or with1 the wife1 either for the young one4 ,and1 among them1 too1 we find what we too often1 only in vain look for among what we presumptuously term the higher animals1 the young one will boldly leave its shelter and fight for the mother that has previously rescued him4 ,steller and ,hartwig mention a strange1 an almost human scene enacted in the family of the ,otarie1 another amphibious creature4 ,the female had allowed her young to be stolen from her4 ,the male1 furious1 beat her severely1 and she grovelled and wept4 ,the ,whales1 which have not the fixed abode of the amphibii1 yet cross the ,ocean in couples4 ,duhamel and ,lacepede say1 that in #agbc1 two ,whales being attacked kept firmly side by side4 ,one of them being killed1 the other1 with terrible moanings of mingled despair and grief1 of sympathy and rage1 threw itself upon the dead body of its mate and died1 rather than retreat4 ,if there was in the world one being which1 even more than any other ought to have been spared1 it was the free ,whale1 that admirable creature so abounding in value2 that most inoffensive of all the creatures of the ,ocean whose very food is different from that of man4 ,excepting its terribly strong tail1 this creature has not even a weapon of defence4 ,and1 then1 the poor thing has such a host of enemies6 ,every one and everything seems to be hostile to it4 ,its parasites establish themselves1 not only on1 but in its vast gnawing1 even its very tongue4 ,the ,narvel1 with its terrible tusks pierces it1 the ,dolphins gnaw it1 and the bold1 ever hungry1 swiftly swimming1 ,shark tears huge bleeding morsels from it4 ,and1 then1 there are two blinded and ferocious foes that1 in most dastardly fashion1 thin that inoffensive race even anticipatively2 killing the pregnant mother4 ,first1 there is the horrible ,cachalot1 whose head makes a full third of its entire frame4 ,this horrid creature1 with its crushing jaws1 armed with forty-eight teeth1 literally eats the unborn young one4 ,man1 still more cruel1 causes the poor creature a more prolonged suffering4 ,the cruel harpoon1 plunged again and again into that quivering and sensitive body inflicts suffering1 such as we cannot even think of1 without blushing for that human nature of which we so often and so unblushingly boast4 ,dying slowly1 and in the long agony of many wounds1 and of many convulsions1 she writhes1 shudders1 lashes the sea into a mad foam with her terrible tail1 and1 even as she dies1 feels about with her poor hand-fins1 as though striving once more to embrace and caress her little one4 ,something dreadfully human1 as it seems to me1 is that death scene of the poor ,whale6 ,at this day we can scarcely even imagine what were the scenes of butchery some two hundred years ago2 while the ,whales swam in shoals and every shore swarmed with the amphibii4 ,the enormous massacres polluted the ocean with blood to an extent such as our human battles1 from the earliest day1 cannot even begin to compare with4 ,in a single day1 from fifteen to twenty ,whales were killed1 and fifteen hundred ,sea ,elephants6 ,and this was mere killing for the sake of killing4 ,for what was to be done with so many of those huge creatures1 each of which had so much blood and so much oil8 ,what was the meaning of all this cruel slaughter8 ,what the result8 ,just simply1 to redden and pollute so many miles of the pure ,ocean6 ,to have the cold and cruel enjoyment of most brutal tyrants2 to watch1 with cruel eye1 the lingering agonies and the fierce1 but impotent struggles1 of one of ,god's noblest and most inoffensive creatures6 ,peron relates1 with a disgust which does him honor1 that he saw a brutal sailor thus slowly and brutally butcher a female ,seal4 ,she groaned and writhed like something human2 and whenever she opened her poor1 bleeding mouth1 he dashed the oar into it1 breaking her poor teeth at every thrust4 ,durville tells us that at the new ,shetland isles1 in the ,south ,seas1 the ,english and ,americans actually exterminated the ,seals in four years2 killing1 in their blind rage1 alike the newly born and parturient female1 and often they killed only for the skin1 losing the vast and very precious amount of oil4 ,such slaughter as that is really a disgrace to our common humanity2 such butchery reveals a terrible1 a loathsome1 instinct1 that makes us shudder as we look around upon even our best and kindliest1 and reflect how soon and upon what slight temptation they1 too1 may become cruel6 ,on a smiling shore and among a notably amiable people1 we remember one of these murderous massacres to have taken place4 ,some five or six hundred ,tunnies were driven into a lovely bay that they might be ignominiously murdered in a single day4 ,the drag nets1 so vast that the capstan and the bars had to be brought into requisition1 to heave1 rather than draw them in1 brought the poor creatures into that beautiful bay1 to them1 a veritable chamber of death1 and all around were bronzed1 hardy1 and cruel men1 armed with harpoons and pikes4 ,and from distances of even twenty leagues around1 fair women--shame to our nature6--yea1 women sat or stood to witness that truly brutal butchery4 ,the signal is given and the dastardly butchers strike1 and the pierced and bleeding victims writhe1 bound1 agonize--as though they were human1 and pitiless woman applauds the prowess--,godwot6--of pitiless man6 ,the waters1 agitated by the vain1 though mighty struggle of the victims1 is polluted and discolored with blood and foam1 and woman--,woman looks on this horrid scene and1 when the last victim has given its last gasp1 sighs deeply and departs1 wearied1 but not satisfied1 and whispers--,is that all8 ,and yet we call ourselves only1 a little lower than the angels6 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,the ,,ocean4 ,a great and deservedly popular writer1 ,eugene ,nol1 who throws a bright1 broad light upon every subject which he touches1 most truly says1 in his important work on ,pisciculture1 the following words3 ,we might make the ,ocean an immense food-factory1 more productive than even our earth itself1 fertilizing and supporting everything1 seas1 rivers1 lakes1 and ,lands4 ,hitherto we have cultivated only the lands--let us now cultivate the waters4 ,nations6 ,attention6 ,more productive than the land8 ,eh6 ,how is that to be8 ,m4 ,baude explains the matter very clearly1 in his recently published and very important work on ,fishery4 ,he shows very clearly that1 of all creatures1 the fish consumes the least1 and produces the most4 ,merely to keep that creature alive1 nothing1 or next to nothing1 is required4 ,rondelet kept a carp three years in a bottle of water1 and gave it nothing save what it could extract from that water2 yet1 in that time1 it so increased in bulk that he could not get it out of the bottle6 ,the ,salmon1 during its stay1 of two months1 in fresh water1 scarcely feeds at all1 and yet in that time scarcely loses flesh4 ,its stay in salt water1 during the same space of time1 gives it the enormous increase of six pounds in weight4 ,how little that resembles the slow growth of our land animals6 ,if we were to pile up into one heap all that it takes to fatten an ,ox or a ,pig1 we should actually be astounded at the amount of food required for the like increase of weight4 ,and1 accordingly1 those people whose demand most urgently presses upon their power of supply1 the ,chinese1 with their three hundred millions of ever craving appetites1 have directly applied themselves to the art of promoting that great power of reproduction1 that richest manufacture of nourishing food4 ,on all the great rivers of ,china1 prodigious multitudes find in the waters1 the food which they would but vainly ask from the land4 ,agriculture is always more or less precarious2 a blighting wind1 a frost1 the slightest accident1 can sentence a whole nation to all the horrors of ,famine4 ,but1 on the contrary1 the living and teeming1 the exulting and abounding1 harvest beneath the waters1 nourishes innumerable families1 and makes those families almost as prolific and abounding as itself4 ,in ,may1 on the great central river of the ,empire1 a vast trade is done in ,fish fry1 which is bought1 sold1 and resold1 for the purpose of stocking the fish-ponds of private persons1 who feed their fish from the mere offal of the household4 ,the ,romans1--so long ago6--had the same wise system2--only they1 sometimes1 were barbarous enough to feed their fish with slaves6 ,bad enough1 that1 and to spare2 but at least they left us the precious legacy of these words--,the spawn of the sea fish can become fish in fresh water4 ,in the last century1 a ,german1 by the name of ,jacobi1 discovered1 or rather1 revived1 the art of artificial fecundation2 and1 in our own century1 and with still more productive effect1 ,france1 copying from ,england1 has done the same thing4 ,a fisherman of ,bresse1 ,remy1 has practised1 since #ahdj1 the art which has now become ,european4 ,taken in hand by such men as ,coste1 ,pouchet1 c41 this art has ceased to be merely empirical--it has become a ,science4 ,among other things1 it has become known that there are certain regular connections between the salt and the fresh water2 the fish from the former1 coming1 at certain seasons1 to spawn in the latter4 ,the ,eel1 wherever bred1 as soon as it has the thickness of a needle1 hastens to ascend the river1 and in such numbers that it actually whitens the whole stream4 ,this treasure1 which1 if properly taken care of1 would give many thousands of pounds of the most nutritious food is unworthily1 shamefully1 destroyed2 sold as so much mere manure4 ,the ,salmon is no less faithful2 invariably it comes from the sea back to the river in which it had its birth4 ,mark hundreds of them1 and not one of them shall be missing4 ,their love of their native river is such that they will even1 7see the ,salmon ,leaps of ,scotland1 ,ireland1 and ,northern ,england7 leap1 springing from the tail1 over seemingly insurmountable obstacles6 ,such are the ,fish6 ,upon land1 we take care of our ,horses2 why not ,,preserve ,,the ,,sea8 ,why not protect the breeding ,season of the ,ocean8 ,the young and the pregnant females1 should be held sacred1 more especially as to those species which are not superabundantly productive1 such as the ,cetac1 and the ,amphibii4 ,to kill1 is a necessity of our nature1 our teeth and stomach sufficiently testify to that2 but that very necessity obliges us to preserve life4 ,on the land1 we feed and protect our flocks and herds4 ,but for the food and protection which we give to them1 most of them would not exist at all1 or would have been devoured by wild beasts4 ,we have a right1 or at least1 a plausible excuse1 for killing them1 but we take care to spare the young and the pregnant4 ,in the seas there are still more young lives annihilated when we depart from this law of preserving that we may the more plentifully kill4 ,we may1 if we prudently as well as mercifully so will it1 make the generation of the inferior animals1 an element almost infinitely productive4 ,in our seas and rivers1 chiefly1 it is1 that ,man appears the ,magician4 ,high time it surely is1 that he should unite to his power both kindness and wisdom4 ,he is in reality1 the opponent of death2 for1 though appetite compels him to kill1 his skill and care can create torrents of teeming life4 ,as regards those precious species which1 foolishly1 as well as cruelly1 we have almost annihilated1 and especially for that greatest and most precious life of all1 the ,whale1 there should be an absolute peace1 for at least half a century4 ,that great1 that really magnificent species1 will then repair its losses4 ,being no longer persecuted1 it will return to the temperate zone1 which is its natural climate1 where it will find its natural food in the abounding animalcul of the comparatively warm waters4 ,being thus restored to its natural climate and its natural food1 it will regain its old gigantic proportions4 ,let the old rendezvous of their ,love be held sacred1 and again we shall see the ,leviathan1 the whale of two or three hundred feet long4 ,let this magnificent creature's haunts be respected1 especially in its breeding season1 and in half a century it would be as plentiful as of old4 ,formerly it abounded in a bay of ,california4 ,why not make that bay sacred to it8 ,then it would not seek shelter among the horrid glaciers of the pole4 ,let us respect their reason of ,love1 and enormous will be the benefit to ourselves4 ,peace6 ,i say again2 peace for the ,whale1 the ,sea-,cow1 the ,sea-,elephant2 peace for all those precious species which man's inhumanity has so nearly crushed out of existence4 ,a long1 a sacred peace should be granted to them2 like that which the ,swiss so wisely granted to the ,chamois1 which1 when almost extinct1 was thus rendered numerous as ever4 ,for all1 whether ,fish or ,amphibii there is needed a season of perfect rest1 like the ,truce of ,god1 which in the olden day prevented the chivalry of ,europe from butchering each other4 ,these creatures themselves instinctively comprehend what we either know not or neglect2 for1 at their season of maternity1 they lose their timidity1 and venture to our shores1 as though certain that at such a season1 they will be held sacred4 ,at that season1 they are in their greatest beauty a id their greatest strength4 ,their brilliant color and their flashing phosphorence indicate the utmost vigor of their existence1 and in every species that is not menacingly superabundant1 that season of reproduction should be respected4 ,kill them afterwards8 ,by all means--but pray do not anticipatively kill in the one fish a whole shoal of fishes4 ,every unoffending creature has a right to the moment of happiness1 to that moment when the individual1 however lowly placed1 goes beyond the narrow limits of his individual ,self1 and from his dark individuality1 glances into and feels the ,infinite ,future4 ,and let us aid ,nature2 then shall we be blessed1 from the lowest depths to the starry heights2 then shall we receive the blessing glance of that ,god who hath made both great and small1 and who has commanded us to imitate ,him4 ,,book ,,fourth4 ,,the ,,restoration ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,origin ,,of ,,sea ,,bathing4 ,the ,sea1 so ill treated by man1 in this pitiless warfare1 has been to him most generously kind4 ,when ,earth1 which he loves so much1 when that rude ,earth wears1 weakens1 exhausts him1 it is that so much feared1 so much abused ,sea1 which takes him to her bosom1 and restores him to new life4 ,and1 in fact1 is it not from her that life primitively sprang8 ,she contains within her all the elements of life in a quite marvellous plenitude4 ,why1 then1 when we feel ourselves sinking1 do we not repair for restoration to the abounding source of life8 ,that source has space and kindness enough for all1 but is especially kind to the too civilized children of men1 for the sons and daughters who are suffering for the fathers and mothers1 