EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 45 
fine dust swept along just above the surface 
and reminds me of snow blowing over ice — and 
vapor curving along a roof, meandering like 
that, often. The before dark blue is now diver¬ 
sified with much darker or blackish patches, 
with a suggestion of red, purplish even.I 
am surprised to see that the billows which the 
wind makes are concentric curves, apparently 
reaching round from shore to shore of this broad 
bay forty rods wide or more. For this, two 
things may account, the greater force of the wind 
in the middle and the friction of the shores. 
When it blows hardest each successive billow 
(four or five feet apart or more) is crowned 
with a yellowish or dirty-white foam. The 
wind blows around each side of the hill, the 
opposite currents meeting, perchance, or it falls 
over the hill so that you have a field of ever- 
varying color, dark blue, blackish, yellowish, 
light blue, smooth sky-blue, purplish, and yel¬ 
lowish foam, all at once. Sometimes the wind 
visibly catches up the surface and blows it 
along and about in spray four or five feet high. 
The requisites are high water, mostly clear of 
ice, ground bare and sufficiently dry, weather 
warm enough, and wind strong and gusty. 
Then you may sit or stand on a hill and watch 
the play of the wind with the water. I know 
of no checker-board more interesting to watch. 
