118 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



and sky and sea seem to melt and mingle into 

 one. But this is the hurricane storm that lit- 

 erally beats the sea into yeast and blurs both 

 form and color. It is not frequently seen, and 

 has too much chaos about it to be more than 

 awe-inspiring by its power. It is little more 

 enjoyable than the night-scene at sea, when rain 

 and wind are howling through the rigging, and 

 the white-caps gleam dull and ghost-like beside 

 the black hulk of the vessel. Nature is some- 

 times too violent for either love or admira- 

 tion. 



The height of storm waves is more moderate 

 than one would suppose. In fresh-water lakes 

 they rise to a greater relative pitch than on the 

 sea, because fresh water is lighter than salt 

 water. The waves on Lake Superior, for in- 

 stance, are higher in proportion to wind and 

 water-depth than on the Mediterranean ; but 

 on neither is there any mountainous altitude at- 

 tained. The heavy waves of the Mediterranean 

 average only from thirteen to eighteen feet in 

 the perpendicular ; and on the North Atlantic, 

 one of the most tempestuous of all seas, they 

 are only from nineteen to forty-three feet the 

 latter height being the greatest ever known 

 there. This is certainly high enough, but hardly 



