CHARACTERISTICS OF OREGON 



swirled in the restless breakers. The abrupt- 

 ness of the shore allows the massive waves 

 that have come from far over the broad Paci- 

 fic to get close to the bluffs ere they break, and 

 the thundering shock shakes the rocks to 

 their foundations. No calm comes to these 

 shores. Even in the finest weather, when the 

 ships off shore are becalmed and their sails 

 hang loose against the mast, there is always a 

 wreath of foam at the base of these bluffs. 

 The breakers are ever in bloom and crystal 

 brine is ever in the air. 



A scramble along the Oregon sea-bluffs 

 proves as richly exciting to lovers of wild 

 beauty as heart could wish. Here are three 

 hundred miles of pictures of rock and water in 

 black and white, or gray and white, with more 

 or less of green and yellow, piuple and blue. 

 The rocks, gUstening in sunshine and foam, 

 are never wholly dry — many of them marvels 

 of wave-sculpture and most imposing in bulk 

 and bearing, standing boldly forward, monu- 

 ments of a thousand storms, types of perma- 

 nence, holding the homes and places of refuge 

 of multitudes of seafaring animals in their 

 keeping, yet ever wasting away. How grand 

 the songs of the waves about them, every wave 

 a fine, hearty storm in itself, taking its rise 

 on the breezy plains of the sea, perhaps thou- 



275 



