THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



535 



On the other hand, the land, 

 attacked by chemical change, 

 eroded by wind and running 

 water, is an unending succession 

 of elevations and depressions, and 

 whenever there is a subsidence 

 the sea seeks out every foot of 

 ground below its level and oc- 

 cupies it. 



Only the highest waves ever 

 lash the sea bottom beyond a 

 depth of 26 feet, and at 600 feet 

 even the ripple-marks of a gen- 

 tle surge disappear. 



THE WINDS A BOLSHEVIK ARMY 



From the Virginia capes south- 

 ward, one may see the same 

 forces at death grips that are 

 found on the Jersey and other 

 coasts. But neither at Cape Cod 

 nor in Jersey will one behold to 

 such advantage the role played by 

 the wind, the Bolshevik of the 

 land and sea war, as in the region 

 of the kingly capes and in the vi- 

 cinity of Hatteras. Now it boldly 

 marshals its forces alongside 

 those of the water and urges on 

 the attack with the utmost aban- 

 don. And now, repentant of that 

 role, it steps in and helps the land 

 erect great barriers of sand, 

 against which the wildest sea, in 

 its maddest moments charges in 

 vain. 



The winds are the makers of 

 dunes, the tanks in nature's war- 



SKETCH MAP OE SANDY HOOK 



A little south of Sandy Hook, at 

 Long Branch, the highlands yield a 

 continuous supply of sand to the ac- 

 tion of the waves. This is washed 

 up and down the beach with each ad- 

 vancing and retiring wave, but with 

 each movement it is brought down 

 to a place northerly of where it 

 started, as the waves strike the shore 

 obliquely and from a southerly di- 

 rection. So the sand is carried along 

 until it is deposited in deeper water, 

 where the wave action is not so vig- 

 orous, gradually building up the bot- 

 tom in much the same manner as a 

 delta is built up at the mouth of a 

 river. Sandy Hook is the result of 

 this action aided by the winds which 

 blow the wave-brought sands into 

 dunes. 



HOOK BEACON 



L.S. STATION 

 SANDY HOOK 







o 



^ 



fctj 



each 



L.S. STATION 

 $£A BRIGHT 



Statute Miles 



