Vlll PREFACE-DEDICATION 



before us; the lights and colors of its sun- 

 woven fabric are still ours; we still may know 

 the beauty of the Opal Sea. 



Not here alone by this Dalmatian coast is 

 the wondrous play of light and color on the 

 outstretched sea. By the home waters of the 

 Atlantic, by West Indian strand and Peruvian 

 headland and South Sea beach there is the 

 same glint of flame and fire. The distant 

 seas where once rode golden galleons, the still 

 waters of tropic reefs where polyps rear castles 

 of coral, the encircling waves of lone islands 

 where seals lurk and sea birds clamor, are 

 merely parts of the great whole. All the oceans 

 are one. North or south of the line, at the 

 equator or at the poles, around Iceland or 

 around Formosa there is but the one water. 

 And up and down the vast expanse, every- 

 where over its shining surface, with summer 

 suns and rosy atmospheres, there spreads the 

 violet light, the pearly color, of the Oriental 

 stone. Therefore I ask again: Why not the 

 Opal Sea? 



John C. Van Dyke. 

 Ragusa, Dalmatia. 



