108 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



breeze to repress the vertical movements of the air, and to obey 

 the will which calls it to the land. This vertical movement ap- 

 pears to be not easily overcome by the horizontal which we call 

 wind. Yonder, far out upon the sea, arises and disappears alter- 

 nately a darker tint upon the otherwise shining sea-carpet ; final- 

 ly, that tint remains and approaches ; that is the long-wished-for 

 sea-breeze : and yet it is sometimes one, yes, even two hours be- 

 fore that darker tint is permanent, before the sea-breeze has regu- 

 larly set in. 



241. " Now small white clouds begin to rise above the hori- 

 zon ; to the experienced seaman they are a prelude to a fresh sea- 

 breeze. We welcome the first breath from the sea ; it is cooling, 

 but it soon ceases ; presently it is succeeded by other grateful 

 puffs of air, which continue longer ; presently they settle down 

 into the regular sea-breeze, with its cooling and refreshing breath. 



242. " The sun declines, and the sea-wind — that is, the com- 

 mon trade-wind or monsoon which is drawn toward the land — is 

 awakened. It blows right earnestly, as if it would perform its 

 daily task with the greatest possible ado. 



243. " The air, itself refreshed upon the deep, becomes gray 

 from the vapor which envelops the promontories in mist, and cur- 

 tains the inland with dark clouds. The land, relieved by the dark- 

 er tint which it gives to the mist, looms up beautifully ; the dis- 

 tance can not be estimated. The sailor thinks himself farther from 

 shore than he really is, and steers on his course carelessly, while 

 the capricious wind lashes the waters, and makes a short and 

 broken sea, from the white caps of which light curls are torn, with 

 sportive hand, to float away like party-colored streamers in the 

 sunbeam. In the mean while clouds appear now and then high in 

 air, yet it is too misty to see far. 



244. " The sun approaches the horizon. Far over the land the 

 clouds continue to heap up ; already the thunder is heard among 

 the distant hills ; the thunder-bolts reverberate from hill-side to 

 hill-side, while through the mist the sheets of lightning are seen.* 



* At Buitenzorg, near Batavia, 40 English miles from the shore, five hundred feet 

 above the sea, with high hills around, these thunder-storms occur between 4 P.M. and 

 8 P.M. 



