24 MOZAMBIQUE 



winds are from the east — north-east or south-east 

 — and nearly every afternoon the sea-breeze, re- 

 freshing to exhausted humanity, begins to blow 

 again and renew its task of construction. The 

 dunes and inland hills, so far as this sandy for- 

 mation extends, are all parallel to the coast, 

 clearly indicating their marine origin. The pro- 

 cess can be observed in operation at the present 

 day. Every wave that breaks upon the shore is 

 charged with sand in suspension. The momentary 

 pause before the wave begins to recede allows of 

 sufficient time for some of this sand to settle to 

 the bottom. The surface of the beach is billowed 

 with miniature sand furrows caused by the re- 

 treating waters carrying back with them a little 

 way the newly deposited sand. These furrows, 

 a familiar feature of the beach, beautiful in their 

 regularity, though never monotonous, play an im- 

 portant part in the scheme of architecture, as they 

 constitute barriers over which the last escaping 

 remnant of the retreating wave, left in the lurch 

 as it were, cannot flow. Enfeebled in force and 

 reduced in volume, it hurries away right and left, 

 leaving its sand behind. The escarpments of these 

 little furrows face the sea as they are formed 

 by the returning waves, which, baffled in their 

 attempts to surmount the miniature dunes, fall 

 back and scour out another course for themselves. 



