Fig. 696.—Life under water.
We have in this chapter briefly considered two very important forces which have much to do with the varying conformation of the earth—viz., fire and water in their results of volcanic action and erosion. The sea will tell us something more.
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE SEA AND THE SKY.
THE SEA—SALT WATER—WAVES AND THEIR EFFECTS—UNDER WATER—THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN.
From our childhood the sea has been the companion and playmate of thousands, the seashore their playground. Men have selected it for their professional training and livelihood. Authors write of it, poets apostrophize, scientists lecture upon it, and fathom it, bringing up from its depths many a new fact and illustration for those who cannot study it for themselves. There is nothing like it, nothing more majestic, more beautiful, more life-giving than the ocean—nothing so changeable nor so true.
From the days when we could toddle along the beach, picking up the shells, we have wondered at the ocean—What was beyond it? What did it conceal?
“What hidest thou in thy treasure-caves and cells,