92 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



the day, and winter as good for man as the summer, 

 if not so enjoyable, so the less beautiful forms of 

 cloud which we have now to consider, though un- 

 doubtedly not so pleasant to any of the senses, have 

 all their appointed tasks to perform for the benefit 

 of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, each in his 

 own order, each perfectly fulfilling his allotted duties, 

 and as such to be appreciated and admired, if not for 

 beauty, for utility. Those long, low-lying streaks of 

 leaden-coloured cloud, which seem to hang so heavily 

 in the sky without grace of outline or beauty of 

 colouring, are called " stratus " clouds, a name which 

 fits them exactly. They belong to the night or the 

 heavy day, and when they spread over the whole sky 

 and shut out the gay sunlight, they have a depressing 

 influence upon the spirits, which is extremely marked. 

 They are pre-eminently useful in preventing radiation 

 of heat from the earth, and are seen only in parts of 

 the world where such a prevention of the escape of 

 heat is needed. Unlike any other of the lower clouds, 

 their movement is slow, as slow and imperceptible as 

 that of the cirrus of the higher regions and its allied 

 forms. They often form an admirable foil, from a 

 spectacular point of view, to the beautiful cumulus. 

 Like a solid sombre base they lie close to the horizon, 

 and upon them sit airily the fleecy volumes of snowy 

 cumuli in all their glory of contour and evanescence 

 of outline. Stern and grim, they impart to cloudland 

 an appearance of stability, which, as it deepens into 

 gloom, we cannot help resenting, for whether we will 

 or no, they depress us with a sense of impending 

 disaster, which is not at all warranted. And when, 

 as is often the case on a sultry summer evening, their 



