Professor G. Forchhatnmer on the Downs of Denmark. 63 



the cliff in a storm, and not unfrequently fall over. The cause 

 of the phenomenon is, that the wind, by striking against the 

 perpendicular wall, produces a current upwards, which ascends 

 higher than the cliff, and so protects the observer against the 

 storm by a wall of air. A storm sets the sand of the clowns 

 in motion, and it is hardly possible to endure for any length 

 of time the pain caused to the face and hands by the agitated 

 sand. On all sides the individual is surrounded by huge 

 sand-clouds, and the sea along the whole coast, so far as the 

 eye can reach, forms a series of waterfalls, where, the waves 

 breaking on one of the three sand-banks which stretch along 

 the coast of Jutland, descend again from a height of 15 or 16 

 feet, and become lost in foam, giving rise to a scene with 

 which, for its imposing effect, perhaps no waterfall in the 

 world can compete. Snow-white balls of foam, like flocks of 

 sea-gulls, cross the downs far on the land, and the observer 

 soon has his face, hands, and clothes covered with salt. It is 

 difficult to make one's self intelligible in speaking, owing to 

 the sound of the waves. Ere the storm draws near, and while 

 the air is still tranquil, the noise of the billows is heard at a 

 distance of nearly twenty English miles from the coast. Hence 

 it may be known several hours previously that a storm is ap- 

 proaching, for the undulation proceeds more rapidly in the 

 sea than in the air. 



The height of the downs is various. It amounts, in some 

 places bet\veen List on the island Sylt and Nyemindegab at 

 the mouth of the Ringkjopingsfjord, to 100 feet, a height 

 which is remarkable regarding the downs of List, as, from the 

 coast of the sea, they consist entirely of loose sand. The 

 Blaabjerg (Blue Hill), to the north of Varde, which reaches 

 a height of 100 feet, is a down which rests on a pretty high 

 ancient substratum of boulder-clay. Northwards from tlie 

 mouth of the Ringkjopingsfjord the height of the downs is 

 much diminished, and at Skagen it is hardly 30 feet. This 

 is very remarkable, for the height of downs depends on the 

 strength of the wind, and the size of the grains which are set 

 in motion by the wind ; and as, on the whole, the material on 

 this coast is of a similar nature, the height of the downs here 

 becomes a measure of the strength of the wind. We are so 



