THE RAPTURE' OF THE SHORE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 52

THE RAPTURE' OF THE SHORE.

By a Banker

What more d&iighsful in the whole range of mundane pleaßurea than to walk by the edge of the receding sea upon the sandy , shore of an unfrequented part of the coast, especially if, after a storm, mauy treasures of the deep hare been cast on- the bssch — corallines, rare shells^ .strange and beatitifal marine plants, greatmeduEas or jelly fish, those terrors of bathers, who dread the severe and dangerous poisonous stings which this extraordinary organism has the-power of inflicting with its slimy tentacles, with many another natur.nl relic of the ocean, or, alas ! of vessel foundered in the storm ■ with all its trcSsnres of human life and material wealth !

' The invigorating sea biveza, charged with health-giving ozone, aud permeated with that distinctive and indefinable though altogether delightful perfume of the sea, animates and inspirit? the enraptured lover of nature as he proceeds along the virgin sand, untrodden by the foot of man, and experiences that " rapture on the lonely shore " which Childe Harold so beautifully expresses. Flock* of the beautiful sea swallow or tern are perhaps flitting about or sunning theuiaelves upon the hard sand, or a handsome oyster-catcher, wivh ifca magpielike plumage and red legs, is seeking for r sandworm or cast-up wrasse ; a pair of curlews, with their long curved beaks, are pacing with stately step by the edge of the wavelets, on the look-out for a prawn or other prey ; while close overhead perhaps a flock of laughing gulls is circling about, filling the air with their peculiar hilarious cry,- in resentful protest at the intruder who is invading their domain, and whom, if it be a very uafrequented part of the coast, they, in their ignorance of the powers of man, sometimes almost venture to attack.

Oh the edge of the bank of small shingle which I bounds the plateau of sand may be found after a I storm perhaps a number of large razor shells with | the extraordinary fish protruding from the long, ! double, tube-like shell, a peculiar organism of Impure white flesh, possessing a large brilliant i scarlet sovb of probs3cis or trunk ; or a few spiny echinus or sea hedgehogs, like golf balls thickly covered with long, sharp spikes, the interior having two narrow binds of flesh affixed crosswise to the shell, which in the south of France are sold and eaten, apparently in a raw state. Or perhaps a specimen of the unsightly and repulsive holothuria or sea-alug may be found, a hairy, uncouth-looking object 3in or 4in long, which the omnivorous Chinaman regards ac a dalicaoj sad devour* with avidity..

Space forbids any further alluiion to the strange objects which may be found on such an exploration ; we will therefore ascend the slight shingle bank and proceed on our way nearer the cliff. Here, if the cliffs be chalk, may perhaps be found a number of those peculiar globular, so-called accretion* popularly known as thuuderbolts. Varyiog in size from a fiusall marble to a large cricket ball or inrger. tbesfl beautiful m ;tsllic objects, when closely examined are found to be formed, exrernally, of irregular quadrangular crystals, mostly, however, worn down by attrition, bat if the specimens wpre recently dislogad from tha chaik the crystals are sharp and perfect. Upon fracturing one of these strange objects ifc i« found that interj&Uy they present tbe appearance of solid crystallised gold, the shining rays of the mass radiating from the centre and terminating In tha external crystals. Now how were thesa metallic balls (composed of about equal parts of iron and sulphur) formed ? Geologists say they are accretions of iron and nulphur, formed upon perhaps an organic nucleus; bub it -is difficult u> understand how that could possibly be, for a<i they were dsposJfced while the cbalk was ie process of deposition at the bottom of the sea, ift appear; to be out«ide the . realm of possibility tbat iron aud sulphur could be attracted to thece nuclei and crystallise in the soft calcareous ooze at the bottom of the sea, soon to be oovered deep down in its mass. Mjiv' not the theory be ventured that they are extraterrestrial. ».nd -ars,- in fact, . the nuclei of mateora which Lave reached ths earth before beirg completely burnt up, the sudden plunge into the cold sea water causing theai to orystaF lise? "

But this is yeb another of those secrets ofnature whioh are at present bidden from us, but which will fee revealed to those who, by "fearing God and keeping His coninisa<i» nv*Dts," are fortacate in securing an entrance, into tfce realms of light and bcowledgo *nd supreme- pleasure, where tha (to us) in comprehensible -will be fully comprehended and the apparently impossible intelligently understood.