IX THE SEA 348 



white and thick as with snow, only the flakes 

 are a foot or two long each : the surges them- 

 selves are full of foam in their very bodies 

 underneath, making them white all through, 

 as the water is under a great cataract; and 

 their masses, being thus half water and half 

 air, are torn to pieces by the wind whenever 

 they rise, and carried away in roaring smoke, 

 which chokes and strangles like actual water. 

 Add to this, that when the air has been ex- 

 hausted of its moisture by long rain, the spray 

 of the sea is caught by it as described above, 

 and covers its surface not merely with the 

 smoke of finely divided water, but with boil- 

 ing mist ; imagine also the low rain-clouds 

 brought down to the very level of the sea, as 

 I have often seen them, whirling and flying in 

 rags and fragments from wave to wave ; and 

 finally, conceive the surges themselves in their 

 utmost pitch of power, velocity, vastness, and 

 madness, lifting themselves in precipices and 

 peaks, furrowed with their whirl of ascent, 

 through all this chaos, and you will under- 

 stand that there is indeed no distinction left 

 between the sea and air ; that no object, nor 



