IN THE DUNES 5 



shore has become almost straight. Farther to the 

 south, the rebound from this building out has 

 carried away fifty or sixty feet of the end of a 

 driveway to the shore, and exposed a cross section 

 of dunes in a low cliff. In 1911, I found the 

 distance from the northern corner of the light- 

 house lot was a thousand and ninety feet from 

 high water mark. In December, 1920, it was 

 only six hundred and thirty feet. Warning tres- 

 pass signs, like King Canute's commands, have 

 been of no avail. They have been washed away 

 by the advancing sea. 



In winter this cliff of sand, solidified by frost, 

 is undercut by the waves, cracks a foot or two 

 from the edge and long sections sink down. In 

 this way the recession is rapid. The pathway 

 from the lighthouse, after traversing the dunes, 

 formerly passed through a broad stretch of low- 

 lying upper beach. Now that the beach is cut 

 back, the path over the dunes is shown in section 

 like a U-shaped hanging valley. 



Still farther to the south the beach has built 

 out on a shore line of about half a mile, and suc- 

 cessive waves of dunes mark the old beach lines. 



