100 



THE OPAL SEA 



Slight sur- 

 face inove- 

 inents. 



the steady pressure of the Trades. Elsewhere on 

 tropic seas the surface ma}' be smooth, and ap- 

 parently flat, though there are always some 

 slight movements beneath the surface, such, for 

 instance, as the tailings of distant storms, the 

 heave of the tide, or the interchange of cur- 

 rents. These are, however, little noticed from 

 the ship in mid-ocean. Sometimes there are 

 days succeeding days when the only break upon 

 the surface is made by the cut-water, and the 

 only foam seen is that pushed out by the shoul- 

 der of the ship. 



Not unprofitable are the sea studies made 

 from the deck of the ship, even though that 

 ship be an ocean steamer. The ancient mariner 

 v/ho passed his boyhood in a whaler, becalmed 

 in the horse latitudes or freezing off the fag- 

 end of New Zealand, has some contempt for the 

 modern wedge of steel that plies between the 

 continents. He thinks we have fallen upon evil 

 times and that we no longer see the ocean or 

 enjoy travel upon it. The thought is not new. 

 Our grandfathers argued thus and so in favor 

 of the stage coach. Every age is the " good old 

 time " save our own ; and every ship looks ro- 

 mantic but the one we sail in. Yet change as 

 we may our vehicles of travel, the sea remains 

 the same; and if we have observant eyes there 



The ocean 

 steamer. 



Modern 

 ships and 

 sea travel. 



