182 



THE OCEAN. 



regular than those of the littoral ridges. In all the gulfs and straits 

 on the coasts of California, the Carolinas, and Brazil, in the Chan- 

 nel and in the North Sea, there exist along the coasts a multitude 

 of these banks, the arrangement of which indicates exactly the 

 path of the contrary or parallel currents which have been formed 

 by their meeting. Their depth varies. There are some over which 

 large ships can sail without danger ; but there are others very 

 near to the surface of the water, over which the waves incessantly 

 break. It is these banks, hardly below the level of the sea, which 

 are the most dreaded ; and the English and American sailors, think- 

 ing of the fate that perhaps awaits them on these hidden sands, have 

 gaily given them the ironical name of ''frying pans.'' In wide- 



rig. 82.— Gulf of Carentan. 



mouthed gulfs, and along straight coasts, the sea endeavours to con- 

 struct new shores by means of deposits of mud. The remains 



