612 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



So much for the water of the sea ; let us now see what it does. We will 

 glance at the surface ere we plunge into the depths. 



In childhood, and even in after years, we most of us delight in watching 

 the waves of the sea. What finer sight than that we can obtain on the bold 

 Cornish coast with a westerly wind, when the great Atlantic waves come 

 rolling in and dashing up to the tops of the Tintagel cliffs, wearing and 

 grinding them away ; hissing up the sands at New Quay, or thundering on 

 the shores of " Bude and Boss " ! Then the wind abates, the sea goes down, 

 the billows become waves, the waves to wavelets grow, less and less, until 

 there is a mere ripple on the surface which is never still. The mighty 

 heaving of the ocean breast is the peculiarity of the sea. 



Yet, again, as we stand to watch the waves, or run from them as they 



Fig. 698. Sea wave?. 



sweep in foam upon the sloping sand, we shall find that they increase or 

 decrease in force, and the level of the water rises or sinks by degrees. The 

 tide is flowing or ebbing as the case may be. So we know the surface has 

 another a current motion besides the undulation of the water. The 

 currents of the ocean are very valuable attributes, the Gulf Stream in- 

 particular bringing us warmth and, indeed, rain. There are three move- 

 ments of the ocean waves, currents, and tides. 



The waves, perhaps, interest us most, as they come rolling in with 

 irregular force, but all mightily impelled by the wind. We have all noticed 

 the ripples on a puddle ; the same action of the wind produces the grandeur 

 of the waves of the ocean. The wave comes rolling in before the wind ta 

 break against the rocks or beach, and another forms to break in its place ; 

 the higher the waves the more quickly they appear to move. But when the 



