218 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



is, in nautical language, distinguished into different 

 kinds. The first effect of the wind on the water, such 

 as that observed in small lakes or rivers in strong 

 winds, is denominated lippc?^ or wmd-lipper, and 

 constitutes in the high sea or in large waters, the 

 rudiments of all larger waves. The higher waves 

 observed in the ocean, carrying inequalities and in- 

 ferior waves in all parts of their surface, are, collec- 

 tively or individually, called a sea, and are distin- 

 guished into different kinds, according to their cha- 

 racters, properties or appearances ; such as, " a high 

 sea," " a heavy sea," " a short sea," " a long sea," 

 " a true sea," " a cross sea ;" or, as relating to the 

 position in which a ship traverses the surges, a 

 " head-sea," a '•' beam-sea," and so on. But the 

 smooth undulations of the sea which remain after 

 a storm, or which extend beyond the influence of 

 the wind into a calm region, where no such waves 

 took their rise, is most frequently denominated a 

 swell. Lastly, The sublime appearance of waves 

 in shallow water, seen also occasionally in deep 

 seas, in which their towering summits overrunning 

 the velocity of the hollows, are reared beyond the 

 perpendicular, and fall over like a cascade, is, the 

 well-known and dreaded breakers, or broken water, 

 of the mariner. 



It has been intimated by Boyle, that the highest 

 natural or ordinary waves do not rise more than 