victims of mistaken or sinning ,love1 less culpable than the sinning parents1 yet a thousand fold more punished4 ,the ,sea1 that vast female1 delights to restore them2 to their weakness she gives her strength2 and restores them young1 beautiful1 healthful1 from the boundless stores of her wide expanse and fathomless depths4 ,venus1 who was born of ,ocean1 is from ,ocean reborn every moment1 and not a sick1 suffering1 peevish1 pale1 and melancholy ,venus1 but the triumphant1 ,venus full of passion and certain of fecundity4 ,how between this great and salutary1 but somewhat rude1 strength and our weakness1 can there be any connection8 ,what union can there be between elements so greatly disproportioned8 ,that was a serious and difficult question2 to solve it required an art1 an initiation4 ,to understand that question thoroughly1 we must make ourselves acquainted with the time and occasion when this art first revealed itself4 ,between two ages of strength1 the strength of the age of the ,renaissance and that of the ,revolution1 there was a period of depression both moral and physical4 ,the old world had died1 the new one was not yet born1 and the misbegotten children of worn out parents were weak and unhealthy4 ,on the one hand1 the excessive indulgence of the rich2 on the other hand1 the awful privations of the poor1 decimated the nations1 and most decimated1 precisely those nations which most boasted their civilization4 ,france thrice ruined1 from base to apex1 in a single century succumbed beneath the orgies of the ,regency4 ,england triumphed over our ruin1 yet had death and destruction within her own bosom4 ,her ,puritan idea had departed1 and another had not yet come4 ,weakened by the fierce lusts of ,charles ,,ii41 she was still farther degraded by the paltry briberies of ,walpole2 and in the debasement of the ,public the worst passions of the ,individual came to light4 ,the fine book of ,robinson exhibits the horrors of the terrible ,lust of ,strong ,drink2--a terrible book1 that1 in which ,medicine calls to its aid all the denunciations of ,religion1 and denounces the gloomy suicide of celibatism4 ,anxieties1 evil habits1 effeminate and unwholesome life2--all these betray themselves in the softened tissues1 the meagre forms1 the horrid scrofula4 ,lovely complexions cover the most vile diseases4 ,anne of ,austria1 renowned for her extreme clearness of complexion1 died of loathsome ulcer2 the ,princess of ,soubise1 that dazzlingly fair beauty1 rotted1 so to speak1 into her grave4 ,in ,england1 the ,duke of ,newcastle asked the learned ,doctor ,russell why it was that the beautiful ,lily and ,rose concealed so much of scrofula4 ,it rarely happens that a worn out race recovers itself2 but the ,english did so4 ,for some seventy or eighty years it recovered a wonderful strength of activity4 ,partly it owed its recovery to its political and social disturbances1--for there is nothing so conducive to health as movement2 but it must be confessed that the chief cause of its renovation was its change of habits4 ,it changed in everything1--education1 food1 medicine2 all were changed1 for all felt that health and strength were necessary to success in anything and everything4 ,there needed no great genius for such a ,reform2 the true theory had been propounded2 all that was necessary was to make the ,science an ,art1 to practise what hitherto had only been preached4 ,the ,moravian1 ,comenius1 writing a century before ,rousseau1 said3 ,return to ,nature2 educate according to ,nature2 the ,saxon ,hoffman said3 ,return to ,nature2 make her your ,physician4 ,hoffman appeared just in time to combat the evils caused by the orgies of the ,regency1 evils in which the remedies were as bad as the disease1 the ,physician as fatal as the ,quack4 ,hoffman truly said to his age--,leave ,doctors alone2 live temperately1 drink water1 and you will need no medicines4 ,that was a true moral reform4 ,and thus among ourselves1 ,priessnith in #ahcj1 after the ,bacchanalia of the ,restoration imposed upon the luxurious aristocracy of ,europe the coarse food of the peasant1 and1 in the hard northern climate1 the open air bath1 in snow water2 that ,hell of cold which1 in its reaction1 gives such a glow of heat4 ,and the rich and the delicate submitted to this hard discipline2 so great is our human love of life and fear of death4 ,and1 in fact1 why should not water be the safety of man8 ,berzelius assures us that four-fifths of our living frames are water2 just as four-fifths of our globe are covered by ,oceans1 ,seas1 ,lakes1 and ,rivers4 ,for our arid ,earth the ,sea is a constant ,hydropathist1 curing it of its otherwise deadly dryness1 and nourishing and beautifying its fruits and flowers4 ,strange and prodigious magician1 that same water6 ,with so little1 making so much2 with so little1 destroying so much--destroying so slowly1 but so surely6 ,gutta lapidem cavat1 non vi1 sed stepe cadendo2 ,the plastic globule wears the rugged rock1 ,by frequent falling1 not by sudden shock4 ,water is at once the most potent and the most elastic of all forces1 lending her aid to all the metamorphoses of our globe1 covering1 penetrating1 transforming all around us4 ,into what frightful desert1 into what gloomy forest1 will not man penetrate in search of the healing springs which boil up from the bosom of the earth8 ,what a perfectly superstitious belief we have in those springs which bring to us the hidden and healing virtues6 ,i have seen fanatics who had no ,deity but ,carlsbad1 that wonderful meeting of the most contradictory waters4 ,i have seen the worshippers of ,bareges1 and ,i confess that ,i have myself submitted to the gushing and sulphureous waters of ,acqui in their strange and almost animal pulsations4 ,the hot baths of earth have no medium in their action2 they are either certain health or certain death4 ,how many sufferers who might have lingered through weeks1 months1 or even years1 have been quickly slain by them6 ,frequently1 those potent waters give a sudden revival1 and1 together with health1 bring back the very passions which caused disease2 passions hot as the waters which revived them4 ,the very atmosphere above these sulphureous waters is intoxicating1 the aura of the ,sybil that maddened her into ,prophecy6 ,an outburst which compels us to speak that which we would most conceal4 ,and how terribly self-revealing we are in those ,babels to which1 under the plea of seeking health1 we resort to throw aside the conventionalities1 in too many cases the very decencies of ,society4 ,there1 pale1 worn sufferers1 of both sexes1 sit at the gaming table in eager passion to win gold1 and1 in reality1 winning only an earlier ,death4 ,very different is the saving breath of the great ,sea2 in itself it is a purifier4 ,that never ceasing interchange of the ocean of air1 and the ocean of water1 forbids life ever to languish4 ,early and late1 those oceans of air and sea are at work4 ,at every instant each passes through the crucible of death--and at every instant revives4 ,the whirlwind and the water spout give newer and stronger life to the vexed ocean4 ,to live on land is to repose2 to live on sea is to combat1 and to combat savingly2--for those who can bear it1 a ,spartan training in which many perish1 but those who survive are very strong4 ,in the middle ages there was a perfect horror of the ,sea4 ,they libelled the great ,sea1 they called that fertile mother the kingdom of the prince of the powers of air--the very name which was given to ,satan4 ,the nobility of the seventeenth century would by no means consent to have its palaces near the huts of the rude seamen4 ,the frowning castle1 with its ugly and formal garden1 was almost always built1 as far as possible from the sea1 on some place destitute of sun and air1 but marvellously rich in fog and miasmata4 ,in ,england it was just the same4 ,if the manor house was on a hill1 the advantage of the situation was sedulously provided against by a forest of tall trees1 and quite as often1 instead of being on the hill1 it was in the pestilent marsh below4 ,at the present day1 ,england1 wiser than of old1 builds by the sea side1 rejoices in sea baths even in winter1 and is rewarded by strong health4 ,the people of the sea coasts better knew1 even in earlier times1 the life-giving power of the sea4 ,its purifying power first struck them2 they observed its power in curing scrofula of its disgusting sores1 and they well knew the power of its bitterness in killing the parasite worms which1 otherwise1 would kill the child4 ,they ate the ,sea weed and the ,halcyonia1 well knowing that the iodine that they contain contracts and makes firm the flesh4 ,russell1 who heard and noted these popular recipes1 was thus enabled to answer the question of the ,duke of ,newcastle1 and did so in his excellent book1 published in #agej1 on the use of ,sea water in cases of glandular wasting4 ,there is a great force in his sentence--,the great want is not how to cure1 but how to repair1 to create4 ,he proposed a miracle1 but a quite possible one2 to make new flesh1 new tissues4 ,and he proposed to do that chiefly with the child1 who1 though born of polluted parents1 might yet be re-made4 ,it was at the same time that ,bakewell1 the ,leicestershire farmer1 created meat4 ,up to that time horned cattle were chiefly valued for their milk1 from his day forth they are made to yield a more generous food4 ,the poor milk diet1 in fact1 had to be abandoned by men who are compelled to be so active1 so laborious1 so untiring4 ,russell's little book1 in #agej1 created ,sea bathing2 it is not too much to say he created it1 for it really was he who made it in vogue4 ,this whole grand theory may be summed up in a very few words3 ,it is necessary to drink sea-water1 to bathe in sea-water1 and to eat sea-weed2 clothe your children as lightly as possible1 and let them have plenty of air4 ,the ,ocean breeze1 and the ,ocean water2 there you have the sure cure4 ,that last advice seems very bold4 ,to have the half naked child exposed to the open air in a damp and variable climate1 is1 no doubt1 anticipatively1 to lose the weak2 but the strong will survive1 and their posterity will be the better brought up4 ,let us add that business1 and navigation1 by earlier relieving the boys from school1 from the sedentary life of the young nobles at ,oxford or ,cambridge1 make them a new race4 ,in his ingenious book1 guided only by popular tradition1 ,russell doubtless was far enough from suspecting how1 in a single century1 all science would come to the aid of his theory1 and that each would aid him in making of the ,sea a perfect system of ,therapeutics4 ,the most valuable elements of terrestrial life are abundantly in the sea2 and science may well say to us--,hither6 ,hither1 worn and wearied nation1 swinked laborer1 failing woman1 young child1 fading because your parents sinned2 hither6 to the ,sea1 and the ,sea shall cure you6 ,the universal base of life1 the embryonic mucus1 the living animal jelly in which man continually takes and retakes the marrowy substance of his being1 is so abounding in the sea that we may call it the sea itself4 ,of that mucus1 both marine animals and marine vegetables are made4 ,her generosity puts earth to shame4 ,she is liberal to give1 be ye therefore1 willing to receive4 ,but1 it maybe said1 we are attacked in the very foundation and support of our being4 ,our bones bend1 bow1 and we are weak1 and tottering from their insufficient nurture4 ,well6 ,the lime which they need abounds in the sea2 so abounds that her madrepores build islands of it1 and are at this moment building whole continents4 ,her fishes carry it hither and thither in such vast quantity that1 washed upon every shore1 it serves as a manure4 ,and you1 young female1 you who1 visibly1 are wasting into an early grave1 repair to the sea1 where every breath you draw shall be a restorative4 ,that restorative iodine1 is in every breath that blows1 in every wave that heaves1 in every fish that swims4 ,the ,cod alone have enough to iodise the entire earth4 ,is it animal warmth that you lack8 ,the sea affords you the most perfect1 the most equable1 the most widely diffused warmth2 warmth so great1 in fact1 that were it not diffused1 it would melt the earth from ,pole to ,pole1 and make each ,pole another ,equator4 ,the rich1 warm1 red blood1 is the triumph of the ,sea2 by it she has animated and armed with mightiest strength her giants1 so much mightier than mightiest giants of the earth4 ,she has made that element1 and she can remake you1 poor1 pale1 drooping flower4 ,she abounds1 superabounds1 in that rich red blood2 in her children it so abounds that they give it forth to every wind4 ,and there is the revelation of the whole mystery4 ,all the principles1 pale mortal1 that are combined in you1 she has in separation4 ,she has your bone1 your blood1 your sap and your heat--in one or the other of her creatures1 she has them all4 ,and she has1 also1 what you have not1 a superabundant strength4 ,her breathing gives ,i know not what of inspiring excitement2 of what we may call physical heroism4 ,with all her violence1 the great generating element inspires us with the same fiery vivacity1 the same wild love1 with which she herself palpitates4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,choice ,,of ,,coast4 ,earth is her own doctor2 every climate has its own remedy4 ,more and more will ,medicine lie in ,emigration4 ,but it must be an ,emigration of foresight1 not one of those mad-cap1 rapid1 and most mischievous journeys in which the patient rushes from one extreme of climate to another1 but prudently calculated to the obtaining of those vivifying aids which nature every where holds in store for those who know how to profit by them4 ,the youth1 that is yet to be born1 depends upon these two things--the ,science of ,emigration and the ,art of ,acclimatization4 ,hitherto1 man has remained a prisoner like an oyster on its rock4 ,if he occasionally emigrates to some small distance from his temperate zone1 he1 for the most part1 goes to die4 ,he will only become free1 really brave1 when the science and art of ,emigration and ,climatization shall make him free of the whole globe4 ,few diseases are cured in the place and under the circumstances which have given rise to them2 they hold to certain habits which the localities perpetuate and render unconquerable4 ,there is no ,reform1 physical or moral1 for those who persist in the originating vice4 ,medicine1 guided by the auxiliary sciences1 directs us in the new road to the desired end4 ,our emigrations must be made prudently and gradually4 ,can we1 safely1 without preparation1 without alteration of diet and of habits1 be suddenly removed from an inland to a maritime abode8 ,can we prudently take to the sea-bath until the sea breeze shall have trained our physical frame8 ,can we suddenly and without preparation encounter the severe shock1 the horripilation of the really tremendous shock of the cold water bath in the cold open air8 ,these questions