GKEAT TIDAL WAVE. 443 



onward-moving waters gathered and rose to 

 greet the gentle moon, it may be a thousand 

 miles hence, and separated to bear around the 

 world the evidence of the power and wisdom of 

 Him whose voice the great ocean itself trembles 

 at and obeys ! The velocity of this great tidal 

 wave varies from 10 to about 100 miles an 

 hour. It is supposed that fifty or sixty hours 

 are occupied in its reaching our shores, from the 

 time of its dispersion. Its appearance as a 

 great wave cannot, of course, be witnessed by 

 any eye but that of Him who " holds the waters 

 in the hollow of his hand," the general pheno- 

 menon of the rise and fall of the tide on our 

 coasts, exhibiting nothing of the wave-like form. 

 This great wave, however, is not the less real 

 that its length is so great, that while one end 

 touches Aberdeen the other reaches to the 

 mouth of the Thames and the coast of Holland. 

 Though its enormous extent and magnitude 

 render it impossible to be recognised as a wave 

 by any single observer, we are able by station- 

 ing numerous observers along different parts of 

 the coasts to compare its dimensions, and to 

 trace its progress at different points, and so to 

 represent its phenomena to the eye and mind, 

 in a small scale, as to comprehend its form and 

 nature as clearly as we do those of a mountain 

 range, or extensive country which has been 



