Euxine Sea

“ The wind swept down the Euxine, and the wave
Broke foaming o'er the blue Symplegades;
'T is a grand sight from off the Giant's Grave
To watch the progress of those rolling seas
Between the Bosphorus, as they lash and lave
Europe and Asia, you being quite at ease;
There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in,
Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine.
VI
'T was a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning,
When nights are equal, but not so the days ”

“ That there are cold regions in the high and mountainous parts of these countries is not to be wondered at; since in the [more] southern climates the mountains, and even the tablelands, are cold. The districts next the Euxine, in Cappadocia, are much farther north than those adjoining the Taurus. Bagadania, a vast plain, situated between the mountains of Argæus512 and Taurus, hardly produces any fruit trees, although south of the Euxine Sea by 3000 stadia; while the territory round Sinope,513 Amisus,514 and Phanarœa abounds in olives. ”

“ The circular disc of the earth was crossed from east to west and divided into two equal parts by the “sea,” as they called the Mediterranean, and its continuation, the Euxine.
Around the earth flowed the “River Ocean,” its course being from south to north on the western, and in a contrary direction on the eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable current, as was supposed, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea and all the rivers on earth received their waters from it. ”

“ Nowhere in the world do myth and legend, traditional associations and historic souvenirs cluster in such numbers and varieties as they do about every rock and bay and promontory of this famous waterway that connects the Euxine with the Sea of Marmora. ”

“ BLACK SEA (or Euxine; anc. Pontus Euxinus) , [1] a body of water lying almost entirely between the latitudes 41° and 45° N., but extending to about 47° N. near Odessa. It is bounded N. by the southern coast of Russia ”

“ The ocean broke angrily against the stern basalt, or entered these huge pits and sprang out of them in welling masses of foam and spray. An iron-bound coast that defied the heart, or any sentiment but wonder and fear. Boulders as big as ships were half attached to the precipices or lay near-by to attest the continuous devouring of the land by the sea. Coming from Tahiti, with its beautiful reefs and beaches, and the clouds like wreaths of reva-reva, with cocoanut-palms and breadfruit-trees and bananas covering all the land, this Easter Island seemed terribly bare and forbidding. ”

“ One afternoon we had sailed out, dressed in our oilskins, and the skipper who, submerged to the waist, had pushed us off the shore through the breakers, had warned us to be back within two hours, for at that time the ebb-tide set in and, with the fresh north breeze, the strong current would make it difficult for us to land. My father had nodded as though he were thinking of something else and had long ago penetrated and computed the caprices of the gray and formidable North Sea. ”

“ When the venturous traveller climbs through the barrier of snow which lies before him, he issues at length upon a clear and open summit, which the region of snow girdles as with a broad belt. From the point of this cone, 10,500 feet above the level of the plain, he commands a magnificent prospect of Asia and Europe; the Euxine and the Egean, with the strait and seas that unite them, winding like rivers just below him ”

“ After spawning, when the young fishes have attained some size, the parent fish swim out of the Euxine immediately after the rising of the Pleiads. If winter comes in with a southerly wind, they swim out with more or less of deliberation; but, if a north wind be blowing, they swim out with greater rapidity, from the fact that the breeze is favourable to their own course. And, by the way, the young fish are caught about this time in the neighbourhood of Byzantium very small in size, as might have been expected from the shortness of their sojourn in the Euxine. ”

“ She coasted the great North-western bulge of Africa; and here, for the first time since leaving England, her speed was checked, the trade winds faded and died, the sea lost its ripples, but kept its waves, that rose and fell slowly, with long monotonous rolls, like an ocean of molten glass. ”

“ We got under way at sun-rise, and with a cool refreshing gale continued to coast along the shore. We passed the Abaiels, and steered our course inside the southern Island of Kudaly; and at two in the afternoon came to an anchor off the village of Ayth. There scarcely can exist a worse place for anchorage than Ayth, the road lying perfectly open, and, when the wind blows from the southern quarter, a heavy sea running along the coast, which, as the ground is foul, makes the riding extremely dangerous. ”

