Crevice

“ The crevice formed by the inclination of the stone to the bottom may be very narrow, and I am not sure but that the Crab likes it all the better, for he is expressly formed for such a dwelling; his body is particularly flat, his legs move in the same plane, and his claws, though large for his size, are remarkably flat also, thinned out, as it were, to an edge; so that the whole animal has somewhat the appearance of having been crushed flat by the pressure of the stone under which he lives. ”

“ But we discovered a narrow crevice or gully on the west side which apparently offered a safe method of ascent. I was soon near the top of the needle, but at the most difficult part, where only one small crack in the rock offered a good hand-hold, I was warned not to touch one side where the cliff seemed parted, and filled with loose material. Making a reconnaissance, I found the back of this same crag likewise separated a little from the solid rock, and the crevice partially disguised by loose stones and dirt, which had settled in and filled the hollow. ”

“ One of the men clambers into the crevice, into which he can just crawl; we toss him the line, which he makes fast in the rocks, and now our boat is tied up. Then I follow into the crevice and we crawl along up stream a distance of 50 feet or more, and find a broken place where we can climb about 50 feet higher. Here we stand on a shelf that passes along down stream to a point above the falls, where it is broken down, and a pile of rocks, over which we can descend to the river, is lying against the foot of the cliff. ”

“ The caves under this koppie were typical of the usual thing met with now. You creep in through a narrow little hole, down crevices between rocks—every here and there a crevice leading to the open air gives you light, and a chance of shooting anybody passing by or looking in from outside. ”

“ Did they find the bright object as they crossed the pasture on the way from Farmer B's corn-field, and the game so suggest itself? Or was the game first suggested, and the talisman brought afterwards? Every crow has a secret storehouse, where he hides every bright thing he finds. Sometimes it [Pg 115] is a crevice in the rocks under moss and ferns; sometimes the splintered end of a broken branch; sometimes a deserted owl's nest in a hollow tree; often a crotch in a big pine, covered carefully by brown needles ”

“ This residue, where not also washed away, collects in every little hollow, and lowly plants such as Algæ and Mosses soon discover it and colonize it. Their decayed remains add nutritive material to the little pocket, and help to retain water, and thus prepare the way by degrees for higher forms of life; till at length the crevices become filled with a luxuriant vegetation which, as we shall see later, is of a rather peculiar type. It should be noted that even the bare rock is not so inhospitable as completely to exclude plant life. ”

“ The steepness of their faces seems to defy the climber; yet on their faces there are crevices just big enough for shrubs to root in, by the help of which a daring man might pull himself aloft. Nature, having first hewn out these peaks into appalling precipices, then set herself to deck them with climbing plants and to find foothold for trees on narrow ledges and to cover the surface with the bright hues of mosses and lichens, and fill chinks and crannies with ferns and pendulous flowers that wave and sway in the passing breeze. ”

“ Among these, crabs could be seen crawling with undecided motion, as if unable to make up their minds, while in out of the way crevices clams of a gigantic size were gaping in deadly quietude ready to close with a snap on any unfortunate creature that should give them the slightest touch. ”

“ The lonely lane he was following connected one of the hamlets of Mellstock parish with Upper Mellstock and Lewgate, and to his eyes, casually glancing upward, the silver and black-stemmed birches with their characteristic tufts, the pale grey boughs of beech, the dark-creviced elm, all appeared now as black and flat outlines upon the sky, wherein the white stars twinkled so vehemently that their flickering seemed like the flapping of wings. ”

“ Every person appears to dread the opening of a crevasse, by which the waters may rush into his fields. In spite of all exertions, however, the crevasse opens, the water bursts impetuously over the plantations, and lays waste the crops which so lately were blooming in all the luxuriance of spring. It opens up a new channel, which, for aught I know to the contrary, may carry its waters even to the Mexican Gulf.
I have floated on the Mississippi and Ohio when thus swollen, and have in different places visited the submersed lands of the interior, propelling a light canoe by the aid of a paddle. ”

