54 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



find in the streets of a town compared with what they 

 are in the fields, or even in a park which is not too 

 well wooded. It is very difficult, indeed, in a town to 

 know what the direction of wind is or estimate its 

 force because of the way in which it is deflected, flung 

 into eddies, suddenly increased or as suddenly calmed, 

 according to the angle on which it strikes obstructions. 

 All these variations are reproduced on a much larger 

 scale by the winds of the sea when they come in con- 

 tact with the land, according to the configuration of 

 the latter. But what is most wonderful is the way in 

 which a great gale system approaching with great 

 force and rapidity the coast of Ireland, let us say, 

 from the westward, will suddenly be dissipated, calmed 

 down, and become harmless when it might have been 

 expected to do enormous damage. On the other hand, 

 an ordinary breeze circulating quite pleasantly and 

 sluggishly in a similar direction will, upon meeting 

 with the coast, suddenly develop into a terrible gale, 

 devastating the coast and carrying destruction far 

 inland. 



This is hard to understand, but it is akin to the 

 way in which, when sailing along a deeply indented 

 coast, the wind will suddenly rush seaward upon a ship 

 lying in a calm as if some mighty giant had just 

 awakened and hurled an unseen thunderbolt at her. 

 It behoves the manner to use the utmost caution when 

 sailing near such lands, lest his ship should suddenly 

 lose her masts, for these blasts come raging down with- 

 out the slightest warning. Truly the wind is a force 

 of Nature that is most mysterious in all its ways, not 

 only because of its invisibility, but because of the 

 strangeness of its behaviour. One particular instance 



