74 



THE OPAL SEA 



The image 

 in the sea is 

 JiiTker than 

 the original. 



that it has a color of its own — a local color — 

 it is not precisely like a mirror of white glass 

 with a quicksilver background to catch and 

 throw back the reflection. It is more like the 

 reflecting surface of an aquamarine or the 

 facet of a sapphire and puts some of its own 

 hue in the reproduced image. The image in 

 the sea therefore is always a shade or so darker 

 than the original in the sky. The cerulean blue 

 above becomes an ultramarine below, a white 

 cloud becomes a gray cloud, and a gray cloud 

 a dark sooty cloud. Sunset hues blend into 

 new tones and mingle into deeper harmonies, 

 and light itself, whether from sun, moon, or 

 stars, becomes more mellow in tone, if less 

 brilliant in intensity, when seen in the mirror 

 of the deep. 



This darkening of the reflection seems more 

 marked along the horizon line than elsewhere, 

 because the sky near there is often whitish in 

 tone — much whiter than the sky of the zenith 

 — and thus makes more of a contrast; but 

 everywhere and anywhere the reflection is 

 darker than the original. This becomes still 

 more noticeable as soon as the surface of the sea 

 is ruffled by wind. The many facets of the little 

 waves immediately give out reflections of their 

 own, like pieces of a broken mirror. As they 



Darkened 

 reflection at 

 horizon. 



