38 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
we think we see in them marine monsters which are prepared for 
war. <A strong, constant, and equal wind produces long swelling 
billows, which, rising on the same line, advance with a uniform 
movement, one after the other, precipitating themselves upon the 
coast. Sometimes these billows are suspended by the wind or 
arrested by some current, thus forming, as it were, a liquid wall. In 
this position, unhappy is the daring navigator who is subjected to its 
Fig. 7.—Height of Waves off the Cape of Good Hope. 
fury!” The highest waves are those which prevail in the offing off 
the Cape of Good Hope at the period of high tide, under the influence 
of a strong north-west wind, which has traversed the South Atlantic, 
pressing its waters towards the Cape. “The billows there lift 
themselves up in long ridges,” says Dr. Maury, “‘ with deep hollows 
between them. ‘They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft 
in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with 
snow, and chasing each other in sport. Still, their march is stately, 
and their roll majestic. Many an Australian-bound trader, after 
