es THE SEA 343 
white and thick as with snow, only the flakes 
are a foot or two long each: the surges them- 
selves are full of foam in their very bodies 
underneath, making them white all through, 
as the water.is under a great cataract; and 
‘their masses, being thus half water and half 
air, are torn to pieces by the wind whenever 
they rise, and carried away in roaring smoke, 
which chokes and strangles like actual water. 
Add to this, that when the air has been ex- 
hausted of its moisture by long rain, the spray 
of the sea is caught by it as described above, 
and covers its surface not merely with the 
smoke of finely divided water, but with boil- 
ing mist; imagine also the low rain-clouds 
brought down to the very level of the sea, as 
I have often seen them, whirling and flying in 
rags and fragments from wave to wave; and 
finally, conceive the surges themselves in their 
utmost pitch of power, velocity, vastness, and 
madness, lifting themselves in precipices and 
peaks, furrowed with their whirl of ascent, 
through all this chaos, and you will under- 
stand that there is indeed no distinction left 
between the sea and air; that no object, nor 
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