vii WATER 275 



them into patches. These become more and 

 more liquid, until the land, river, and sea 

 merge imperceptibly into one another. The 

 river is so muddy that it might almost be 

 called land, and the mud so saturated by 

 water that it might well be called sea, so that 

 one can hardly say whether a given spot is 

 on the continent, in the river, or on the open 

 ocean. 



