138 
NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
Forced 
waves. 
The beach- 
comber. 
higher wave been known. It is only by fore- 
ing water on a coast or through a channel that 
great height is attained. The fifty feet of tide 
that rises so rapidly in the narrow, wedge- 
shaped Bay of Fundy is an analogous illustra- 
tion. 
The beach-comber, as it comes in upon the 
sloping sand, is somewhat tame compared with 
the rocky coast-breaker. It rises and falls with 
more apparent regularity. As it rises, a long 
line of light may be seen shining beneath the 
top, and the already curling crest seems hurry- 
ing down to meet it. Just at this time the 
wave shows its greatest beauty of color. The 
foam of the top is half water, half air, and is 
bluish-white, while the green and dark-blue of 
the wave are the more transparent for the light 
shot through the thin concave of water. ‘I'he 
glassy curve shows for a moment a whirling 
panorama of beach, sun, and sky; the base of 
the wave swings back and under, the crest 
swings over, and in another moment the whole 
structure has broken in a froth of foam on 
the shore. 
If the beach is sandy and quite flat the 
broken wave pushes its waters in a gentle flood 
upward and outward in rings and half-circles, 