“ Crowea.— A peaty soil, moderate supplies of water, and a light position, are the main essentials to success in the cultivation of croweas. The short-jointed side shoots strike rather freely, provided they are taken when the wood is moderately firm, and the cuttings covered with a bell-glass. It is necessary to practise a judicious system of stopping when the plants are young, to ensure the production of bushy well-furnished specimens. They are exceedingly impatient of artificial heat. ”

“ Beaching the edge of the glacier, we were met by a tangled labyrinth of crevasses. Whilst Zurfluh was studying their peculiarities, I made a short détour to see if the sack was anywhere visible. Greatly to my delight, I soon espied it, high seated on an isolated sérac. My companion, ignorant of the vision that had blessed my eyes, and ever pessimistic in his thoughts, urged me to waste no time in a useless search, "for," said he, the sack is not merely knocked to atoms, but it is of necessity buried in the depths of a crevasse." ”

“ The Willow-leaved Crowea we consider as one amongst the many strong arguments, to favour our opinion; it is rather a delicate plant, and should be kept in a dry and warm part of the greenhouse, where it will flower from the month of July, till November; growing three feet high, if planted in light sandy peat; and is easily propagated by cuttings. Although, this is the only species at present, in cultivation with us; there is little doubt from the number of handsome specimens of other species, which we have seen, in the different herbariums from Botany Bay ”

“ CHAPTER VI THE MYSTERY OF THE CRAB
At the base of that Cliff where the wild flowers grew, the golden sands were still bathed in hot sunshine, and roughly caressed by the incoming waves. Upon the crest of one of these a Periwinkle was borne, and tossed, and flung, until it was landed high and wet on a soft bed of seaweed. But not for long—for very soon a little girl arose from that bed of seaweed, smoothed back her clinging hair, and cried out with joy as she recognised her surroundings. ”

“ Before Crip's father had gone down to the dock he had said to Crip: "Now, you must stay right here in the shop and not go near the dock, until I come back;" and Crip had said "Yes, sir," although every bit of his throbbing boy body wanted to take itself off to the "Sweet Home."
The snow kept on falling, and it began to grow dark in the little shop. Crip had just lighted a candle, when the shop door opened, and a boy, not much bigger than Crip himself, came in and shut the door behind him. ”

“ But, now that I have afforded you some information respecting the habits of the White Perch, allow me to say a few words on the subject of its favourite bait.
The Cray is certainly not a fish, although usually so styled; but as every one is acquainted with its form and nature, I shall not inflict on you any disquisition regarding it. It is a handsome crustaceous animal certainly, and its whole tribe I consider as dainties of the first order. To me “Ecrevisses,” whether of fresh or of salt water, stripped of their coats, and blended into a soup or a “gombo,” have always been most welcome. ”

“ The Crevé.—Its Advantages and Disadvantages.—In very skilled hands the crevé is a means of effect. If you wish to obtain great depth in a group of trees, in a wall, in very deep shadows, you will risk nothing by intermingling your lines picturesquely and biting them vigorously. ”

“ There is little combination, nor does there seem much of anger. It is more like a sport or a practical joke. It is curious that the crow's flight has taken the character of the peewit's, for they sweep upwards and downwards together, seeming like master and pupil. I have never seen a crow fly so, uninfluenced, and this, again, gives an amicable appearance. I have seen a peewit make continual sweeps down at a hen pheasant as she stood in a wheat-field, striking at her each time with its wings, in the air, obviously not in play but in earnest. ”

“ From the upper crags of High Street one looks into a deep well, bounded by rock and scree, to see lonely Blea Water. Its shores are fringed with great fragments rent from the rugged heights which almost overhang. The raven nests in inaccessible gullies above the rippling waters, and one associates their solemn croakings with the shadow-filled basin of crag. A few stunted perch exist in the sterile mere: what hope of rich life can there be from rain-flooded ghylls and mist-moistened crags? ”

“ The crayfish in the pools would tempt him, he would try his hand at sand-eeling, or watch the surf men feed a devil-fish to the crabs. Then up the gray benches of the furrowed cliffs, starred with silver lichens and stone-crop, to where ploughmen were leaving glistening furrows in the big parsnip fields. ”

