SAND-DUNES 



933 



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THE SAND SILTS UP AMONGST THE GRASS STEMS. 



to their envdronment, so that their roots 

 mat and bind the sands together, and 

 their stems are so shaped as to cause 

 the sand to accumulate between them. 

 Through the agenc}' of these plants the 

 drifting sands are arrested on their inland 

 march, and, accumulating, become heaped 

 up and formed into sand-dunes. 



At the top of the shore 

 the sand Hes in low, loose 

 mounds or hillocks, hardly 

 worthy of the name of 

 dunes, but as we follow 

 them inland, they gradually 

 increase in height, forming 

 a series of miniature ranges 

 of hills, each range running 

 parallel with the shore, built 

 up with graceful sloping 

 curves seaward, and steeper 

 and deeper valleys on the 

 landward sides. The wind 

 blowing the sand up the 

 somewhat prolonged slopes 

 on the seaward face of the 

 dunes, tends to heap its 

 burden at the top, from 

 whence the higher currents 

 of air seem to carry it par- 



tially across the valley that separates one 

 range of dunes from another. 



Inland, beyond this belt of sand-dunes, 

 we come upon a narrow strip of heather- 

 clad land which gently slopes downwards 

 to the reed-bcn-dered margin of a beauti- 

 ful lagoon called the Little Sea. Stand- 

 ing on the summit of the highest range 



i ) I r, bANU lo 



uP THE GENTLE SLOFL O 



.;.. bHOKE. 



