72 



THE OPAL SEA 



Bowls of 

 blue. 



The resemblance to a shallow bowl is not to 

 be shaken off. It grows upon one and becomes 

 more impressive as we study the blue above us. 

 For there in the sky is another, an inverted 

 bowl of blue, that comes down and fits upon 

 the bowl of the sea. The horizon line is the 

 point of juncture, and the brims meet so ex- 

 actly that no ray of light creeps through to tell 

 us what lies beyond. 



It seems, then, by a slight stretch of the 

 imagination, that when at sea we are in the 

 center of a hollow globe formed by two hemi- 

 spheres of blue. We are shut in and yet feel 

 no sense of confinement or of oppression. The 

 elements of sky and sea are too transparent, 

 too fugitive, too intangible for that. Moreover, 

 we are continually moving our central base as 

 the ship moves, wandering through a region 

 that knows no limits, has no beginning, comes 

 to no ending. As for the world of land, it is 

 possible for the moment to forget there ever 

 was such a thing. We are creatures of the 

 more volatile elements; and if along the west- 

 ern verge dimly show the silver and gray spots 

 of some coral group, they are but as 

 " Summer isles of Eden lying in dark-purple spheres of 



Illusions of 

 the sea. 



A limitless 

 space. 



sea 



and if overhead the white clouds go by in flocks, 



