THE STORY THE SEA TOLD 165 



cient it is and that we can prove that while 

 the ocean now covers three-fourths of the 

 globe there was once a time when it swept 

 unbroken from pole to pole around the entire 

 circumference of the earth. 



Gradually the ocean has shrunk; slowly the 

 land has risen above the waves. What were 

 once great seas are now arid deserts, former 

 gulfs and bays are now fertile, cultivated val- 

 leys, peaks that once were ocean islets are now 

 forest-covered mountains, and the sandy 

 beaches and muddy flats which have been 

 transformed to stone, with the tracks of 

 strange creatures and imprints of rain-drops 

 still intact, are quarried from our hills and 

 used to build our houses, flag our walks and to 

 serve as doorsteps. 



