248 
NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
Livable 
lands. 
marshes. 
heaval of a low-lying shore or by the gain of silt 
washed down to the shore by the rivers—some- 
thing won from the sea either by upheaval or 
accretion. Holland is an exceptional illustra- 
tion of a marine plain reclaimed from the sea 
by human ingenuity aiding the favorable drift 
of sand into dunes along the coast; the State of 
New Jersey, or at least a part of it, is an illus- 
tration of a gradual upheaval that has placed 
the plain above sea-level. I do not know the 
geological formation of the east coast of Eng- 
land, but I suppose it to be a plain similar in 
origin to that of New Jersey. These tracts now 
lie above inundation, and are broken by low 
hills, stretches of meadow and timber, and slow- 
winding streams. They make the arable and 
the livable portions of the globe, and in many re- 
spects they are the most picturesque portions. 
The flat horizon lines, the great sky depths, the 
feeling of space, the expanse of light and color 
in the sky, are all features that are not im- 
pressive at first, but soon become attractive and 
finally most lovable. 
The lands subject to flooding by high tides 
(perhaps the coastal plains of the future, now in 
process of formation), called marshes and mead- 
ows, are common enough along every coast 
