Islands 97 



just as the painter must avoid certain true effects, 

 merely because, being too rare or too difficult to 

 represent, they must appear unnatural even if 

 they should not be so. Here also one may ap- 

 ply the saying, " Le vrai souvent n'est pas vrai- 

 semblable." 



Generally, as I have said, artificial islands can 

 be recognized at the first glance. Their shape is 

 either oval or round, sloping down equally on all 

 sides, and planted at random in separate patches. 

 Nature forms them quite otherwise, seldom by 

 building up, more frequently by erosion. For 

 how does an island originate ? It is made by 

 flowing water, and there are laws for it. Either 

 a piece of land which has withstood the pressure 

 of the flood by its height and solidity, or which 

 has been forcibly torn away, or an eminence 

 which is quietly surrounded by a stream in its 

 course, or finally, accumulated soil which has 

 been borne along by the stream, remains after 

 the flood has receded as an island above low 

 water. In the first case sudden declivities and 

 corners and abrupt, as well as rounded, lines 

 will appear. (See Plate VII, a.) In the second 

 and third case (see Plate VII, b), the ends will 

 nearly always be sharply pointed; a rounded 

 oval will seldom be the result ; never an entirely 

 rounded island. Islands in the middle of a stream, 

 or, at least, those at some distance from the 

 bank, mostly take the shapes here indicated. 

 Single obstructions produce different shapes ; for 

 instance, a break in the side will probably result 



