Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/39



first thing I always do when I get into locality, is to walk round to reconnoitre; to take a general view of the hunting ground. This examination I almost always find necessary to make for myself; it is astonishing how little information one can get from persons of the greatest intelligence and general knowledge, and of a life's familiarity with the place, when we ask them for details that they have not had occasion to study. The nature of the shore here or there, what sort of surface is exposed at low water, how far the sea recedes from the cliffs, where tide-pools are to be found, where sea-weeds grow most abundantly,—these are inquiries which do not seem to demand an intimate acquaintance with technical natural history to be answered, and yet of the inhabitants of any seaport town, not one in a thousand