the beach was all before him. He wandered on till he came to where
there was an immense ledge of sharp rocks, that went from the foot of
the precipice down into the bay. Over these he clambered, looking
carefully around, until at last he reached the very lowest point. Here
he soon found some articles of diet, which were quite as valuable in
their way as the clams and lobsters. First of all, he found an immense
quantity of large mussels. These were entangled among the thick masses
of sea-weed. He knew that the flavor of mussels was much more delicate
than that of clams or lobsters, and that by many connoisseurs these,
when good and fresh, were ranked next to oysters. This discovery,
therefore, gave him great joy, and he filled his pan, which he had
carried down, and took them back to the shore. He also took an armful
of sea-weed, and, reaching his camping-place, he threw the mussels in a
hollow place in the sand, placing the sea-weed around them. In this
way he knew that they would keep fresh and sweet for any reasonable
length of time.

Returning to the ledges of rock, he walked about among them, and found
a number of pools, some of which were of considerable size. These had
been left by the retreating water; and in these hollows he soon saw a
number of small objects moving about. Some of them he caught without
much difficulty, and saw that they were shrimps. He had hoped to find
some of these, but the discovery came to him like some unexpected
pleasure, and seemed more than he had any right to count on. Beside
the shrimps his other discoveries seemed inferior. There was a large
number, and they could be caught without much trouble. He soon filled
his pan, and brought these also to his camping-place. These he
deposited in a little pool, which was on the surface of some rocks that
lay not far from the shore. Over these he also laid some sea-weed.

The tide was now coming up, but Tom made a further journey to the
beach, so as to secure something which he had noticed during his
previous expedition. This was a marine plant called dulse, which, in
these waters, grows very plentifully, and is gathered and dried by the
people in large quantities. It was a substance of which Tom was very
fond, and he determined to gather some, and dry it in the sun.
Collecting an armful of this, he took it to the shore, and spread it
out over the grass, though, in that damp and foggy atmosphere, there
was not much prospect of i