The Seashore Naturalist 3 



generally has an upward slope, and the low tide leaves 

 a wide expanse exposed to the action of the sun and 

 winds. As the sun-dried sand begins to drift here and 

 there, some of it is carried up the shore landward and 

 remains. These accumulations gradually grow larger 

 and become compacted by the rains; and eventually 

 plants take root in them, further binding the sand to- 

 gether. Such newly made land is extremely marshy, 

 and in certain areas vast tracts of it exist close to the 

 sea. At every high tide, the water floods these marshes, 

 but eventually their channels become choked up with 

 the gathering sands and the sea no longer covers them. 

 They are soon filled with vegetation, and their level is 

 raised and drained; in this way a swampy waste in- 

 habited only by fiddler crabs and snails becomes in time, 

 perhaps, the site of a thriving village. Thus, the sea 

 gives as it takes. 



On rocky coasts at the base of the cliffs will generally 

 be found rocks which have fallen from above. They 

 are of all sizes, some of them weighing many tons. 

 These for the most part have been dislodged from the 

 parts of the cliff which are out of reach of the ordinary 

 action of the waves; in this case the agency for their 

 downfall has been the rain or frost or both. Rain, in 

 its descent from the clouds, absorbs certain gases from 

 the air which, when combined with water, have a dis- 

 solving chemical action on the rock. In time this causes 

 the face of the cliff to become pitted and cracked, often 

 loosening considerable masses of material. In latitudes 

 of frosts this weathering process is hastened by the 

 freezing of the water that fills the cracks. The con- 

 version of the water into ice is accompanied by an 



