

FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 407 



the obstructions, large or small, which it encounters. These dunes are not hurled 

 bodily by the breezes, but little by little, forming and reforming, forward and back- 

 ward, changing, in fact, with every caprice of the wind, gentle and almost imperceptible 

 during a light sea breeze, but a stinging, blinding sand-blast in times of gale. 



In spite, however, of all these minor changes, the sand mass is generally moving, 

 perhaps only a few inches a year, in the direction of prevailing winds. A great deal 

 depends upon the day winds; for at night the sand is damp and firmer. And so 

 mountains of sand are formed which are often held temporarily by hardy plants which 

 have gained a precarious footing, but which sooner or later, unless watched and fixed, 

 begin to shift, engulfing meadows, farm lands, lakes, bays, inlets — in fact, anything 

 unable to check its course. Very often these dunes are held by a natural growth of 

 plants, and even in many cases when the conditions were different, forests have 

 grown. In places where these forests have been destroyed, the dunes have become 

 restless, and in other instances, where great changes have occurred in the shore line, 

 the forest holding one set of dunes has been, or is being, overwhelmed by those of 

 more recent formation. 



There are several instances where lighthouses have been increased in height 

 because of the sand which had engulfed them. On the North Carolina dunes, chim- 

 neys projecting above the sand belong to the houses of an old fishing village. In 

 France and other parts of Europe, villages have been buried. At Soulac, in Gascony, 

 a cross was discovered projecting above the sand. Further investigation showed that 

 it was attached to a steeple, and later a well-preserved church was excavated. The 

 church is now in use. 



The sand of dunes, although it varies in nature throughout the world, is extremely 

 fine on the eastern coast of America. It beats through cracks in dwellings, frosts the 

 window-glass, and sifts into one's pockets, shoes, clothing and hair. 



On the Pacific coast there are few dunes. In the region north of the 

 Columbia in Washington and Oregon there are extensive accumulations of sand, 

 behind which there are bays, as along the Atlantic coast. A part of this area is cov- 

 ered with the beach pine (Pinits contorta). A large part of the magnificent park of 

 San Francisco consists of shifting sands which were blown and washed up from the 

 sea and have since been fixed and improved. There are extensive dunes in the region 

 of the great lakes, especially in Michigan ; and in Ontario farms are being invaded by 

 moving sand-banks. On the Atlantic coast there is an immense area of shifting sea- 

 sand. These dunes, in all their stages, may be seen to advantage on Cape Cod, the 

 New Jersey coast, Long Island, and Cape Henlopen. Here and there along the shore 

 excellent bath'ng-beaches are being damaged, the coast is constantly changing, and 

 in many places valuable harbors are being invaded and inlets choked with sand. In 