we are glad to say are more and more being put and answered by our physicians4 ,the extreme rapidity of our railroad journeys is very mischievous even to the strong2--in many cases fatal to the ailing4 ,to pass1 as so many do1 from ,paris to the ,mediterranean in twenty-four hours1 passing at every hour into a different climate1 is as perilous a thing as a nervous person can do4 ,you arrive agitated1 giddy4 ,when ,madame de ,sevign took a whole month to travel from ,brittany to ,provence1 she proceeded by slow and calculated degrees from one climate to another1 and its opposite4 ,she proceeded1 by slow degrees1 from the maritime climate of the ,west into the inland climate of ,burgundy4 ,then1 travelling slowly by the upper ,rhone into ,dauphiny1 she1 with the greater safety and comfort1 braved the free winds of ,valence and of ,avignon2 then1 halting awhile1 and resting at ,aix1 in the interior of ,provence1 far from the ,rhone and from its shores1 she made herself ,provenal in lungs4 ,france has the enviable advantage of being between two seas1 and thence the facility of alternating1 as the disease may require1 between the saline tonicity of the ,mediterranean and the moister and--except in case of tempest--the far milder air of the ,ocean4 ,on each of the two coasts there is a graduated scale of stations1 more or less mild1 more or less strengthening4 ,it is very interesting to observe1 and very useful to follow1 this double scale1--proceeding1 as a general thing1 from weaker to stronger4 ,the climate of the ,ocean parting from the strong1 rough1 ever-heaving waters of the channel1 becomes extremely mild at the ,south of ,brittany1 milder still in the ,gironde1 and mildest of all in the land-locked basin of ,arcachon4 ,the air of the ,mediterranean1 which we may call circular1 has its highest note in the dry1 though keen1 climate of ,provence and ,genoa1 becomes more mild as you approach ,pisa1 milder and less variable in ,sicily1 and at ,algiers attains a wonderful mildness and regularity4 ,and on your return be sure of a balmy air at ,majorca and the little ports of the ,rousillon1 so well sheltered from the harsh north wind4 ,the ,mediterranean commands our admiration by two characteristics2 the beauty of its shores and the brilliant purity of its sky and atmosphere4 ,very salt1 very bitter is that sea2 but what a glorious blue sky is above it6 ,it gives out by evaporation about thrice as much water as it receives from all its tributary rivers4 ,it would become all salt1 like that terrible ,dead ,sea1 but for the lower currents1 the under-tow1 like that from ,gibraltar1 for instance1 were not constantly tempering it with the waters of the ,ocean4 ,all that ,i have seen of its shores are beautiful1 though somewhat stern4 ,nothing common-place about those shores4 ,the volcanic1 the lurid bale fires of the lower earth1 have everywhere made their mark upon the upper earth2 those dark ,plutonic rocks are never tiresome like the marshy sands of other shores4 ,if the famous ,orange woods sometimes seem somewhat monotonous1 they compensate you when here and there1 a sheltered spot1 you find the true ,african vegetation1 the ,aloe and the ,cactus1 the hedge of ,myrtle and ,jessamine1 and the wild and perfumed landes4 ,above1 it is true1 bald and frowning mountains loom1 and their long offshoots run even into the very sea4 ,it seemed to me1 said a traveller1 that ,i was between two atmospheres2 the air above1 and the air below4 ,he describes the varied world of plants and animals which were reflected by the crystal mirror of that deep blue sea of ,sicily4 ,i was less fortunate off ,genoa1 where1 gazing into the depths1 ,i saw nothing but a desert4 ,the dry and sterile rocks1 the volcanic framing of the shores1 dark as midnight1 or of a still sadder and more ghastly and ghostlike white1 showed me nothing but antique sarcophagi--reversed churches1 reminding one1 at times1 of the cathedrals of ,florence1 or the leaning tower of ,pisa4 ,sometimes1 also1 ,i seemed to see strange monsters of the deep4 ,whales8 ,elephants8 ,i do not know2 but of real life not a trace4 ,such1 however1 as that beautiful sea is1 it admirably nerves and hardens the dwellers on its shores1 and the sailors on its bosom2 it makes at once the most fiery and the most solid of races4 ,our giants of the ,north1 are1 perhaps1 stronger1 but certainly are not more enduring1 and1 as certainly1 they do not so readily1 or so safely acclimatise1 as the seamen of ,genoa1 of ,calabria1 or of ,greece1 bronzed as they are1 not by an accident of the skin1 but by the permeation1 the imbibation of the ,sun's rays4 ,a friend of mine1 a learned physician1 sends his pale patients from ,paris or ,lyons to take their ,sun-baths in the ,south1 and himself lies nude on the rocks1 for hours together4 ,he has only his head covered2 as to all the rest of his person1 he is bronzed as an ,african4 ,the really sick will go to ,sicily1 to ,algiers1 to ,madeira1 in search of health4 ,but the restorative of the pale1 worn populations of our great cities1 is best to be found in the more varied and more strengthening climates of the country which has given to ,earth its most iron humanity1 its heroes by sea and by land1 and in the council chamber--that truly iron race of the ,columbuses1 the ,dorias1 the ,massenas1--and the ,garibaldis4 ,our extreme ,northern ports1 ,dunkirk1 ,boulogne and ,dieppe1 where the winds and waters of the ,channel meet1 are also a great nursery of renewed life1 and restored strength4 ,that great breeze and that great sea1 might recall one from the grave4 ,you may see there perfectly incredible recoveries4 ,go there without any real and vital wound1 and you recover on the instant4 ,the whole human machine acts strongly2 digests well1 breathes freely4 ,you need not even strive for health when there1 for nature says to you1 as ,tully said to ,atticus1 ,jubeo valere1--,i command you to be well4 ,the sturdy vegetation that flourishes upon the very margin of the sea1 seems to rebuke our weakness4 ,each of the little ports which pierce our ,norman coast1 is swept by the nor' westerly wind1 which strengthens and revives us2 but grows less violent1 though not less salubrious1 at the mouth of the ,seine1 beneath the fruitful orchards of ,honfleur and ,trouville4 ,the good river1 sweeping away to the left1 carries with it a softer and gentler air4 ,higher up1 you meet the strong1 the sometimes really terrible1 sea of ,granville1 ,saint-,maloes1 and ,cancale1 about the best of naval schools for young folks1 a school which will make the strong still stronger4 ,but if1 on the contrary1 we have to deal with some weakling1 some young child1 born to weakness1 or some young mother1 made weak by too frequent parturition1 we must select some milder shelter4 ,and such a warm and always calm shelter1 you will find1 without going further ,south1 among the sleepy little isles and peninsul of ,morbihan4 ,these isles form a labyrinth more perplexed than that in which the ,english king sheltered his fair ,rosamond4 ,entrust your own treasure to that shelter1 and none shall know of her save the ,druidic rocks and the handful of fishermen who inhabit those at once wild and gentle shores4 ,does some gentle patient ask us on what people live1 in those marine solitudes8 ,we reply1 upon ,fish1 ,fish--still ,fish6 ,it is not far from ,st4 ,gildas1 where the ,bretons assure you that ,heloise sought her ,abelard4 ,they contrive to live there as cheaply and as well as ,robinson ,crusoe and his man ,friday4 ,places more civilized and attractive are to be found farther ,south1 such as ,pornice1 ,royan1 ,saint ,george1 ,arcachon1 c4 ,i spoke elsewhere of ,saint ,george's1 bordered by many a bitter and precious plant2 and ,arcachon1 too1 is as attractive1 with its resinous and wholesomely pleasant odor of its pine woods4 ,but for the worldly rush from that great and ,wealthy ,bordeaux1 but for that flood of health seekers1 which pours into it at certain seasons1 it is at ,arcachon that we would shelter the dearly beloved patient1 that dear and delicate creature for whom we fear the rush and crush of the hard working day world4 ,that place1 as long as we contemplate it only within the inner basin1 offers the contrast of an absolute and very deep calm with a terribly rough sea close by4 ,beyond the lighthouse is the terrible ,gascon sea1 within the bay a lazy tide1 so lazy that you cannot hear its murmurs1 as low1 as light1 as the quiet tread of lady's gentle footstep on the sea-weed carpet of that strand4 ,in an intermediate climate which is neither ,north nor ,south1 neither ,brittany nor ,vende1 ,i have visited again and again1 and always with pleasure1 the pretty and staid shelter of ,ponice1 with its frank seamen and its pretty girls1 with their conical hats4 ,it is a pretty quiet little place1 which1 protected as it is by the island 7rather the peninsula7 of ,noirmantiers1 receives only a slanting and exceedingly well behaved sea2 that enters silken in its softness4 ,and in that bay of several leagues1 these creeks1 with sloping shores1 made1 as it would seem1 on purpose for baths for women and children1 they are so sheltered and so safe4 ,those nice sandy beaches1 parted by such sheltering rocks1 conceal so much1 and yet reveal so much of the sea life1 the plain1 blunt1 yet ever kindly and courteous life of the seaman6 ,but if those sheltering rocks do much good1 they also do no little injury4 ,the sheltered creek and safe haven1 keeps out the ,tempest2--but1 it also keeps out the fishes4 ,by little and little1 but very regularly1 the grand rush and the grand murmur of the sea are kept out1 and yet1 that half silence has a very great charm4 ,no where else have ,i so much welcomed1 or so richly enjoyed1 that great luxury of the undisturbed ,day-dreaming4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,house4 ,permit an ignoramus who1 yet1 has paid a pretty high price for what he does know1 to give you some quiet advice upon certain points upon which books1 hitherto1 have told you little and ,doctors nothing4 ,that this advice may come the more directly to both head and heart1 ,i will address them to an imaginary patient4 ,imaginary8 ,not so2 ,i have met such a patient many times4 ,you meet a young lady seriously ill1 or manifestly about to be so1 she is very weak1 and her young child is weaker still4 ,the ,winter has been hard upon them1 and the ,spring still harder4 ,yet it is only weakness2--lassitude1 the tedium vit which ,byron truly calls more terrible than death itself4 ,and she is sent to the sea-side for the ,summer4 ,a great expense1 that1 for a fortune below even mediocrity2 painful moving for the mistress of a family2 hard separation1 above all1 for husband and wife who truly love each other4 ,they bargain1 they would fain shorten that separation4 ,would not one month be enough8 ,but the wise ,physician knows better1 and says it would not2 he well knows that a very short sojourn at the sea side is far more likely to injure than to benefit4 ,the sudden1 the severe shock of the sea bath is likely enough to injure even the strong2 to the feeble it is simply murderous4 ,you should first breathe the sea air2--acclimatize yourself4 ,do this during the month of ,june1 then you shall have ,july1 ,august1 ,september1 and1 in some seasons1 even ,october for your baths1 and the bath and the great1 strong1 keen winds will harden your frame against the fast approaching ,winter4 ,few men are free during the whole ,summer2 happy the husband who can be away from the thronged city to pass a couple of the ,summer months at the sea side with his suffering wife4 ,however much he may feel inclined to sacrifice every secondary interest for her1 it is for her interest that he must remain in the counting house or the factory4 ,there are strong links in the chain of our daily life which we may not1 which we cannot1 break4 ,therefore1 the wife must go alone2 and1 for the time1 behold them loving1 and yet divorced4 ,shall ,i give you my opinion8 ,let her go alone2 better for her than if she went in the train of some rich luxurious family4 ,that gregarious travel and gregarious abode have their pleasures1 no doubt2 but1 also1 they have their evils4 ,in such cases we are apt either to become enemies1 or1 which is still worse in the case of woman1 to become too friendly4 ,the style of life at a watering place sometimes1 and not seldom produces results which we regret through the whole remainder of life4 ,in my opinion the smallest inconvenience of that gregarious watering-place life 7smallest but very far from small7 is that the very people who alone would be both morally and physically benefited by the sea1 lose all that benefit by carrying to the solemn shore the frivolity1 the late hours1 the false gaiety of the great town4 ,alone we think2 in the crowd we gossip and scandalise4 ,the great and the rich lead the young and suffering female into their own dissipations1 and the consequence is that she has by the sea shore a really more mischievous excitement than she would have had in ,paris1 or ,london1 ,saint ,petersburgh or ,new ,york1 and will entirely lose the end for which1 loving husband1 you sent her thither4 ,reflect upon it1 young woman1 be courageous1 but also be prudent4 ,it is in an innocent solitude that you may1 if you will1 enjoy with your child1 that you will most surely find the renewed health and strength that you so much desire4 ,in that infantine1 pure1 but noble and poetic life1 ,i again assure you1 it is that you will find restoration4 ,believe me the delicate and tender justice which makes you fear expense1 while he at home is toiling so hard1 will well repay you4 ,the old ,ocean will love you the better if you love only it1 and will lavish upon you its great treasures of health and youthfulness4 ,your child will flourish like a young bay tree and you shall increase in grace and beauty2 and you will return to your far home youthful and dearly beloved4 ,she resolves1 she departs1 for a place1 the waters of which are well known by chemical analysis to have the qualities suited to her case4 ,but there are many local circumstances which cannot be known or even guessed at from a distance4 ,the ,doctor who recommends particular waters seldom knows the place1 though he knows the waters4 ,for some of the more important watering places ,guides have been published which are not without merit1 so far as they point out the particular diseases for which particular waters are suited4 ,but very few give details which enable one to choose between a healthy and unhealthy1 a pleasant and an unpleasant1 situation4 ,they do not venture upon such particulars as would enable one to choose between places as well as between waters1 but confine themselves to so general a eulogy of the latter as to leave us in the dark as to the former4 ,what is the precise exposition8 ,look at the map and you perceive that the coast slopes to the ,south1 but even this tells you nothing2 for it may chance that a peculiar curve of the land may