86 BEACH GRASS 



snow, later becomes solidified into a hard frozen 

 mass by the percolating water. 



The steep side of the ice-wall faces the sea, 

 while the land side slopes off gradually. In 

 storms, and at unusually high tides the sea 

 breaks over and forms a second or even a third 

 ice-wall higher up the beach, but the lower wall 

 is always the sharpest defined and most spectac- 

 ular. Its height varies from a foot or two to 

 ten or twelve feet, dependent on the length and 

 severity of the frost. Against this solid barrier, 

 the waves break at high tide as on a rocky shore, 

 and, as in the latter case, they carve turrets and 

 columns, overhanging shelves, chasms and grottos. 

 Many of the grottos in the ice-wall are extremely 

 beautiful, the walls irregularly honeycombed and 

 studded with crystals and knobs of ice, and the 

 roof hung with icicles. In places, pure white or 

 delicately green or blue, the ice is apt to become 

 soiled with sand thrown up by the waves. A 

 brief thaw may remove the icy coating which 

 holds the sand on the beach, and the waves soon 

 change the color of the ice-wall from white to 

 gray. The contrast between the sand beach. 



