106 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



So low are they, that when the gale has become suffi- 

 ciently furious to tear off the crests of the waves and 

 whirl them upward in masses of smoky spray, there 

 is a mingling of salt spray and fresh vapour, forming 

 what is known to the sailor as " spindrift." So inti- 

 mate is the commingling that oftentimes the sailor, 

 aloft upon some errand of securing a loose end, finds 

 that even at that giddy height he can taste the brine 

 in the air. He is really breathing a mixture of cloud 

 and spray flung upward thus high by the energy of 

 the impetuous gale. 



Of the hurricane clouds I have already spoken, 

 that terrific combination of vapours which have been 

 consolidated by the accumulation of electricity until 

 the sky above seems to be scarcely less tangible than 

 the sea beneath. And, indeed, in the height of a 

 tropical hurricane it is not easy to say where sea 

 and sky meet, so tremendous is the disturbance of 

 their equilibrium, and so intimate is their association. 

 These clouds have a character all their own, being 

 seemingly akin to the awful gloom that hovers over 

 the summit of a volcano which is about to belch forth 

 fire and poison upon creation. But in their appear- 

 ance only. Undoubtedly the hurricane clouds, fearful 

 and terror-striking as is their aspect, are entirely 

 beneficent in their effect upon the world at large. 

 During the performance of their duties they destroy, 

 and that upon a large scale (of course, I speak of 

 them in conjunction with the wind) ; but the life that 

 they take in the performance of their tremendous 

 duties is infinitesimal in amount compared with the 

 life that is saved by their aid. Perhaps, however, it 

 is unfair to credit these clouds with so much, since 