place your house under a cold or damp influence1 from a ,northern or ,western exposure4 ,are there any marshes in the neighborhood8 ,in most cases the answer must be1 yes4 ,but the difference is very great whether the marshes be salt and renewed1 and made salubrious by the sea1 or whether they be stagnant marshes of fresh water which after droughts emit feverish miasmata4 ,is the sea very pure1 or mixed8 ,and in what proportion8 ,a great mystery4 ,for nervous persons1 however1 for novices just commencing with salt water bathing1 the mildest are the best4 ,a sea1 somewhat mixed1 an air less salt and keen1 and a less desolate shore1 having some of the charms of the country1 are the best recommendations4 ,a grave point is the choice of a house2 and who shall direct you as to that8 ,no one4 ,you must see for yourself2 you must observe all the particulars on the spot4 ,you will learn little from persons who have visited or even lived there4 ,they praise or condemn this or that place not on account of its real merit1 but according to the pleasure they have enjoyed or the friends they have made there4 ,they recommend you to some of those friends who receive you admirably2 at first you are delighted1 but in a short time you discover many inconveniences1 and sometimes the house is even dangerously unhealthy4 ,yet you do not like to leave it1 lest you should mortify both those who recommended you and the kind and amiable family who so hospitably received you4 ,well1 then1 you say1 ,i will ask no recommendation1 but on reaching the place ,i will consult an honest and skilful doctor who will be able to enlighten me4 ,honest6 that is not enough1 he must also be very intrepid to tell you frankly any of the bad qualities of the place1 for he would be a ruined man1 he would take leave of the whole place1 would live as solitary as a wolf2 and1 indeed1 would be lucky if some personal injury were not done to him4 ,i have a perfect horror of the absurdly flimsy houses which speculators build in our variable climate4 ,these pasteboard erections are so many dangerous traps4 ,in the full heats of ,summer such bivouacs are all well enough1 but often one has to remain in ,september and ,october amid the high winds and the torrents of rain4 ,for themselves the landlords build good substantial houses1 but for poor patients they build chalets of wood1 ill closed1 and not even moss-covered1 like the ,swiss chalets4 ,it really is treating us quite too ill4 ,in those villas1 apparently luxurious1 but in reality wretched1 no provision is made for comfort4 ,drawing-rooms for show1--and commanding a view of the sea1 they have1 but no provision is made to gratify that feeling of home comfort1 so dear to the sick1 and more especially so to woman4 ,she feels unsheltered1 as though constantly exposed to half a gale of wind1 and constantly passing from one temperature to another4 ,on the other hand1 the solidly built house of the ,fisherman is often low1 damp1 and inconveniently arranged in its interior4 ,often1 it has not even a double ceiling1 but mere planks1 which admit cold draughts into the upper rooms1 inflicting coughs1 rheumatism1 and a score of other diseases4 ,whatever may be your choice1 ,madame1 between these two kinds of house1 do you know what ,i heartily wish for you8 ,laugh1 if you please4 ,what ,i wish you to have1 even in ,june1 is a good fire-place1 with a very excellent chimney1 well closed against the wind4 ,in our beautiful ,france1 with its cold north-west and its rainy south-west1 which occasionally predominates for nine months1 a good fire may be necessary1 even in ,june4 ,on a damp evening1 when your child returns shivering from his promenade1 a fire is necessary1 to warm him1 before he goes to bed4 ,two things ought to be especially looked after1 wherever you lodge1 fire and good water1 the latter a thing rarely to be found near the sea4 ,if it is altogether bad1 endeavor1 by the use of beer or tea1 to dispense with drinking the plain water1 or if you must use it1 let it previously be boiled4 ,why cannot ,i1 with a single word1 build you just such a villa as ,i have in my mind8 ,i do not speak of the show-house1 the almost castle1 such as the wealthy build at the sea side1 but of the humble house1 fitted for humble fortunes4 ,it is an art which is yet to be created1 and one which no one seems to suspect1 that of building a house1 at once small and substantial4 ,the houses which are built for us1 especially at the sea side1 are built in direct contradiction with our needs in so changeable a climate4 ,those ,kiosks1 with their flimsy ornaments1 may do well enough for well-sheltered situations1 but make one fancy that the wind must needs blow them into the sea4 ,the ,swiss chalets have immense overhanging roofs1 which so well protect from the snow1 but also have the serious defect of excluding the light4 ,the sun1 in our northern seas1 should not be excluded1 but most cordially received4 ,as to the imitations of chapels1 gothic churches1 and the like toys1 we need say nothing about them1 they are really beneath notice1 so absurdly ill calculated as they are for comfortable homes4 ,the first necessity for a sea-side house1 is great strength1 a solid thickness of walls1 which will obviate that rocking which we always feel in slight buildings4 ,we want such a solidity of construction as even in the greatest tempests will give courage to a timid woman1 and enable her to say with a smile of pleasure4 ,how very comfortable we are in here1 while such a storm rages without6 ,the second point is that on the land side1 the house should be so perfectly sheltered that on that side we can sit and forget the sea1 and in the neighborhood of that great movement find the most complete repose4 ,to meet those two needs1 ,i prefer the form which affords least hold to the wind1 the crescent form1 with the convex front to the sea1 so that every window will in turn receive the ,sun4 ,the concave portion of this half circle would be sheltered by the horns of the crescent1 so as to enclose the pretty flower garden of the mistress of the house4 ,stretching from this flower garden1 the progressive sloping of the soil would allow of a kitchen garden of a certain extent1 well sheltered from the wind4 ,we are told that ,flora shuns the sea2 what she really does shun1 is not the sea1 but man's negligence1 ignorance1 or indolence4 ,at ,eteretat1 before a very heavy sea1 on the high overlooking beach1 and exposed to heavy winds1 there is a farm1 with an orchard of superb trees4 ,what precautions have been taken8 ,a simple hedge-crowned bank1 five feet high1 and behind that a row of elms1 which shelter all the rest4 ,many places ,brittany would furnish us with like instances4 ,who does not know that ,roscoff raises fruit and vegetables in such profusion as to sell them cheaply1 even in ,normandy8 ,but to return to our building4 ,i want it low-pitched2 only a ground floor1 and over that the bed-chambers4 ,our house1 therefore1 will be but small2 but1 on the other hand1 it must be very thick1 must have two rows of chambers1 an apartment looking out on the sea1 and another on the land4 ,the ground floor apartment1 looking towards the land1 would be somewhat sheltered by the upper story1 which would project about five feet4 ,this would make the interior crescent a sort of gallery for use in bad weather4 ,the lower rooms would be a dining room2--a small room for our books 7voyages and travels1 and natural history7 and a bathroom4 ,i do not mean an actual library or luxurious bath4 ,the necessary1 and the very plain1 the convenient1 and nothing more4 ,on very rough days1 when the beach is hardly the fit place for delicate patients1 ,i should wish to see the lady reading or working in her pretty parterre4 ,she would have some life there1 flowers1 an aviary1 and a little tank of sea water to receive the little creatures which the fishermen would be sure to give her4 ,of course she would also have an excellent compound microscope4 ,for the aviary1 ,i should prefer the free one which ,i have advised elsewhere1 into which the birds come at night for protection and a little food4 ,it is closed upon them at night1 to protect them from birds of prey1 but opened for them very early in the morning4 ,they return to this aviary very regularly4 ,i believe1 even1 that if the aviary were large enough1 and the tree which they most affect were enclosed1 they would freely breed there1 and confide their little ones to your protection4 ,delightful1 and yet serious life1 this1 that we have planned for our fair patient and her sole child4 ,what charming solitude in this short widowhood4 ,how new the situation4 ,no housekeeping1 no business4 ,with her boy1 she is even more alone than she would be without him4 ,but for him she would be intruded upon by reverie and vain fancies4 ,but her innocent guardian1 her boy1 keeps all such fancies away4 ,he occupies her1 causes her to talk1 and talks to her of home1 and he thus constantly reminds her of him who1 in their far off home1 is toiling for them1 and she counts the days to her return4 ,flourish1 pure and amiable woman4 ,you are now even younger than ever1 you have become a girl again1 free1 sweetly free1 under the guardianship of your boy4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,first ,,aspiration ,,of ,,the ,,sea4 ,it is a great and sudden transition to leave ,paris in the beautiful month of ,june when the great city is resplendent with its magnificent gardens and its chestnut trees in bloom4 ,june would be delightful on the coast if one had a single companion and the crowd had not arrived4 ,but when one is alone on the deserted1 with the great sea1 we are touched with a sort of melancholy4 ,on a first visit to the coast the impression made is not very favorable4 ,there is aridity1 there is wildness1 and yet there is a certain monotony4 ,the novel grandeur of the spectacle makes us feel1 by contrast1 how weak and small we are1 and that thought thrills the heart4 ,the delicate chest that so lately was confined in a chamber1 and now finds itself suddenly removed to this vast open chamber of the universe1 with the sun shining so brightly and the sea breeze blowing so strongly1 feels oppressed4 ,the child comes1 goes1 and the mother sits down1 shivering in the free fresh breeze4 ,the warmth of the home she has but just left comes to her mind and she saddens4 ,but her boy frolics gaily and that soon consoles her4 ,all this will soon pass away ,madame4 ,be resolute2 your impressions will be very different when you become better acquainted with the ,sea and think of its myriads of inhabitants4 ,and that painful constriction of the lungs will pass away too1 when you become accustomed to the free atmosphere of the sea4 ,you require time to accustom yourself to it1 by and by1 not thinking about it1 as your boy plays with you in sheltered nooks1 you will breathe freely and your chest will dilate without pain and without conscious effort4 ,but1 just at first1 ,i advise you not to stay too long at a time on the beach1 but rather to take your walk inland4 ,the land1 your accustomed friend1 recalls you4 ,the pine woods rival the sea in healthful emanations2 and theirs have less of harshness4 ,they penetrate all our being1 enter by every pore1 modify and purify the blood1 and perfume us with their subtle aroma4 ,in the ,landes behind the pine woods1 the herbs and even the coarse grass on which you tread1 yield perfumes not enervating or intoxicating as the dangerous roses1 but agreeably bitter4 ,seat yourself among them and you1 like them1 will be sheltered by this slight slope of land4 ,might you not1 now that you are thus sheltered1 fancy yourself a hundred leagues from the sea8 ,drink in the sweet breathings1 the pure spirits1 the very soul of these wild flowers--that1 in purity1 are your very sisters4 ,gather them if you will1 ,madame2 they ask for nothing better4 ,somewhat rude1 perhaps1 and yet so beautiful2 and in their virginal perfume they have that singular mystery of calming and strengthening4 ,do not fear to hide them in your fair bosom and upon your beating heart4 ,let us not forget that these sheltered landes are1 at certain hours1 burning hot4 ,they so absorb and concentrate the rays of the sun4 ,the weak woman is wilted there4 ,the young girl1 full of vigorous life1 feels her pulses boiling and has redoubled power2 her brain swims and she has strange and dangerous day dreams4 ,if you wish to go there let it be on some moist and rather cloudy day2 or1 still better1 rise at a very early hour when all is cool1 when the wild thyme still keeps somewhat of its dew1 and while the ,hare is still abroad4 ,but let us return to the ,ocean4 ,at ebb-tide he manifests1 and1 in some sort1 presents to you1 the rich life that he nourishes4 ,you must follow1 step by step1 the retiring waves1 though the wet sand will sink some little beneath your feet4 ,fear not4 ,the gentle wave will1 at the most1 kiss your feet4 ,if you look closely you will perceive that the sand is not1 as you at first thought it1 dead1 but is here and there moved by numerous lingerers that the ebb-tide has left behind4 ,on certain beaches1 small fish are thus hidden in the sand4 ,at the mouth of the rivers the ,eel's writhing movement1 throws up the sand in mimic earthquakes4 ,the ,crab1 too eagerly engaged in feeding1 or fighting1 has now to hasten back to the sea1 and in his flight he leaves an odd mosaic1 a zigzag line marking his oblique travel1 and at the end of that line you will find him lying in wait for the coming in of the tide4 ,the ,solen 7,manche de ,couteau71 that razor-shaped shell fish1 has plunged deep into the sand1 but betrays himself to you by the breathing holes that he has left4 ,the ,venus you can just as certainly trace by the fucus attached to its shell1 but floating on the surface2 and the undulations of the soil betray to you the covered ways of the warlike annelides1 and viewing them with the aid of your microscope you will be charmed with the rainbows of their changing colors4 ,but the finest sights are caused at the first low ebb1 which always follows the high ,spring tide4 ,at such ebbs1 immense and unexplored spaces are left bare1 and we can survey that mysterious bottom of the sea1 on which we have so often speculated and dreamed4 ,there you discover1 in motion1 in life1 in all the secrecy of their retreats1 astonished populations1 which fancied themselves secure1 and which rarely1 if ever before1 had been looked upon by the sun1 and still more rarely by the eye of man4 ,be not alarmed1 swarming populations of minute creatures1 you are seen only by the inquisitive but compassionate eye of a woman2 it is not the cruel and coarse hand of a fisherman that invades your retreat4 ,but you ask1 what does she want with you8 ,nothing but to see you1 salute you1 show you to her boy1 and leave you in your natural element1 and with every kindly wish for your health and prosperity4 ,at times we need not wander far2 at such times in a cleft of the rock1 we may find every minute