THK wind's AVILL 



125 



The crests now appear of toppling height, and 

 when they break they do so with a roaring 

 swish of spray. This is what the sailors wovdd 

 call " a rough sea " and the wind is " variable " 

 or " a half gale." 



The storm waves which appear with very 

 high winds are peculiar to the winds that form 

 them. If the pressure is steady and continued 

 from one direction they have a tendency to 

 regularity of movement; but not if the wind 

 comes from thunder storms or cyclones which 

 last only a few hours. These gusts merely lash 

 the ocean, tossing and twisting the surface 

 and, after much bluster, subside as rapidly 

 as they rose. Indeed, the original dash of 

 wind and rain has a tendency to beat down 

 the water instead of driving it forward in 

 ridges ; and in any event the thunder storm 

 is usually much too short-lived to start a pro- 

 cession of heavy waves. But under the long 

 and strong push of a three-days wind — a 

 " northeaster " — the sea heaps up in great val- 

 leys and ridges that grow higher and heavier 

 with the increase of the gale. They are not 

 always foam-capped, but frequently a wave of 

 greater bulk than the others will come push- 

 ing and shouldering along, its apex wedged up 

 so high that the unsubstantial fabric of water 



storm 

 waves. 



Thunder 

 storms and 

 cyclones. 



Effect of 

 'the north- 

 easter." 



