The above rules concerning the toilet will hold good for the fair sex, mutatis mutandis. Only in addition, ladies should engage some stalwart arm to lean upon; and should on no account venture themselves among slippery rocks. As for those knights and esquires who accompany the gentle dames on such a quest, they must look to themselves. I cannot now stop to warn them of their peculiar peril; but they know what I mean. It was among the Ocean-isles that Briseis led captive the stern son of Peleus.
Above all, let the Pebble-searcher have nothing on his mind when he sets forth: no broken engagements, no crying debts. Otherwise, he may look in vain for moss-agates. Shakspeare, when he has to account for a valiant warrior and politic general, a crowned king to boot, losing the great battle of Bosworth-field, ascribes it all to the ghosts who sat heavy on his soul. Any neglected or injured creature may prove on such occasions a vengeful ghost.
Supposing your hours free, the best are those in which the daylight is most powerful: say, from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon; or, to take things in moderation, from eleven to three. A beaching expedition made thus with determinate purpose, once or twice in the course of six days, I hold to be reasonable diversion; and for matter of interest, I know of no out-door pursuit which excels it, not even Insect-catching, or Fly-fishing.
The above hints being attended to, one important point remains still to be considered. It is absolutely necessary to understand pebbles in the rough.
The more peculiar a beach is in its contents, the less will it exhibit to catch the eyes of one who has never learnt to appreciate them. Coloured seaweeds are enticingly bright; pearly shells are as evident as trinkets; but the external coat of a genuine pebble differs widely from its internal structure, and may yield to the uninitiated no indication whatever of the value of the latter. A crust of hardened lime or sandstone is a frequent envelope of the best specimens in one kind of zoophyte. The stone itself is very likely mis-shapen, and perhaps lies more than half buried in sand or shingle. Without knowing anything of the nature of these fossils, you may occasionally pick up such “darkies” at a venture; but you will never feel assured of them, you will never be able to glean them from the multitudinous gravel, as the determined Fly-fisher gets the best trout out of a pool, if you have not the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with their species. The readiest way of acquiring this, and it is not born with anybody, is to spend a wakeful half-hour, once and again, at the board of any civil lapidary, and there thoroughly to inspect his casual store. A trifling purchase will abundantly content him in return, the more as he hopes to cut several pebbles for you.
Observe, then the peculiar way in which the outer crust of an old pebble is worn, as compared with that of one which has newly descended upon the beach. This crust or cuticle is highly suggestive, if you can once come to understand it; and as a hopeful indication of progress, you may safely assume that you do understand it, when you find that you can obtain pebbles such as nine persons out of ten somehow never “have the luck” to meet with. Sometimes a stone has parted with its original coating, and has donned another: and this operation may either be complete, or still in fieri. In the latter case, there will always be some token; either by the substance not lying evenly, or by a change in the colour of the second envelope, which becomes apparent on chipping off a fragment from its surface.
Lose no opportunity of perfecting your judgment upon any form or texture that comes in your way: for upon this will really depend what sort of collection you shall win from the bosom of the coy beach. Nothing is easier, on an average coast, than to pick up a score of showy-looking but inferior stones. Few things will be found more difficult than to bring home, as the fruit of your morning’s walk, two or three valuable specimens. And the cause of this lies not at all in luck, nor altogether in mere labour; for in all departments there are dunces who will still drudge hard. It lies in the presence or absence of sound information on the subject.
A good rule is, even early in your apprenticeship, to eschew trumpery. But beware of hasty conclusions. Some collectors will take nothing away with them from the beach which they do not feel quite sure about. This is shallow practice, for it assumes an amount of discernment which nobody possesses. I can see as far into a stone wall in this sense as most people; but I rather like to carry off occasionally an odd-looking stone which, like Bassanio’s happy casket, “rather threatens than doth promise aught.” Such a pebble may turn out a prize. The things which every one should reject without hesitation are those whose character is evident, and with it their little worth.