“ But beneath the top of this promontory the Œstrymnian Bay opens out before the eyes of the inhabitants. In the midst of this rise the islands which are called Œstrymnides, scattered widely about, and rich in metals, in tin and in lead. Here live a multitude of men with enterprise and active industry, all [Pg 38] having continually commercial interests; they plough in skilful fashion far and wide the foaming sea [‘fretum,’ literally, strait] , and the currents of monster-bearing Ocean with their small boats. ”

“ The Phœnicians for some centuries confined their navigation within the limits of the Mediterranean, the Propontis, and the Euxine, land-locked seas, which are tideless and far less rough than the open ocean. ”

“ How the shovels flashed, and the shells glinted in the sun, as strong arms heaved [Pg 190] them back into the sea! How the piles of tiny oysters grew!
What a sight it was! From far and near, from east and west, from north and south, from every oyster town about the Bay, came scores of boats to add their shining sails to the great fleet. Look where he would, Alec could see ships sweeping along before the breeze, their decks crowded with toiling men, bulking high with oysters. Never, as long as he lived, would he forget that scene. ”

“ With him we lay gazing into the wonderful rock gardens under the Autelets when the tide was out;—watching the phosphorescent seaweeds flame in the darker pools; seeking out the haunts where the sea anemones lay in thousands, waving their long pale arms hungrily for food and closing them hopefully on anything that offered, even on one's fingers, which they presently rejected as unsatisfying. ”

“ Something terrible must happen. That grey wilderness, arched by grey heaven stooping to grey sea, is a fitting keeper of hideous secrets. Vetch suggests that Oyster Bay cannot be far to the eastward—the line of ocean is deceitfully close—and though such a proceeding will take them out of their course, they resolve to make for it. ”

“ It lies nearly in the direction of E.S.E. and W.N.W.; is nearly all of an equal height, rather low, not exceeding sixty or eighty feet above the level of the sea. This island, and also that of Eaoowee, is guarded from the sea by a reef of coral rocks, extending out from the shore one hundred fathoms more or less. On this reef the force of the sea is spent before it reaches the land or shore. ”

“ But if we look to the southern portion of the Euxine, and the entrance into the Thracian Bosphorus or canal of Constantinople, we there find a depth of forty-eight fathoms French immediately off its opening, and an equator greater depth all around, with a bottom of sand and shells, except on the coast trending towards the north-west and the mouths of the Danube, where the bottom is indeed mud, but the soundings are from forty-five to fifty-five fathoms ”

“ As I write these lines I lift my eyes and look seaward. I am on the beach of Waikiki on the island of Oahu. Far, in the azure sky, the trade-wind clouds drift low over the blue-green turquoise of the deep sea. Nearer, the sea is emerald and light olive-green. Then comes the reef, where the water is all slaty purple flecked with red. Still nearer are brighter greens and tans, lying in alternate stripes and showing where sandbeds lie between the living coral banks. Through and over and out of these wonderful colours tumbles and thunders a magnificent surf. ”

“ From where they sat the sea seemed perfectly calm, a level plain of deepest blue, with pale green streaks under the rocks and dark purple patches further out, its surface just furrowed with tiny wind-ripples, and underneath, a long slow heave like the breathings of the spirit of the deep. But, smooth as the blue plain seemed, wave met rock with roar and turmoil, and between that outlying peak and the shore the waters tore and foamed with wild white crests—tumbling green ridges that were never two seconds the same. ”

“ The bay of Atuona, narrow between high cliffs covered with cocoanut-trees, was the scene of my lessons. The tide came booming into this cove from the Bay of Traitors, often with bewildering force, and a day or two a month as gently as the waves at Waikiki. The river spread a broad mouth to drink the brine, and the white sand was over-run by the flowered vines that crept seaward to taste the salt. No house was in sight, no man-made structure to mar the primitive, as our merry crew of boys and girls sported naked in the surf, fished from the rocks, or lay upon the shining beach. ”