species1 old ,ocean having diverted himself with lodging a whole world of minute creatures within the space of a few square feet4 ,we sit and we watch1 and the longer and the more closely we watch1 the more do we see of life1 at first imperceptible4 ,and so interested are we that we should sit there for an indefinite time1 were we not chased to shore by that imperious master of the beach1 the flood ,tide4 ,but to-morrow1 at ebb1 she will return to the beach1 that school1 that ,museum1 that inexhaustible amusement for both mother and child4 ,there the delicate and penetrating sense of woman and the tenderness of her heart seize and divine all4 ,maternity tells her all the secrets of increasing1 diminishing1 and recreating life4 ,do you ask why her instinct so quickly reveals creation to her2 why she enters as one so thoroughly at home1 into the great mystery of ,nature8 ,it is because she is ,nature herself4 ,in the depths of the unctuous waters the small alg1 small1 but unctuous and nourishing1 and other little plants of delicate and pretty figures1 form a miniature prairie which is browsed by a vast herd of mollusc1 ,limpets1 ,whelks1 and a hundred other species1 watch1 wait1 feed1 there1 and to-morrow you will find them there still4 ,but do you therefore suppose that they are utterly inert8 ,that they have no confused idea of ,love and the ,unknown8 ,of some benevolent thing which at certain hours returns to refresh and nourish them8 ,oh yes1 they both think of it and expect it2 those widows of the great ,ocean well know that he will return to caress the earth4 ,anticipatively they look towards the ,ocean1 and even those which have a fixed abode1 turn from the rock and open their shells towards the incoming tide4 ,and if it come in somewhat strongly they are all the more delighted2 too happy to hail that living wave that advances so strongly1 as in haste to caress them4 ,see my child says the young mother1 at our approach the motionless ones remain1 but the quicker have fled4 ,now see1 they take courage again4 ,the active shrimp1 with its fine feelers1 rainbowed by the water1 creates a great commotion in that mimic and miniature sea1 and the slow and hesitating sea spider1 at once timid and daring1 saves herself by ascending to the warm surface1 and the crab advancing and surveying1 suddenly returns into his miniature forest of sea weed4 ,but what do ,i see now8 ,what is that8 ,a large1 motionless shell suddenly takes life1 and moves4 ,oh1 but that is not natural1 and the impostor betrays himself by his awkward gait and his many stumbles4 ,yes1 yes1 we detect you now1 you most cunning of all cunning crabs1 ,sir ,bernard the ,hermit1 who would fain pass yourself off for an innocent mollusc6 ,your bad conscience agitates you too much4 ,on the shore of our ocean1 strangers to these movements1 the animated flowers expand their coroll4 ,near to the heavy anemone those charming little annelides appear in the sunlight4 ,from a tortuous tube rises a disc1 an umbrella1 white or lilac1 sometimes flesh color4 ,thrown1 itself1 a little on one side1 it casts off from itself an object which has nothing comparable to it in the whole vegetable world4 ,not one of these is like its sister1 and all are admirable for their velvety delicacy4 ,see one of them1 without umbrella1 which throws off a whole cloud of light cottony threads1 scarcely tinted with a silver grey1 while five longer filets are of the richest cherry color4 ,they wave1 they entwine1 they untwist1 and their silvery heads form beautiful images in the water4 ,to the coarse senses of man1 such a sight as that would suggest no serious thought2 but to the nervous and delicate woman1 it is much4 ,at those colors1 by turns flashing and fading1 she reflects on her own young life that now flashes1 now fades1 and now threatens to expire4 ,affecting thought6 ,again she looks into the pretty miniature ,ocean of a few feet square1 and there she better discerns ,nature1 the fertile mother1 but the stern mother too4 ,and our fair patient is plunged into an oppressive reverie4 ,woman would cease to be woman1 that is to say1 the charm of the world1 if she had not that touching gift of ,tenderness for everything that lives2 pity1 and loving tears4 ,she has not wept as yet1 our fair patient1 but she has been so near to doing so6 ,her boy perceives it4 ,being already attentive and quick1 he remains silent2 and1 silently they return4 ,that was the amiable first day when she first began to spell with her heart the language of ,nature4 ,and at her very first lesson that language had so stirred the tenderness of that poor heart6 ,the daylight was dying1 the sea bird1 on rapid wing1 approached the shore and sought his nest4 ,and as our patient and her boy entered their already dark garden1 the cry of the night bird was heard4 ,but the aviary was well closed1 and the innocent little refugees within were asleep with heads under wings4 ,having herself seen that all was thus safe1 she relieved her heart with a sigh1 and embraced her son4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,baths--,,restoration ,,of ,,beauty4 ,if1 as certain ,french physicians maintain1 sea-water baths have only a mechanical action1 infuse no new principle into the blood and are merely a simple branch of hydropathy1 it must be confessed that of all the forms of hydropathy they are the harshest and most hazardous4 ,let it once be clearly shown that that sea-water1 so rich in life1 bestows no more of vitality than fresh water and we must confess that it is little less than madness to take sea-baths in the open air and at all the risk of the wind1 the sun1 and the thousand possible accidents4 ,whoever has seen a poor creature come out of the water after taking his first bath1 whoever has seen him come out pale and shuddering1 must perceive how dangerous such experiments are to certain constitutions4 ,be assured that none of us would submit to so much suffering if health could be as readily secured without suffering and without danger1 in one's own house1 and by common fresh water hydropathy4 ,and1 as though the impression of a first sea-bath were not sufficiently strong1 it is aggravated for a nervous woman by the presence of the crowd of bathers4 ,for her it is a cruel exhibition to make before a critical crowd1 before rivals1 delighted to see her ugly1 for once2 before silly and heartless men1 who1 with telescope in hand1 watch the sad hazards of the toilette of the poor humiliated woman4 ,to brave all this the patient must have faith1 great1 surpassing faith1 in the ,sea4 ,she must believe that no other remedy will meet her case1 and must determine that1 at whatever risks1 she will be permeated by the virtues of the sea water4 ,and why not be thus permeated8 ask the ,german physicians4 ,if at first entering the water you contract and close up your pores1 reaction brings almost immediately a warmth that reopens them1 dilates the skin and renders it very capable of absorbing the life of the sea4 ,the two operations1 the closing and the reopening of the pores1 the first chill and the succeeding glow1 almost always take place in five or six minutes4 ,to stay in longer than the latter space of time1 is almost always injurious4 ,moreover1 we should not venture upon this violent emotion of the cold bath without a preliminary course of warm bathing1 to facilitate absorption4 ,our skin which is entirely composed of the little mouths which we call pores1 and which1 in its way1 both absorbs and digests1 as the stomach does1 wants time to get accustomed to such strong nourishment as the mucus of the sea1 that salted milk with which the sea makes and remakes such myriads of creatures4 ,by a graduated course of baths1 hot1 warm1 lukewarm1 and almost cold1 the skin acquires this habit1 and1 so to speak1 this appetite2 and increase of appetite grows by what it feeds on4 ,for the hard ceremony of the first cold sea-water baths1 at least1 the odious gaze of a mob of people is to be avoided4 ,let them be taken in private and with no one present but a perfectly reliable person who1 at need1 will help the nervous patient1 and rub her with hot cloths and revive her with warm drinks containing a few drops of the potent elixir4 ,but1 it may be said1 the presence of other bathers lessens the danger2 we are far different from ,virginia1 who1 in an extreme danger1 preferred drowning herself to taking a bath4 ,a great mistake2 we are more nervous now than ever we were4 ,and the impression of which ,i speak is at once so vivid and so revolting--,i mean for nervous people--that it is quite capable of killing1 by aneurism or apoplexy4 ,i love the people1 but ,i hate a mob2 especially a noisy mob of fast livers who come to sadden the great ,sea with their noise1 their fashions1 and their absurdities4 ,what6 ,is not the land large enough8 ,must such people come to the ,sea to martyrize the sick and to vulgarize the majesty of the ,sea1 that wild and true grandeur8 ,i once had the ill luck to run from ,havre to ,honfleur in a craft loaded with such fools4 ,even in that short trip they found time to grow weary of quiet1 and to get up a ball4 ,one of them--probably a dancing master--had his ,kit with him and played all sorts of dances in the presence of that great ,ocean4 ,happily one could not hear much of that small music2 scarcely now and then could a shrill note or two rise above the solemn1 the truly solemn bass of the ,sea's roar4 ,i can easily imagine the sadness of the lady who1 in ,july1 suffers under the invasion of a mob of these fops1 fools1 and gossips4 ,all liberty is then at an end4 ,even in the most retired spot the drowsy ear of night is vexed by the boisterous echoes from saloon1 and dancing room1 coffee-room and ,casino4 ,in the day the host of yellow gloves and varnished boots crowds the shore4 ,one lady is observed alone1 with her boy4 ,why is that8 ,impertinents wish to know1 they approach1 and1 gathering sea shells for the child1 endeavor to force their conversation on the mother4 ,the lady is embarrassed1 bored to death1 and has to confine herself to her lodging or venture out only in early morning1 while the empty pated revellers are still sleeping off the effects of the last night's follies4 ,then1 from her seclusion flow a thousand ill natured comments4 ,she becomes alarmed1 for some of these idlers have influence and may1 possibly1 injure her husband4 ,nowhere more than at the sea side1 are we inquisitive1 and the poor woman becomes agitated and sleepless during the long hot nights of ,july and ,august1 and if1 towards morning1 she at length sleeps1 she is not much more tranquil4 ,the baths1 far from cooling1 add the saline irritation to the fierce heat of the dog days4 ,from her youth she derives1 not strength1 but fever2 and1 weak and highly nervous1 she is all the more disturbed by that interior storm4 ,interior1 but yet not hidden4 ,the ,sea1 the pitiless ,sea1 brings to the skin the proofs of that excitement which the sufferer would fain keep hidden4 ,she betrays it by red blotches1 slight efflorescences4 ,all these petty annoyances1 which still more afflict the children1 and which in them the mother looks upon as signs of returning health1 the mothers feel as humiliations when seen on their own faces4 ,they fear that they will therefore be less loved4 ,so little do they know of the heart of man4 ,they know not that the sharpest spur of love is not beauty1 but suffering4 ,oh6 ,if he should find me ugly6 is the poor woman's morning thought1 as she looks in her glass4 ,she at once fears and desires the coming of her husband4 ,and yet she feels so lonely1 and fears1 she knows not what1 amidst that noisy crowd4 ,she dares not go out1 she becomes feverish1 and at length is confined to her bed4 ,in little more than twenty-four hours1 the beloved one is by her side4 ,who has summoned him8 ,she certainly has not4 ,but1 in his great straggling handwriting1 her boy has written to his father thus3 ,my dear ,papa1 come quickly4 ,mamma is confined to bed1 and the other day she said 'oh if he were here6' ,and accordingly he was there1 and immediately she felt herself recovering4 ,and he1 how happy he is6 ,happy to see her restored1 happy to be necessary to her1 and happy to see her looking so beautiful4 ,she is somewhat sun burnt1 but how young she looks6 ,what life in her glance1 and in her flowing and silky hair6 ,is this mere fiction1 this so prompt restoration of life1 beauty1 and tenderness2 this delightful incident of finding in a wife1 a young mistress1 so happy in being rejoined by a husband8 ,not at all4 ,it is an agreeable sight which right often may be witnessed4 ,if rare among the very rich1 it is not so among the laborious families whose labor makes them1 during most of their lives1 close prisoners4 ,their forced separations are painful1 and their reunion has a charm1 a rapture1 which they do not even try to conceal4 ,when we consider the prodigious tension of modern life1 for toiling men1 7that is to say1 for every one but a few idlers7 one cannot but be glad to witness those scenes of joy1 when a reunited family expand their hearts4 ,those who have no hearts1 call all this vulgar and prosaic4 ,but1 the form matters little1 where the substance is so surpassingly good4 ,the careworn merchant1 who1 from three months to three months1 has only with utmost difficulty saved the bark in which the destiny of his wife and children is exposed to shipwreck2 the administration victim2 the employ1 worn well nigh to death by the injustice and tyranny of the offices--these suffering captives1 are released1 for a brief space1 from their galling chains1 and the tender family1 the mother and child1 endeavor to make the husband and father forget his cares4 ,and well able are wife and child to wile the worn man into that sweet temporary oblivion4 ,their gaiety1 their caresses1 and the distractions of the sea-side1 soothe his wearied soul1 and fill his mind with other and happier thoughts4 ,it is their triumph4 ,they hurry off to visit their beach1 to contemplate their sea1 and to enjoy his admiration1 which he1 worthy man1 just a little exaggerates1 because he wishes them to be pleased4 ,yes6 it is their sea2 having bathed in it1 they have taken possession2 and he1 the toilworn husband and father1 must share with them in their vast possession4 ,the young woman no longer fears that crowd which formerly so much annoyed1 and even alarmed1 her2 now that he is beside her she is not merely safe1 but bold1 daring2 to say the truth1 just a little presumptuous4 ,she is quite familiar with the sea2 familiar enough to be determined to learn to swim4 ,at first she is supported by her active and bold boy4 ,supported by him1 she swims--but ,i fear if left to herself her native timidity would return1 and she would sink4 ,yet she is in love with the sea2 yea1 jealous of the sea4 ,for1 in fact1 the sea inspires no moderate passions4 ,there is ,i know not what of electric inspiration1 of all-absorbing passion for the ,sea1 in all who truly know