POEM OF THE SHOEE. 163 



CHAPTER XX. 



NORMAL FORM OF SHORES, — CURVES OF "GREATEST STABILITY." — FORMATION OF 

 NEW SHORES. — COAST RIDGES AND SAND-BANKS. — INLAND BAYS. 



The shores most violently attacked by the sea are, generally, those 

 which present the most indentations and promontories. The waves 

 break most of all against the advanced capes that jut out ftirthest 

 into the domain of the waters ; but in proportion sts the points retreat 

 before the tide which wears them away, the destructive power of the 

 waves diminishes ; its force will even in time be reduced to nothing, 

 when the base of the cliffs is sufficiently eroded, and describes no 

 more than a slight curve in front of the coast. In fact, the outline 

 of the coast which offers the greatest resistance to the assaults of the 

 sea is not a straight line as one might suppose, but a series of regular 

 and rhythmical curves.* The waves do not cease to labour at re- 

 modelling the shore as long as the latter does not present a succession 

 of creeks gently curved from promontory to promontory. Each one 

 of these rounded bays reproduces in large the form of the wave which 

 breaks on it, drawing on the sand of the beach a long elliptical curve 

 of foam-flakes. 



The coasts of mountainous countries, to which the sea has already 

 given the desired contours, unite an extreme grace with an admirable 

 majesty. Such are the coasts of Provence, of Liguria, of Greece, 

 of the greater part of the Iberian and Italian peninsulas. There, 

 every promontory, the remains of an ancient chain of hills razed by 

 the waves, lifts its terminal point in a high cliff; each valley which 

 descends towards the sea terminates in a beach of fine sand, with a 

 perfectly regular curve. Abrupt rocks and gently sloping beaches 

 alternate thus in a harmonious manner, while the various geological 

 formations, the greater or less width of the valleys, the towns scat- 

 tered on the heights, or on the low shores, the curvatures of the coast, 

 and the incessantly changing aspects of the water, introduce variety 

 into the whole landscape. 



* Elie de BeaumoTit, Baude, &c. 

 M 2 



