It reposed so naturally on a bed of dry seaweed , with its head beside its wing , that I almost fancied it alive , and trod softly lest it should suddenly spread its wings skyward . But the sea-bird would soar among the clouds no more , nor ride upon its native waves ; so I drew near and pulled out one of its mottled tail-feathers for a remembrance . Another day I discovered an immense bone wedged into a chasm of the rocks ; it was at least ten feet long , curved like a scymitar , bejewelled with barnacles and small shellfish and partly covered with a growth of seaweed . Some leviathan of former ages had used this ponderous mass as a jaw-bone . Curiosities of a minuter order may be observed in a deep reservoir which is replenished with water at every tide , but becomes a lake among the crags save when the sea is at its height . At the bottom of this rocky basin grow marine plants , some of which tower high beneath the water and cast a shadow in the sunshine . Small fishes dart to and fro and hide themselves among the seaweed ; there is also a solitary crab who appears to lead the life of a hermit , communing with none of the other denizens of the place , and likewise several five-fingers ; for I know no other name than that which children give them . If your imagination be at all accustomed to such freaks , you may look down into the depths of this pool and fancy it the mysterious depth of ocean . But where are the hulks and scattered timbers of sunken ships ? where the treasures that old Ocean hoards ? where the corroded cannon ? where the corpses and skeletons of seamen who went down in storm and battle ? On the day of my last ramble -- it was a September day , yet as warm as summer -- what should I behold as I approached the above-described basin but three girls sitting on its margin and -- yes , it is veritably so -- laving their snowy feet in the sunny water ? These , these are the warm realities of those three visionary shapes that flitted from me on the beach . Hark their merry voices as they toss up the water with their feet ! They have not seen me . I must shrink behind this rock and steal away again . In honest truth , vowed to solitude as I am , there is something in this encounter that makes the heart flutter with a strangely pleasant sensation . I know these girls to be realities of flesh and blood , yet , glancing at them so briefly , they mingle like kindred creatures with the ideal beings of my mind . It is pleasant , likewise , to gaze down from some high crag and watch a group of children gathering pebbles and pearly shells and playing with the surf as with old Ocean 's hoary beard .
Nor does it infringe upon my seclusion to see yonder boat at anchor off the shore swinging dreamily to and XXXXX and rising and sinking with the alternate swell , while the crew -- four gentlemen in roundabout jackets -- are busy with their fishing-lines .
Ocean barnacles crag day fro hoards jaw-bone sea-bird shellfish storm