it4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,restoration ,,of ,,heart ,,and ,,brotherhood4 ,there are three forms of ,nature which especially expand and elevate our souls1 release her from her heavy clay and earthy limits1 and send her1 exulting1 to sail amidst the wonders and mysteries of the ,infinite4 ,first2 there is the variable ,ocean of ,air with its glorious banquet of light1 its vapors1 its twilight1 and its shifting phantasmagoria of capricious creatures2 coming into existence only to depart on the instant4 ,second2 there is the fixed ,ocean of the earth1 its undulating and vast waves as we see them from the tops of earth o'er gazing mountains1 the elevations which testify its antique mobility1 and the sublimity of its mightier mountains clad in eternal snows4 ,third2 there is the ,ocean of waters1 less mobile than air1 less fixed than earth1 but docile1 in its movements1 to the celestial bodies4 ,these three things form the gamut by which the ,infinite speaks to our souls4 ,nevertheless1 let us point out some very notable differences4 ,the air-,ocean is so mobile that we can scarcely examine it4 ,it deceives1 it decoys1 it diverts2 it dissipates and breaks up our chain of thought4 ,for an instant1 it is an immense hope1 the day of an infinity2--anon1 it is not so2 all flies from before us1 and our hearts are grieved1 agitated1 and filled with doubt4 ,why have ,i been permitted to see for a moment that immense flood of light8 ,the memory of that brief gleaming must ever abide with me1 and that memory makes all things here on ,earth look dark4 ,the fixed ocean of the mountains is not thus transient or fugitive2 on the contrary1 it stops us at every step1 and imposes upon us the necessity of a very hard1 though wholesome1 gymnastic4 ,contemplation here has to be bought at the price of the most violent action4 ,nevertheless1 the opacity of the ,earth1 like the transparency of the air1 frequently deceives and bewilders us4 ,who can forget that for ten years ,ramon1 in vain1 sought to reach ,mount ,perdu1 though often within sight of it8 ,great1 very great1 is the difference between the two elements2 the ,earth is mute and the ,ocean speaks4 ,the ,ocean is a voice4 ,it speaks to the distant stars1 it answers to their movements in its deep and solemn language4 ,it speaks to the ,earth on the shores1 replying to the echoes that reply again2 by turns wailing1 soothing1 threatening1 its deepest roar is presently succeeded by a sad1 pathetic sigh4 ,and it especially addresses itself to ,man4 ,as it is the fecund womb in which creation began and still continues1 it has creation's living eloquence2 it is ,life speaking to ,life6 ,the millions1 the countless myriads1 of beings1 to which it gives birth1 are its words4 ,that milky ,sea from which they proceed1 that fecund marine jelly1 even before it is organized1 while yet white and foaming1--speaks4 ,all these mingled together makes the unity1 the great and solemn voice of the ,ocean4 ,and1 what are those wild waves saying8 ,they are telling of ,life1 of the eternal ,metamorphosis2 of the great fluid existence1 shaming our senseless ambitions of the earth-world4 ,they are telling of ,immortality4 ,an indomitable strength is at the bottom of ,nature1 how much more so at ,nature's summit1 the ,soul6 ,and it speaks of ,partnership1 of ,union4 ,let us accept the swift exchange which1 in the individual1 exists between the diverse elements2 let us accept the superior ,law which unites the living members of the same body--,humanity2 and1 still more1 let us accept and respect the supreme ,law which makes us create and coperate with the ,great ,soul1 associated as we are--in proportion with our powers1--with the loving ,harmony of the world--copartners in the ,life of ,god4 ,the ,sea very distinctly1 in that voice that is mistakenly supposed to be a mere confusion of sounds1 articulates those grave words4 ,but man does not easily recognize those words1 when he first arrives on the shore exhausted by worldly struggles1 deafened1 distracted1 by worldly babble4 ,the sense of the higher life is dulled even among the best of us2 the best of us1 to a greater or less extent1 resist that sense4 ,and who shall teach us to quicken and obey that sense8 ,nature8 ,not yet4 ,softened into tenderness by the family1 by the innocence of the child and the tenderness of the wife1 man first takes an interest1 real and strong1 in the things of humanity1 in the cares and studies which tend to preserve the family4 ,but woman is earlier and more deeply interested in the ,sea1 in the ,poetry of the ,infinite4 ,and thus we see that souls have sexes as well as bodies have4 ,for the man thinks of the seaman more than of the sea's wonders2 he thinks of its dangers1 of its daily and hourly tragedies1 and of the floating destiny of his family4 ,the woman1 tender as she is to individuals1 takes less interest in classes4 ,every laborious man1 who visits the coast1 bestows his principal attention and his principal sympathy upon the hard life of the man of toil1 the fisherman and the sailor2 upon that hard hard life so laborious and perilous and so little productive of gain4 ,such a man1 while his wife rises and dresses her sweet child1 walks upon the beach in the early morning just as the fishing boats return4 ,the morning is cold1 the night has been rainy1 and the boats have shipped many a heavy sea4 ,the men1 and not only men but very small boys1 too1 are wet to the skin4 ,and what have they brought back8 ,not much2--but they have come back1 and that is much4 ,for last night1 see you1 they shipped many a sea and looked at death closely many a time4 ,ah6 ,when the stranger reflects upon the hard life brought immediately under his purview1 surely1 however much he may have complained of his own lot1 he will now learn to say ,my lot is far better than theirs4 ,in the evening1 just when the sun sets1 coppery and threatening1 into the sinister horizon1 these men already have to sail again4 ,and the stranger says to them1 ,shall you not have bad weather1 think you8 ,sir1 they reply1 we must earn our bit of bread1 and they and their sturdy boys push off to ,sea4 ,and their wives1 more than serious1 sad1 follow them with their eyes2 and more than one of those wives whisper an earnest prayer4 ,and the stranger1 too1 whispers his prayer1 and says to himself1 ,they will have a dirty night2 would that they may return in safety4 ,and thus it is that the ,sea opens the heart1 and that even the hardest hearts are softened in presence of the great stern mother4 ,in that presence1 no matter what we may strive to think1 we become humanized1 sympathizing1 tender4 ,and ,heaven knows how much need and how much occasion there are for sympathy there6 ,every kind of want and struggle is to be found among those brave1 honest and intelligent marine populations who are incomparably the best of our country4 ,i have lived a good deal on the coast4 ,every heroic virtue1 which an inland population would praise so highly1 is there an every day and very common-place matter4 ,and1 still more curious6--there is no pride among these hardy mariners4 ,all our ,french pride is for the landsmen--the soldiery4 ,but among our marine population the greatest dangers count for nothing2 every one braves such every day1 and no one ever thinks of boasting of them4 ,i have never met with men who were milder or more modest 7,i had almost said more timid7 than our ,gironde pilots who1 from ,royan and from ,st4 ,george's gallantly put out1 to face all that ,cordouan has of peril4 ,there1 as at ,granville1 and every where else on that coast1 it is the women alone who have anything to say1 or any business to do1 on land4 ,the brave pilots1 when once on shore1 never say a word in the way of command2 peaceable as their valiant wives are superbly noisy1 the men leave the women full authority to administer the poor income and to rule 7occasionally with a pretty hard hand7 the youngsters of the household4 ,the husband1 in fact1 though he reads no ,latin1 literally and practically translates the ,latin poet3 ,happy1 when in mine own house ,i am as nobody4 ,their wives1 greatly interested about the foreigner1 had1 nevertheless1 let it be boldly as truly said1 a royal1 a magnificent1 a generous1 kindly feeling4 ,at ,st4 ,georges1 they cut up1 and scraped up1 all their linen to make lint for the wounded at ,solferino4 ,at ,entretat1 three ,englishmen being wrecked1 and in awful danger1 the whole population1 men1 women and children1 rushed to the rescue1 and dragged them to land with all the outward and visible signs of a real and a violent sensibility4 ,and they were fed1 and clothed1 and tended1 and relieved1 even as though they had been compatriots1 and very dear friends4 ,this occurred in ,april1 #ahei4 ,oh6 ,those kind ,french people6 ,and yet1 how hard1 hitherto1 has been their life6 ,in our regime of ,classes 7so useful1 however1 in itself1 and from which we derive so much of giant strength7 the sailor is compelled1 at any moment1 to leave the merchant service for the war ship1 daily and hourly growing more severe1 more crushing1 in its hard discipline6 ,forty years ago the sailor sang1 as he worked at the capstan bar2 now he heaves in silence4 7,ial4 ,arch ,,ii4 #ebb74 ,and in the merchant service1 the great fisheries are almost worked out4 ,the profits of the ,whale ,fishery belong1 almost entirely1 to the outfitter4 7,boitard1 ,diet4 art4 ,cetace1 ,whales1 c47 ,the ,cod has diminished1 the ,mackerel grows more and more scarce4 ,a very precious little book 7,the ,story of ,rose ,duchenin1 by herself7 gives a most touching picture of this great destitution4 ,alphonse ,karr1 that admirable writer1 had the good sense to write that book from the dictation of that ,fisherman's ,wife1 without altering a word of hers1 or adding a word of his own4 tretat is not1 properly speaking1 a port4 ,situated little1 if any1 above the level of the ,sea1 and defended only by the pebbly bar which the sea has washed in1 it is but poorly sheltered4 ,and consequently1 it is necessary that1 according to the old ,celtic custom1 every vessel that runs in there1 must be hauled up to the ,quay by the cable and the capstan2 the capstan bars being handled by the women1 for the lads are all at sea4 ,the labor and the difficulty will be easily understood by all who read this4 ,the lubberly craft1 as it is drawn up1 hits hard from boulder to boulder1 and ascends only by leaps1 violent and damaging1 and still more threatening than either4 ,and at every leap and every shock1 those poor women suffer from the hard blow to their necks and from the bitterly painful emotions of their poor hearts4 ,when ,i first witnessed this terrible labor1 ,i was wounded1 saddened in mine inmost heart4 ,my first impulse was to bear a hand and lend my aid4 ,but the thing would seem so singular1 ,i thought1 that a something1 ,i know not what1 of false shame1 arrested me4 ,but every day ,i lent a hand1 at least with my wishes and my prayers4 ,i went1 and looked4 ,those young and charming1 though anything but pretty1 women and girls did not sport the short red petticoat of the coasts1 but long robes2 and for the most part1 they had the refined and delicate aspect of the young lady of the great city4 ,bending to that hard toil 7a filial1 and1 therefore1 a noble toil7 they had a certain mingled grace and pride1 and1 in all that hard toil1 not a complaint1 not even a sigh1 escaped them4 ,that very small ,quay of ,boulders1 small as it is1 yet is too large4 ,i saw there a number of vessels1 abandoned1 useless4 ,for1 see you1 the ,fishery has become so unproductive6 ,the fish have fled that shore4 ,entretat languishes1 perishes1 so near to languishing1 and1 but for its sea-bathing1 perishing1 ,dieppe1 which owes its present existence--such as it is6--to the greater or less number of visitors1 who render ,dieppe in one season prosperous1 and in another as nearly as possible1 bankrupt4 ,and this very influx from ,paris1 worldly ,paris1 is1 after all1 morally1 at least1 a real scourge to that marine population4 ,our ,norman populations who discovered ,america1 and who1 ever since the fourteenth century1 have known ,africa1 are every year becoming less and less in love with the sea1 so that1 year by year1 more and more of them are turning their faces inland4 ,the descendant of the bold fellow who formerly harpooned the ,whale1 is now a pale cotton-spinner of ,montville or of ,balbec4 ,it is for ,science1 it is for the ,law1 to put a stop to this fearful decay4 ,the former with its skill1 its sound advice will1--if such advice be resolutely acted upon1 economise the ,sea and revive that ,fishery which is the very nursery of ,seamen2 and in the next place1 the ,law1 less exclusively caring for the interests of the real lite1 the real flower and elect of the country1 in no wise to be compared to those great masses from which we draw our soldiery1 but who1 under given circumstances1 will be able to cut the ,gordian knot of the world4 ,such were my reflections1 on the little wharf or ,quay of ,etretat1 in the cloudy and rainy summer of #ahfj1 while the capstan bar was heaved at by young females1 while the capstan screamed at every turn1 and while the whole scene put one in mind of desolation for the present1 and worse to come4 ,and thus is it with our century4 ,ever since #agcj1 and so in the present day1 labor1 fatigue1 and slowness have been upon us4 ,let us all1 of no matter what rank1 put hand and strength to the capstan bar6 ,but1 alas6 how many of us prefer picking up pebbles on the wild sea shore6 ,we read that ,scipio1 stern conqueror of ,carthage1 and ,terence1 the lucky refugee from that shipwreck of a world1 amused themselves in picking up shells on the sea shore2 capital friends in their forgetfulness of the past4 ,they enjoyed the dolce far niente2 they were luxurious in their enjoyment of the illusion of being boys once more4 ,but let not that be our wish4 ,we will not1 we must not1 we dare not1 forget our duty2 no1 with persistent labor1 with uncooling ardor1 we will put our hands to the capstan bar1 and help to warp up this great1 but worn and much tried century4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,new ,,life ,,of ,,the ,,nations4 ,just as ,i was finishing this book1 in ,december1 #ahfj1 resuscitated ,italy1 that great and glorious mother of the modern nations1 sent me tidings1 in the shape of a small book1 a mere pamphlet4 ,it was my ,new ,year's gift for #ahfa4 ,and from that ,italy how often have we had great and beautiful tidings8 ,in #acjj news from ,dante2 in #aejj news from ,americus ,vespucius2 in #afjj from ,galileo4 ,and what are our present tidings from ,florence8 ,apparently1 but small4 ,but who knows8 ,perhaps the results will be immense6 ,it is a discourse of but a few pages1 a medical pamphlet1 and its very title is more likely to repel than to attract4 ,and1 yet1 in those few pages there is matter which1 duly acted upon1 may change the whole destiny of our great1 but weak1 our often wise1 but still more often mistaken ,humanity4 ,opposite to the ,title ,i find two portraits1 one a deceased boy1 and another dying4 ,the author of the pamphlet is a ,doctor1 who1 very unusual thing6 has been so terribly impressed by the fate of his poor unknown and1 but for him1 uncared for children1 that he has been led to write for our instruction1 his pain and his regret4 ,the elder of these children1 of a fine and high nature1 in the bitterness1 as it would seem1 of a great destiny cut short1 has a bouquet upon his pillow4 ,his mother1--poor1 poor1 mother6 has given it to him this morning1 having nothing else to give1 and the nurses1 seeing the quite religious love with which he cared for the poor gift of that poor mother1 have allowed him to keep it4 ,the second1 still younger1 in all the tender grace of his four or five years1 is evidently dying2 his eyes are fast veiling beneath the death film4 ,each of these poor boys had shown sympathy for the other4 ,when they could no longer speak their sympathy1 they looked it in their tender glances1 and the good kind ,doctor1 7blessings on him for the kindly thought67 had them placed opposite to each other1 and his engraving shows them to us 7touching sight71 just as1 dying1 they exchanged their sympathizing glances6 ,the whole is truly1 and nobly1 ,italian4 ,in any other country a man would fear to be laughed at in showing himself thus truly tender4 ,not so in ,italy4 ,the ,doctor wrote to his ,italian public1 just as he might soliloquise in the privacy of his own study2 and he unreservedly pours out all his feelings with an intensity1 with a perfectly feminine sensibility1 which will make the worldly man laugh1 and the kindly man weep4 ,and it must be confessed that his native language has much to do with his power over our feelings2 it is the language of women and children1 at once so tender and so striking1 beautiful even in its terrible accent of grief and suffering4 ,it is a shower of mingled tears and roses4 ,and then he suddenly stops himself4 and apologizes4 ,he would not have written thus1 but for sufficient cause1 and that cause is that ,those poor children would not have died if they could have been sent to the sea-side4 ,and1 the inference8 ,that at the sea-side we must have ,hospitals for children4 ,now here1 if you please1 is a really skilful1 as well as greatly humane1 man4 ,he touches the heart2 and the rest necessarily follows4 ,men listen attentively and are touched2 women burst into an agony of tears4 ,they beg1 they pray1 they insist--and who is to resist them8 ,without waiting for government action1 or government aid1 a voluntary society has founded a ,children's ,sea-,bathing ,hospital at ,viareggio4 ,all who have been there admire the crescent-like sweep1 made by the ,mediterranean1 when it quits ,genoa passes the magnificent road of ,spezzia and reaches the ,virgilian ,olive ,groves of ,tuscany4 ,about half way from ,leghorn a cape1 stolen from the ,sea1 is the site1 henceforth the sacred site1 of this truly admirable foundation4 ,florence1 by the way1 has preceded all ,europe in the way of charitable foundations2 she had hospitals before the close of the tenth century1 and in the year #abhg1 when ,beatrice inspired and maddened ,dante1 her father1 the cruel persecutor of the greater1 far greater ,dante1 founded the hospital of ,st4 ,maria ,nuova4 ,even ,luther1 though in his travels he saw little to admire in ,italy1 did admire1 and very heartily1 its ,hospitals and the beautiful ,italian women1 who1 veiled1 stood by the bedsides of the sick sinner and the dying pauper4 ,this new foundation1 of which we have spoken1 will1 we trust1 be a model for ,europe4 ,we owe that much to children2 for upon them it is that fall the worst effects of our murderous toils and our still more murderous excesses in every kind of bad life4 ,it is impossible not to perceive the visible and terrible deterioration of our ,western races4 ,the causes of it are numerous and very various4 ,the chief of them all is the immensity and the constant and rapid increase of our hours of labor4 ,for the most part1 it is compulsory2 compelled by trade regulations and trade necessities4 ,but even where no such compulsion exists1 there the same ardor of long hours and hard toil exists4 ,i know not what demoniac fire exists in our modern temperament4 ,compared to ourselves1 all former centuries have been positively idle4 ,our results1 no doubt1 are immense4 ,from our prolific brain and iron hand1 proceeds such a marvellous flood of art1 science1 inventions1 productions1 and ideas1 that we are actually glutting the markets1 not only of the present1 but also of the future4 ,but at what cost are we doing all this8 ,at the price of an awful expenditure of strength1 and of nervous energy2 we are enervating ourselves1 our works are prodigious1 and our children are miserable4 ,we condemn them to disease1 suffering1 and premature death even before they are born4 ,our spendthrift waste of energy entails feebleness and early death upon them6 ,and let it be remembered that this immense amount of production is the work of only a comparatively small number4 ,america does little of it1 ,asia next to nothing1 and even in ,europe all1 or nearly all1 is done by a few millions in the extreme ,west4 ,the others laugh to see the really working peoples thus wear themselves out4 ,poor ,barbarians6 ,do you fancy1 then1 that this ,russian or that ,backwoodsman1 can replace1 at need1 a mechanic of ,london or an optician of ,paris8 ,no2 we have become such by the education and the practice of long centuries4 ,a whole and a very long tradition is in us4 ,what would become of you if we should die8 ,none of you are ready to succeed us4 ,but this same murderous toil1 this absolutely suicidal production1 if we be willing to accept it for ourselves1 it is our duty not to accept it for our children2 we have no right thus to add murder to suicide4 ,and1 yet1 that is what we really are doing4 ,they are born already1 with our fatigue1 our cerebral exhaustion4 ,with a perfectly frightful precocity1 they know1 they can1 they will1 and they do4 ,but how long8 ,the grave opens for them so early6 ,the human infant1 like the young plant1 needs rest1 air1 and a sweet liberty4 ,do we give our children any of these8 ,no2 our very virtues1 as well as our vices1 deny them all4 ,everything seems to combine to kill them early4 ,do we love them8 ,no doubt2 and yet our worst malice could not do more than we do to kill them early or to cause them to live miserably1 pitifully1 sufferingly1 effeminate4 ,such a society as ours1 so overworked1 so over excited1 so constantly agitated1 is1 7whether society will confess it or not7 a real1 and a murderous war upon our children4 ,especially there are times and seasons in the course of the child's growth when his life quite literally hangs upon a thread4 ,life1 at those times1 seems to borrow human voice1 and to ask1--,can ,i possibly last8 ,at those critical times1 see you1 the contact of so many1 the close1 sedentary1 and imprisoned life of cities1 is just simply ,death to those delicate and fading creatures4 ,or1 even worse than ,death1 it is the commencement of a long career of suffering and helplessness far worse than ,death itself4 ,in this latter case you leave a poor creature who1 now sick1 now well1 drags on a wretched existence1 a misery to himself and a burthen upon public charity4 ,all this must be cut short4 ,we must have foresight combined with humanity4 ,we must snatch the child from these murderous surroundings2 we must take him from man and give him to the grand nursing of the fecund ,nature--of the ,sea4 ,and1 then1 the child will live and become ,man4 ,your very foundlings1 if you thus treat them may some day become your ,nelsons and your ,napiers1 and your community1 instead of having to support an habitual patient of your hospitals1 will have the bold seaman or the strong laborer4 ,and1 for the matter of that1 why need we depend upon the ,state to do this great thing8 ,florence hath taught us that the royal heart is fully equal to any other royalty2 woman in her mercy1 is a royalty2 she commands1 entreats1 and man obeys4 ,woman6 ,have mercy upon the children6 ,if ,i were a young and lovely woman1 ,i well know what ,i should say1 and what ,i should do4 ,i should have all around me my magnificence and my luxury1 and when on some fine day1 my lover in his love should be eager1 passionate1 ready to give great gifts1 ,i would say to him3-- ,please offer me none of your ,cachemires1 designed in ,england and woven in ,india2 for ,diamonds ,i really care nothing2 ,berthollet who knows so well how to imitate ,nature can make ,diamonds1 if he so please4 ,but if you really wish to make me a present which ,i shall love1 and for which ,i shall love you1 be so good as to get me a nice well sheltered1 yet beautifully sunny home1 in which ,i can lodge some three score1 or so1 of poor children4 ,they will want no fine furniture2 not much of any kind4 ,once established in that sunny1 quiet1 and kindly home1 they will be well fed1 and well cared for2 and1 my word for it1 not a woman will go to the sea-side for her own health who will not give her mite towards the support of those poor children4 ,if ,beatrice of ,florence could influence her father to found such a home1 such a saving refuge1 cannot we women of ,france do as much8 ,is it that we are less beautiful1 or are you less truly in ,love8 ,if the ,sea1 as you every morning tell me1 has beautified and improved me so much2 surely1 your best gift would be my keepsake for the beach4 ,and if you really love me1 you will share with me in this work1 this great work of bringing to the bosom of the great ,ocean-mother a whole family of these perishing children4 ,let her take our pledges of a durable tenderness and purest love6 ,let her bear witness that1 in the presence of the ,infinite1 we were1 in very truth1 united in one holy thought6 ,one woman has thus commenced and another will continue1 the common mother1 ,france4 ,no ,institution more useful1 no money better expended4 ,and1 in fact1 not much needs to be expended4 ,the chief thing necessary will be to transfer some of our charitable institutions from the interior4 ,for many of those institutions expend their funds in mere waste2 in fact1 some of them might be quite truly termed ,pauper ,manufactories4 ,the ,romans had the good sense never to grudge expense for anything that concerned the public health4 ,just look at their splendid aqueducts1 just consider their public baths where quite gratuitously1 or1 at the utmost1 at the charge of a half cent1 the meanest could bathe1 and you will at once understand their public spirit1 their really large and grand patriotism4 ,fresh water baths1 salt water baths1 everything was provided for that lazy and non-producing plebeianism6 ,perhaps1 in fact1 in the politico-economical sense1 the ,patricians of ,rome did too much for that1 at once indolent and seditious ,plebs4 ,and shall we1 ,,we1 ,,we hesitate to do far less to save our own race1 that one creative and laborious race that creates all that is really progressive on our globe8 ,i speak not here merely1 or even principally1 of the children2 but of all4 ,every town1 at this very instant1 has a town within a town1 a town of horrible sufferers2 of the poor1 and the afflicted2 they are going to be ,paupers not only now1 but for the whole remainder of their lives4 ,again1 and again1 and again they will come2 cured to-day1 and returning to-morrow worse and more helpless than ever4 ,they must be enormously expensive2 and who pays the cost8 ,why their hardier fellow workmen who1 in the ultimate result1 pay all our expenses6 ,and the laborer dies young1 and leaves his young ones a burthen on the public purse4 ,prevention is better than cure4 ,you can do far more for the man who is in danger of being sick than for him who is already worn out4 ,ten days or a fortnight of rest and good living at the sea-side1 will restore him to you1 a good1 sound1 solid laborer4 ,his carriage1 and the cheap shelter1 for so few days6 by that recuperating sea-side1 ,i tell you again1 will restore him to you1 a good sound1 honest1 and independent laborer4 ,and the man will be saved1 and his young family2 and such a man as1 if you once lose him1 you cannot easily replace4 ,no6 ,you cannot replace him1 for1 as ,i have already said1 every really working man is the slow product1 of a long tradition of thought and of labor1 and he himself is a work of art2 of that so much misunderstood human art in which ,humanity itself becomes a creative ,power4 ,who shall give me to see that crowd of inventive people1 that creating and manufacturing people1 who in the world's service are hourly wearing themselves out2 who1 ,i ask1 will give me to see that ,people1 that true ,people1 enabled to repair their shattered frames at the magnificent sea-side8 ,let this ability be provided for them1 and all classes and conditions will equally share the benefit4 ,and let it not be forgotten that all classes and conditions owe thus much to the worn toilers1 for by their toil1 their excessive toil1 all classes are benefited4 ,it is by their very blood1 by their very marrow1 that all classes receive their enjoyments1 their elegance1 and their enlightenment4 ,let society1 then1 give to them the repose1 the saline air1 the restoring waters of the great restoring ,sea4 ,in doing thus much1 society will benefit itself2 while doing the simplest justice to its worn toilers4 ,have pity upon yourselves1 all ye poor men of the ,west4 ,consult upon1 and act for1 the common weal4 ,earth entreats you to live and offers you that which is her best1 the ,,sea1 to repair your own strength and thus secure your children against your weakness4 ,earth would be ruined if you persist in ruining yourselves1 for you are her ,genius1 her inventive and working ,soul4 ,she lives by your life1 and if you die she also will die4 ,in the name1 then1 of ,humanity and of ,nature1 too1 ,nations6 ,attention6 ,mercy for yourselves2 ,earth supplies you with the means of laboring and living2 ,,the ,,sea offers you the still better means of living ,,well4 ,,notes4 ,that vast animal the ,earth1 which for heart has a magnet1 has at its surface a doubtful being1 electric and phosphorescent1 more sensitive1 and infinitely more prolific1 than the ,earth itself4 ,that being which we call the ,sea1--is it a parasite of the vast animal which we call the ,earth8 ,no4 ,it has not a distinct and hostile personality4 ,it vivifies and fecundates the ,earth with its vapors2 it even appears to be the ,earth itself in that which it has of the most productive2 in other words1 its principal organ of fecundity4 ,german ,dreams6 ,but are they1 in feet1 entirely ,dreams8 ,more than one great mind1 without going quite so far1 seem to admit for both ,earth and ,sea a kind of obscure personality4 ,ritter and ,lyell say3 ,the ,earth labors herself2 can she be impotent to organise herself8 ,how are we to imagine that the creative power which we observe in every being on