“ Was the Nautilus being drawn into this gulf at the moment our boat was going to leave its sides? We knew that at the tide the pent-up waters between the islands of Ferroe and Loffoden rush with irresistible violence, forming a whirlpool from which no vessel ever escapes. From every point of the horizon enormous waves were meeting, forming a gulf justly called the "Navel of the Ocean," whose power of attraction extends to a distance of twelve miles. There, not only vessels, but whales, are sacrificed, as well as white bears from the northern regions. ”

“ A seaman came hurrying past, running toward an excited group gathered on the after-deck. I shouted to ask the cause of the excitement.
“We’ve run a man down in an open boat at sea,” he called back, “and he’s lousy with gold!”
XII
I followed the man, caught by the electricity of excitement which seemed to dominate all on deck.
On the after-deck of the Wanderer, near the rail, was a long settee, and about this eight or nine men were grouped closely. In the half light of dawn their figures loomed bulkily and strangely alike. As I drew near I made out Captain Brack, Riordan and Garvin. ”

“ On the western coast the proximity of the ocean softens the heat of summer and the cold of winter; and the combination of sea and mountain, of ocean breezes and upland air, the connection opened to the table-land on the east by the Hermus and Mæander and the calm sea on the west, which forms a passage to a number of adjacent islands—make these districts on the shore of the Ægean Sea the favoured home of civilisation in Asia Minor. ”

“ The sea quivers under an armor of silver scales, and laps, laps with a laugh as it runs into the creek. The sails of the ships glisten whiter than any snow. The sun distils the scent from the clove carnations and the sweetbrier leaves, and coaxes the pungent resin through the cracks in the bark, until the air is heavy with a smell that would cease to be perfume, were it not filtered through the salt ooze of the incoming sea-breeze that flutters the flags on the tall white poles, and tempers the ardor of the young year's sun. ”

“ Look in your map of the Archipelago, or Aegean Sea, as it was then called, for the great island of Negropont, or by its old name, Euboea. It looks like a piece broken off from the coast, and to the north is shaped like the head of a bird, with the beak running into a gulf, that would fit over it, upon the main land, and between the island and the coast is an exceedingly narrow strait. The Persian army would have to march round the edge of the gulf. They could not cut straight across the country, because the ridge of mountains called Ceta rose up and barred their way. ”

“ The Eskimos, much to the boys’ surprise, proved splendid sailors. Always at the mastheads men were on the lookout for whales. At times the schooner wallowed slowly through the cold green seas, with barely enough wind to enable the captain to steer clear of jagged cakes or towering bergs. At other times, she tore storming through the tremendous waves under shortened sails, rushing between giant bergs, crashing into masses of drift ice hidden in the [71] foam of breaking waves. ”

“ Touching for a few minutes at Evian, a favorite resort for wealthy people from the south of France, with its pretty hotels, charming oak shaded promenades, the boat sped rapidly on toward Auchy, crossing the lake again. Looking up the lake the mountain ranges, towering high above, change their form and color with every revolution of the wheel. Just ahead of us on the right, a great peak, starting abruptly from the water’s edge, shoots straight up into the air for a thousand or two feet. ”

“ Beneath this promontory spreads the vast Œstrymnian gulf, in which rise out of the sea the islands Œstrymnides, scattered with wide intervals, rich in metal of tin and lead. The people are proud, clever, and active, and all engaged in incessant cares of commerce. ”

“ In the bottom of the sea, while sand and mud and gravel were being deposited in successive layers in some portions of the ocean floor, in others great reefs of Eozoon were growing up in the manner of reefs of coral. If we can imagine the modern Pacific, with its volcanic islands and reefs of coral, to be deprived of all other forms of life, we should have a somewhat accurate picture of the Eozoic time as it appears to us now. ”

“ Therefore in these warm seas there must have been minute animal or vegetable organisms which Eozoön could gather with its long nets or lines, as it grew at the bottom of the sea. Was the Eozoön beautiful? We cannot speak positively; but as we find no age of the world when there was not beauty of form and color, as we see beauty often followed as an end in creation, we may suppose that the Eozoön had gay colors and looked like some great vivid flower waving upon its stem in the water. [8]
There are beds of limestone in the Laurentian rocks, which bear indications of former animal life. ”