164 



THE OPAL SEA 



A gray 

 hnrmony 

 along shore. 



Somber col- 

 oring of 

 North Sea. 



The Scottish 

 coast. 



gentle or charming or winning about it. But 

 the reach of it commands respect. And, too, 

 the elements of land, sea, and sky are here re- 

 duced to their simplest terms. Color is a half- 

 tone made up of green and yellow, quite abso- 

 lute in its harmony; the air is a thick veiling 

 which unites everything; the light is muffled, 

 strained through clouds, grayed by moisture. 

 Mist and cloud mingle with the smoke of com- 

 merce to complete the picturesque if sad mono- 

 tone. 



Yet the leaden skies that so often hang over 

 these English waters are depressing; and, for 

 all the strength of their somber coloring the 

 coasts are a bit mournful. The North Sea in no 

 part of it shows nature in her most entrancing 

 moods. Up under the rocky edge of Suther- 

 land, the skies are clearer but the water little 

 brighter. It is usually steel-blue like that of 

 the Black Sea. The old red sandstone turns 

 dark at the water's edge, the beaches have gray 

 lusterless sands packed in about the blackened 

 stumps of rocks, and the sea weed is blackish, 

 too. And almost always an uneasy water — 

 choppy waves, waves that are forever slapping 

 the cliff walls, or else eddying currents that go 

 gurgling through rock fissures and whirl about 

 sunken reefs. At night the rocky coast becomes 