the globe can be denied to the globe itself8 ,but how does the globe act8 ,how at the present time does it obtain accretion8 ,from the ,sea and its living denizens4 ,the full solution of these great questions would require a more profound study of ,physiology than we as yet have made4 ,nevertheless1 during the last twenty years every thing tends this way3 #a4 ,we have studied the irregular and exterior phase of the movements of the ,sea1 we have inquired into the ,law of ,storms4 #b4 ,we have studied the movements proper to the ,sea1 its currents1 the play of its arteries and veins1 of which the first propel the salt water from the ,equator to the ,poles1 while the second return it1 freshened1 to the ,equator3 #c4 ,the third and more difficult question on which modern chemistry will throw light1 is that as to the real nature of the marine mucus1 of that unctuous gelatine which is every where found in ,sea water1 and which appears to be a living liquid4 ,it is quite recently that the sounding of ,brooke1 and more especially the soundings for the submarine telegraph from ,europe to ,america1 have begun to reveal the secrets of the bottom of the ,sea4 ,are its lowest depths peopled8 ,formerly1 that was denied1 but ,forbes and ,james ,ross found life throughout them4 ,previous to those splendid discoveries1 which were made less than twenty years ago1 the book of the ,sea could not be written4 ,the first attempt at writing it was made by ,m4 ,hartwig4 ,for my own part1 ,i was still far from the idea of writing it when1 in #ahde1 in preparing my book of ,the ,people1 ,i commenced1 in ,normandy1 my study of the population of the ,coasts4 ,in the fifteen subsequent years1 this vast and difficult subject has been continually growing upon me1 and has followed me from shore to shore4 ,the first book of this ,volume--,a glance at the ,seas1 is1 as the title indicates1 merely a preliminary promenade4 ,all the important matters therein are discussed in the following three books4 ,i except two1 however1 ,tides and ,beacons4 ,here my principal guide has been ,m4 ,chazallon's important ,annual1 already numbering twenty volumes1 the first having appeared in #ahci4 ,if the ,civic ,crown was bestowed upon the man who saved one human life1 how many such crowns has not ,m4 ,chazallon deserved6 ,anterior to his labors1 the errors1 as to the tides1 were enormous4 ,by immense labor he has corrected the observations for nearly five hundred ports from the ,adour to the ,elbe4 ,his ,annual gives the most exact information upon the ,beacons4 ,similarly valuable is the clear and agreeably written exposition in the ,souvenirs of ,m4 de ,quatrefages on the ,lighthouse system of ,fresnel and ,arago4 ,the admirable system of revolving lighthouses1 in which the lights flash and disappear1 at short and regular intervals1 is due to ,lemoine1 ,mayor of ,calais4 ,for the various names of the ,sea refer to ,ad4 ,pictet-,origines ,indo-,europeennes4 ,on the water1 consult the ,introduction to ,deville's ,annual of the ,waters of ,france2 ,aime's ,annale's de ,chimie ,,ii41 ,v41 ,,xii41 ,,xiii41 and ,,xv4 ,morren1 the same1 ,i1 and ,acad de ,bruxelles1 ,,xiv41 c4 ,on the saltness of the ,sea ,chapman quoted by ,tricaut ,ann4 de ,hydrographie ,,xiii41 #aheg1 and ,thomassy's ,bulletin de la ,socit ,geographique1 #d ,june1 #ahfj4 ,i did not thoroughly comprehend the ,shore of ,saint ,michel en ,greve and the questions concerning it1 until ,i read in the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes the two very fine articles of ,m4 ,baude1 full alike of facts and ideas4 ,i speak elsewhere of his excellent views on the ,fisheries4 ,in speaking 7,chap4 ,,iii47 of ,brittany1 ,i must acknowledge my obligation to the book of ,cambry which formerly gave me my first ideas upon that subject4 ,it should be read in the edition which mile ,souvestre enriched1 and we may say doubled1 with his excellent notes and notices which thenceforth made us thoroughly acquainted with the ,derniers ,bretons4 ,in several admirable little tales of graphic and striking truthfulness1 ,souvestre has given the best existing pictures of our western coasts1 especially of ,finisterre and the neighboring shores of the ,loire4 ,i should be glad to quote something from a writer so agreeable1 and a friend so sincerely lamented1 but the limits of this little book prevent me from quoting any literary matter4 ,the remarkable observation made by ,elie de ,beaumont1 quoted by me in ,chapter #d of ,book ,i41 stands at the head of his article--which1 in itself1 is a great book--,terrains in the ,dictionary of ,m4 d',orbigny4 ,what ,i have said about ,st4 ,george's1 in ,chapter #g1 is much better said in ,pelletan's books on ,royan and in his ,pasteur du ,desert4 ,that ,pastor1 as is generally known1 was the grandfather of ,pelletan1 the reverend minister ,jarousseau1 so admirably heroic in saving his enemies4 ,his small house1 still standing1 is a veritable ,temple of ,humanity4 ,notes to ,book #b4 ,chapter ,i1 ,fecundity4 ,on the ,herring1 see ,vol4 ,i of ,de ,reste's translation of an anonymous ,dutch work2 ,nol de la ,moriniere in his excellent works printed and unpublished2 ,valenciences' ,poissons1 c4 ,chapter ,,ii4 ,milky ,sea4 ,bory de ,saint ,vincent1 ,diet4 ,classique1 ,articles ,mer et ,matieres2 ,zimmerman1 the ,world before ,man1 a beautiful and popular work which is in every one's hands4 ,i am indebted also to the work of ,m4 ,bronn1 crowned by the ,academy of the ,sciences4 ,on the universal innocuousness of the vegetation of the ,sea1 consult ,pouchet's ,botanique a work of the highest order4 ,for the plants which become animals2 see ,vaucher's ,conferves1 #ahjc2 ,decaisne and ,thuret ,annales de ,sc4 ,nat41 #ahde2 ,volumes ,,iii41 ,,xiv4 and ,,xvi41 and ,comptes de l',acad41 #ahec1 ,vol4 ,,xxxvi42 also1 articles of ,montagne ,dict d',orb4 ,on the ,volcanoes1 see part #d1 of ,humboldt's ,cosmos1 and ,ritter1 translated by ,elisee ,reclus1 ,revue ,germ41 #cjth ,november1 #ahei4 ,chapter ,,iii4 ,the ,atom4 ,in the text ,i have quoted the great masters1 ,ehrenberg1 ,dujardin1 ,pouchet1 ,heterogenie4 ,in the end spontaneous generation will conquer4 ,chapters ,,iv41 ,v41 ,,vi41 c4 ,throughout this book1 in ascending from inferior to superior life1 ,i have taken for my guiding thread in the great labyrinth1 the hypothesis of ,metamorphosis but without serious intention of constructing a chain of beings4 ,the idea of ascending ,metamorphosis is natural to the mind1 and is1 in some sort1 irresistibly imposed upon us4 ,cuvier himself1 at the close of his ,introduction to his ,poissons1 confesses that if that theory has no ,historical value it has a logical value4 ,on the ,sponge1 see ,paul ,gervais ,dict4 d',orb4 ,v4 #cge2 ,grant in ,chenn1 #cjg1 c4 ,on ,polypes1 ,corals1 and ,madrepores 7,chapters #d and #e7 besides ,forster1 ,peron and ,dawin consult ,quoy and ,gaimard2 ,lamouroux1 ,polypes ,flexibles2 ,milne ,edwards1 ,polypes and ,ascidies of the ,channel1 c4 ,on the ,calcaire1 see the two ,geologies of ,lyell4 ,chapter ,,vi4 ,medus1 ,polypes1 c4 ,see ,ehrenberg1 ,lession1 ,dujardin1 c4 ,forbes shows by vegetable analogies that these animal metamorphoses are very simple phenomena4 ,annals of ,nat4 ,history1 ,december1 #ahdd4 ,see also his excellent dissertations1 ,medus1 in quarto1 #ahdi4 ,chapter ,,vii4 ,the ,oursin or ,sea ,hedgehog4 ,see the curious dissertations in which ,m4 ,cailland has described his discoveries4 ,chapter ,,viii4 ,shells1 ,pearl1 and ,mother of ,pearl4 ,the capital work on these is ,blainville's ,malacology4 ,see1 also1 on the ,pearl ,mabius of ,hamburgh1 ,revue ,germ41 ,july #ca1 #aheh4 ,i have profitably consulted on this subject our celebrated ,jeweller1 ,m4 ,froment ,meurice4 ,chapter ,,ix4 ,the ,poulpe4 ,cuvier1 ,blainville1 ,dujardin ,ann4 des ,sciences ,nat41 first series1 ,vol4 ,v4 p4 #bad1 and second series ,vols4 #c1 #af1 and #ag2 ,robin and ,secord1 ,locomotion of ,cephalapodes1 ,revue de ,zoology1 #ahdi1 p4 #ccc4 ,chapter ,x4 ,crustace4 ,besides the classical and important work of ,milne ,edwards1 ,i have consulted d',orbigny and various travelers4 ,see1 also1 the fine ,atlas of ,dumont d',urville4 ,chapter ,,xi4 ,fish4 ,the ,introduction of ,cuvier1 ,valenciennes' article ,fish1 in d',orbigny's ,dictionary4 ,this last article is a complete book1 learned and excellent4 ,on the anatomy of ,fish see the celebrated dissertation of ,geoffroy4 ,for what ,i have said on the nests made by spawning ,fish ,i am indebted to ,messrs4 ,caste and ,gerbe4 ,chapters ,,xii and ,,xiii4 ,whales1 ,amphibii and ,syrens4 ,here1 ,lacepede is at once instructive and eloquent4 ,nothing can be better than ,boitard's articles in d',orbigny's ,dictionary4 ,notes to ,book #c4 ,conquest of the ,sea4 ,this book sprang naturally out of my perusal of travels and voyages from the first ,history of ,dieppe1 by ,vitel ,estancelin1 down to the recent discoveries4 ,especially consult ,kerquelon1 ,john ,ross1 ,parry1 ,weddell1 ,dumont1 d',urville1 ,james ,ross1 and ,kane2 ,biot in the ,journal des ,savants and the luminous and precious abridgement of those works1 by ,m4 ,langele in the ,revue des deux ,mondes4 ,on the ,fishery1 besides the great works of ,duhamel1 see ,tiphaine1 ,economie ,history of the ,western ,seas de ,france1 #agfj4 ,notes to ,book #d4 ,restoration by the ,sea4 ,as long ago as #agbe1 ,maraigli seems to have suspected the presence of iodine4 ,in #agcj1 an anonymous work1 ,comes ,domesticus1 recommended ,sea ,bathing4 ,the ,bibliography of the ,sea would be endless4 ,there are many excellent books4 ,among them ,i may mention the ,mediterranean ,sea1 by ,w4 ,h4 ,smith1 #ahed1 the ,manuals and ,guide books of ,guadet1 ,roccas1 ,cochet1 ,ernst1 c4 ,on the degeneracy of ,races1 see ,morel1 #aheg3 ,magnus ,huss1 ,alcoholismus1 #aheb1 c4 ,i owe my acquaintance with the pamphlet of ,doctor ,barellay 7,ospizi ,marini7 to my illustrious friend ,montanelli1 and to the delightful articles of ,m4 ,dall' ,ongaro4 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration ,,new ,,books ,and ,new ,editions ,recently ,published by ,,rudd ,,carleton1 #aej ,,grand ,,street1 ,,new ,,york4 7,,brooks ,,building1 ,,cor4 ,,of ,,broadway47 ,illustration ,n4,b4--,rudd ,carleton1 upon receipt of the price1 will send any of the following ,books1 by mail1 postage free1 to any part of the ,united ,states4 ,this convenient and very safe mode may be adopted when the neighboring ,booksellers are not supplied with the desired work4 ,illustration ,,nothing ,,to ,,wear4 ,a satirical poem1 by ,william ,allen ,butler4 ,with illustrations by ,a4 ,hoppin4 #abmo4 muslin1 #ej cts4 ,,alexander ,,von ,,humboldt4 ,a new and popular biography1 including his travels and labors1 with an introduction by ,bayard ,taylor4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 ,,humboldt',s ,,private ,,letters4 ,alexander ,von ,humboldt's private correspondence with ,varnhagen von ,ense and other contemporary celebrities2 translated from the ,german4 #abmo41 #a4be4 ,,the ,,great ,,tribulation4 ,or1 ,things coming on the ,earth4 ,by ,rev4 ,john ,cumming1 ,d4,d41 author of ,apocalyptic ,sketches1 c4 ,in two volumes #abmo4 muslin1 either sold separately1 #a4jj each4 ,,the ,,great ,,preparation4 ,or1 ,redemption draweth ,nigh4 ,by ,rev4 ,john ,cumming1 ,d4,d41 author of ,the ,great ,tribulation1 c4 ,in two volumes #abmo4 muslin1 either sold separately1 #a4jj each4 ,a ,,woman',s ,,thoughts ,,about ,,women4 ,by ,miss ,muloch 2 author of ,john ,halifax1 ,gentleman1 ,a ,life for a ,life1 c4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj4 ,,the ,,habits ,,of ,,good ,,society4 ,a handbook for ladies and gentlemen2 with thoughts1 hints1 and anecdotes concerning social observances1 taste1 and good manners4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 ,,love 7,l',,amour74 ,from the ,french of ,m4 ,jules ,michelet1 author of ,a ,history of ,france1 c41 translated by ,dr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,palmer1 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj4 ,,woman 7,,la ,,femme74 ,a continuation of ,l',amour4 ,translated from the ,french of ,michelet by ,dr4 ,palmer4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj4 ,,the ,,child 7,l',,enfant74 ,sequel to ,l',amour and ,la ,femme4 ,translated from the ,french of ,michelet4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj 7in press74 ,,the ,,bird 7,l',,oiseau74 ,from the ,french of ,m4 ,michelet1 translated by ,dr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,palmer4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj 7in press74 ,,the ,,insect 7,l',,ins,,cte74 ,from the ,french of ,m4 ,michelet1 translated by ,dr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,palmer4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj 7in press74 ,,women ,,of ,,the ,,french ,,revolution4 ,from the ,french of ,m4 ,michelet1 translated by ,dr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,palmer4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj 7in press74 ,,the ,,moral ,,history ,,of ,,women4 ,an ,offset to ,l',amour1 translated from the ,french of ,ernest ,legouv by ,dr4 ,palmer4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4jj4 ,,victoire4 ,a new ,american novel4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be 7in press74 ,,the ,,culprit ,,fay4 ,a fary poem by ,joseph ,rodman ,drake4 ,elegantly printed on tinted paper4 #abmo4 muslin1 #ej cts4 ,,doctor ,,antonio4 ,a ,tale of ,italy4 ,by ,g4 ,ruffini1 author of ,lorenzo ,benoni1 c4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 ,,lavinia4 ,a new novel of ,italian ,life1 by ,g4 ,ruffini2 author of ,doctor ,antonio1 c4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 ,,dear ,,experience4 ,a novel by ,g4 ,ruffini2 author of ,doctor ,antonio1 c4 #abmo4 muslin1 illustrated1 #a4jj4 ,,beatrice ,,cenci4 ,a novel1 translated from the ,italian of ,f4 ,d4 ,guerrazzi1 by ,luigi ,monti of ,harvard ,college4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 ,,isabella ,,orsini4 ,an ,historical novel1 translated from the ,italian of ,guerrazzi1 author of ,beatrice ,cenci4 #abmo4 muslin1 #a4be4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,note ,some presumed typose were corrected4 ,although most words were left as per the printed version1 some standardization was made 7ex41 ,arcachon for ,archachon1 ,archacon and ,arrachon74 ,based on some research1 the following list of changes were made4 ,page7s7 ,change #bf ,grindenwald ,grindelwald #bh1 #agc ,livingston ,livingstone #cd ,sheveningen ,scheveningen #cb ,eloretat tretat and ,fecamp ,fcamp #ih ,biarrity ,biarritz #ii ,haux ,haux and ,epees de ,treguier pes de ,trguier #acc ,ponchet ,pouchet #adi1 #aeb ,geoffray ,geoffroy #aeh ,added missing quotes at end of top and begining of next paragraph #afe ,medea ,medusa #aga ,vetelles ,velelles #bbb everything that comes in their path--animals1 7path-- added7 #bcf ,catace ,cetace #djb appearing appeared #djd ,chapter ,,ix4 ,fish4 ,chapter ,,xi4 ,fish4 ad#b ,,la ,,vinia ,,lavinia