“Within the shadow of the ship I watch’d their rich attire-- Blue, glossy green, and velvet black: They coiled and swam, and every track Was a flash of golden fire.” These, indeed, are lines whose brilliancy emulates the splendor of the phenomenon they depict, but, even they are hardly more beautiful than Crabbe’s admirable description: “And now your view upon the ocean turn, And there the splendor of the waves discern; Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar, And you shall flames within the deep explore; Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand, And the cold flames shall flash along your hand; When, lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze.” Or the graphic numbers of Sir Walter Scott: “Awak’d before the rushing prow, The mimic fires of ocean glow, Those lightnings of the wave; Wild sparkles crest the broken tides, And dashing round, the vessel’s sides With elfish lustre lave; While, far behind, their vivid light To the dark billows of the night A blooming splendor gave.” THE SEASHORE --P. MARTIN DUNCAN The seashore is the debatable ground where the sea is constantly striving to wear away the land. It is the present limit to the ocean and sea, and a little beyond, for it reaches inland further than the wildest waves and the highest tides can attain. Where the seashore begins and ends is a matter of opinion; but all of it is influenced in some way or other by the sea. In some places, high cliffs or rocks keep the sea from driving in upon the land; they are lofty, and may reach for miles along the coast. The high tide comes up their steep faces for many yards, and when it retires a rocky strip is seen at their feet, and thence a breadth of rock, shingle, or sand leads down with a greater or less slope to the water’s edge. Here there can be no doubt how far the shore reaches inland, for the cliffs limit it. In other parts of our own and other maritime countries, there may be no high land on the coast; but marshes and low lands, with, or without sand-hills, form barriers to the incursion of the sea. The highest tides have their limit in those places, but the wash of the sea and the spray, together with the drainage of the sea into the land, make the water saltish for some distance inland, and the earth close by is sodden with salt. Then, long stretches of mud or of sand form the slope, over which the sea rolls up to the land, and which is exposed and remains more or less wet at low tide.