10 HALF AN HOUR WITH THE WAVES. 



communicate this force to each other, and so pass it- 

 on until the last wave spends itself against the sea- 

 shore. We can better understand it by observing the 

 action of the wind on a field of wheat. We can see the 

 breeze sweep over it, and notice the waves which bend 

 down the brown ears, to rise again after the force has 

 been removed. This waving of a wheat-field is exactly 

 parallel to the rhythmical motion of the surface of the 

 sea. The wheat itself does not move, nor does the body 

 of the sea-water. When the wind is intermittent, 

 as most ordinary breezes are, then the waves will 

 run in for a short time, and be followed by a longer 

 and higher ridge than the rest, which we may call 

 the billow. This is simply due to the rhythmical 

 fits and starts, and is to be noticed chiefly in fine 

 weather the waves being all tolerably equal as to 

 height and length during a storm. When stormy 

 winds have prevailed in one direction for a long 

 time, by repeatedly pressing on the side of the wave 

 they force it to bend over in the direction the wind 

 is itself taking. Even this, however, is merely a 

 rising and falling, an oscillation, of the water, in 

 that particular place. The force of the storm-waves 

 is indeed something terrible. Those of the Atlantic 

 which break on the western coast of Ireland often 

 run forty and fifty feet in height. Further, it is 

 known that the velocity imparted to waves frequently 

 attains the rate of a mile a minute. Single and 

 unbroken waves have been observed coming in at 

 this rate, whose body of water could not weigh less 



