138 WAVES OF THE SEA 



of surface detail produced a somewhat similar illu- 

 sion of great size among desert sand-dunes. Par- 

 ticularly when under a low sun they produced as 

 great an impression of size as mountains thousands 

 of feet high i.e., of ten times their real height. 



NOTE TO PAGE 60. 



In storms of exceptional duration as well as of more than 

 ordinary severity, such as are not encountered every year, 

 the waves are somewhat higher. Thus in February, 1910, the 

 R.M.S.P. Oruba, between Southampton and Barbados, en- 

 countered waves which, from the account given me by 

 Captain C. P. Langmaid, appear to have attained 45 feet. 

 In March, 1904, Captain J. G. K. Cheret, on another of the 

 R.M.S.P. steamers, encountered between Southampton and the 

 Azores exceptional weather, of which he has given me an 

 account. When he was on the bridge the waves frequently 

 obscured the horizon at times when the ship was on an even 

 keel, from which it appears that they surpassed 45 and may 

 have attained 50 feet. 