“ The early light made the great trees look unspeakably gloomy and mournful. There was not a tinge of colour to relieve the dead black shadows, or the icy grey of the driven snow. The tall firs stood solemn and motionless like overgrown cypresses, planted in an endless graveyard, filled with myriads of snow-covered graves, and in the midst Greif and Rex were whirled along over the winding road, pale as dead men themselves as they sat side by side in their dark garments, with set lips and eyes half closed against the freezing wind. ”

“ Here I found a number of poor creatures, all in circumstances like myself, expecting the arrival of Mr Cripse, presenting a true epitome of English impatience. Each untractable soul at variance with fortune, wreaked her injuries on their own hearts: but Mr Cripse at last came down, and all our murmurs were hushed. He deigned to regard me with an air of peculiar approbation, and indeed he was the first man who for a month past talked to me with smiles. After a few questions, he found I was fit for every thing in the world. ”

“ The width of the crevasse was here about fifty feet, and the sliver crossing diagonally was about seventy feet long; its thin knife-edge near the middle was depressed twenty-five or thirty feet below the level of the glacier, and the upcurving ends were attached to the sides eight or ten feet below the brink. Getting down the nearly vertical wall to the end of the sliver and up the other side were the main difficulties, and they seemed all but insurmountable. ”

“ Thus, long after he would have been weaned, for his own good, from such care, had he remained wild, Corbie, the tame crow, claimed protection with cunning, cuddling ways that taught the Blue-eyed Girl and her brother and the Grown-Ups, too, something about crows that many people never even guess. For all their rollicking care-free ways, there is, hidden beneath their black feathers, an affection very tender and lasting; and when they are given the friendship of humans, they find touching ways of showing how deep their trust can be. ”

“ The Crows howled with glee over the ludicrous antics of the fellow, and set him such a pace that he was soon a perfect waterfall of perspiration, and was crying for mercy. At length he caught a crab and went heels over head backward on the ground, and they left him to recover his breath and his temper.
History had watched these proceedings with much amusement, but when he saw the hazers coming for him he lost sight of the fun of the situation immediately.
The head Crow now towered over the shivering little History, and said in his deepest chest-tones: "These Lakerim cattle are too fresh. ”

“ He was over-conscious and seemingly ashamed of it, like an awkward man of his hands at a wedding.
128The kaveu’s descent from the hermit-crab family might explain his tail-concealment custom, for the hermit concealed his entire body in a borrowed shell, and so, perhaps, the robber-baron was but showing an atavistic remnant of the disguise instinct. The whole crab tribe seemed tainted with this fear of being merely themselves. Many of them picked up a piece of seaweed and stuck in on their projecting curved bristles, and let it grow as a kind of permanent bonnet. ”

“ Then we started up a rise, and to our annoyance found ourselves amongst crevasses once more—very hard, smooth névé between high ridges at the edge of crevasses, and therefore very difficult to get foothold to pull the sledges. ”

“ Sub-Fam. 1. Cervinae.—The genus Cervus comprises rather over twenty existing species, which, except the Wapiti (C. canadensis) , are exclusively Old World in distribution. The principal features of variation in the genus, in accordance with which it has been divided up into sub-genera, are (1) palmated (Fallow Deer, Dama) or non-palmated antlers; (2) adults spotted with white at all ages and seasons (Axis) , or in summer only (Pseudaxis) , or not at all; (3) spotted or unspotted young; (4) existence or absence of rudimentary canines in the upper jaw. ”

“ The zoæa stage of the crab, a minute transparent creature, which undergoes several changes, swims about flapping its long jointed abdomen, like some of the Entomostraca, and the shrimp in particular. The larva of crayfish, the so-called glass-crab, is very peculiar and interesting. The sessile-eyed series, in which the compound eyes are never mounted on a movable stalk, and to which the Isopoda belong, exhibits great diversity of structure as well as of habits and habitat. Some live in fresh water, most are marine, while others live on land and take to a parasitic life. ”