CHAPTER IX 



STILL WATERS 



ALMOST any sheet of enclosed water is a sea, 

 a lake, or a pond, as the dwellers beside it 

 choose to name it. The nomenclature, as ap- 

 plied, is often very misleading. Thus, for in- 

 stance, we have the term "Sea of Galilee" 

 applied to a lake fifteen miles long by eight 

 miles broad, whereas " Lake Superior " desig- 

 nates an inland sea covering an area of thirty-two 

 thousand square miles, and having no more the 

 characteristics of a lake than Galilee has of a 

 sea. Any body of water> no matter whether fresh 

 or salt, where we are at any time out of sight 

 of land, or have a water-line for a horizon, has 

 at least one strong feature of the ocean immen- 

 sity. The great American lakes, as we stand up- 

 on their shores, stretch out to the horizon-rim 

 without a break, and we have small reason to 

 suppose we are not on the New England coast 

 looking over the Atlantic toward Europe. True 

 enough, these great lakes have a different smell, 

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