East coast

“ The narrow mountain ridge of the west coast is the seat of the civilized peoples; the home of the lowest culture is the east coast, extending in a broad band of territory from the highlands of the Brazilian provinces of Pernambuco and Bahia south-westward to the Chilean Andes and Patagonia; between these two, occupying the whole centre of the continent, with a broad base along the northern coast and narrowing wedge-like to the south, is the region of the intermediate culture group. ”

“ The east coast of England is not generally noted either for variety or abundance of marine life, and the same is true both of the south-east and a large portion of the south coast. In some places the beach is formed of an unbroken stretch of sand on which one may walk for miles without seeing any sign of life, with the exception of an occasional empty shell and a few fragments of dried sea-weed washed in by the breakers during a recent storm ”

“ At nearly a gun shot from the shore we found on the south east coast of the island seven or eight great rocks, the island being on this side of a rocky and stony aspect, bearing north-east from us; then we had eight fathoms both good and bad ground; with here and there a gulf, where was a straight bank stretching from the coast up to the nearest rock nearly three quarters of a mile from the coast. Along the east side there are many capes and gulfs, with white sand, which is found also round the greater part of the land. ”

“ The United States has several harbors on the east coast, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, while on the west coast there are two of the most important harbors in the Western Hemisphere opening into the Pacific Ocean—San Francisco Bay, where come and go the navies of the world, and Puget Sound, the Mediterranean of America, with its 1,500 miles of coast-line. ”

“ To the east, the coast retires into a semicircular rocky recess, terminating seawards in a lofty, dark-browed precipice, and bristling, throughout all its extent, with a countless multitude of crags, that, at every heave of the wave, break the surface into a thousand eddies. ”

“ While in stays the water was observed to wash on a rock not a hundred yards to leeward of us, on which we must infallibly have struck, had we bore up instead of tacking.
[Sidenote: South-east coast dangerous.]
From the north-east to the south-east point, the coast runs south 40o west; the shore to the north-east of this deep bight is bold, and seems clear; that on the south-west side of it presents a formidable barrier of islands and coral reefs, which break to a great distance: in fine weather this part of the coast ought to be approached very cautiously. ”

“ As the east coast of the United States is comparable in respect to mean annual temperature in equal latitudes to the Siberian and Chinese coasts of the old continent, so also the west coasts of Europe and America have been very properly compared together. ”

“ With a coast extending more than six hundred miles from north to south, indented with numerous bays and harbours, connected with her golden interior almost to the base of the lofty Sierra by navigable streams, blessed with a mild and salubrious climate, and capable of sustaining a large population, she must one day become the entrepôt of the commerce of the East. ”

“ The east and south coasts show considerable stretches of uniform uninflected coast-line, and except for the Farne Islands and Holy Island in the extreme north, the flat islands formed by ramifications of the estuaries on the Essex and north Kent coasts, and the Isle of Wight in the south, they are without islands. The west coast, on the other hand, including both shores of the great south-western promontory, is minutely fretted into capes and bays, headlands and inlets of every size, and an island-group lies off each of the more prominent headlands from Land’s End northward. ”

“ The coast, to the northward, is formed of detached 81hills, rising perpendicularly from the sea, with ragged and broken summits; the sides covered with wood, and the valleys between them of a fertile and well cultivated appearance. To the southward, we saw an extensive bay, bounded by a low point of land to the south-east which was covered with cocoa-nut trees; and off it stood a high insulated rock, about a mile from the shore. The haziness of the weather prevented our seeing distinctly the land to the southward of the point ”

“ After steering east-north-east, east, and east-south-east, and having seen the beach all round the head of the Great Bight, we hauled up parallel to the new direction of the coast, at the distance of six miles; and at five o'clock were abreast of the furthest part seen by the French admiral when he quitted the examination. The coast is a sandy beach in front; but the land rises gradually from thence, and at three or four miles back is of moderate elevation, but still sandy and barren. ”

“ From this I form my judgment of the direction of this Coast, which is nearly South-South-East 3/4 East and North-North-West 3/4 West, and must be nearly a Strait Shore. In about the Latitude 35 degrees 45 minutes is some high land adjoining to the Sea; to the Southward of that the land is of a moderate heigth, and wears a most desolate and inhospitable aspect. Nothing is to be seen but long sand Hills, with hardly any Green thing upon them, and the great Sea which the prevailing Westerly winds impell upon the Shore must render this a very Dangerous Coast. ”

“ The coast from the south-west corner of the Gulf to the peninsula of Teu-choo-foo, is of a totally different character from that opposite to it, for it is high, and well marked: a range of mountains stretches from south-west to north-east, at the distance of three or four leagues inland ”

“ Being under sail, we steered to the West-South-West, until the land opened round Cape Don in an east-northerly direction for eight miles, and then the coast trended to the south-eastward under Mounts Bedwell and Roe, where the land was lost to view. To the westward the land was observed trending in a north and south direction, and bore the appearance of being an island. ”

“ The coast-line shows itself directly subject to almost boundless diversity. Toward the west the independence of each peninsula increases, the more evidently and prominently [195] according to its distance from Asia. Not articulated on two sides alone, like Asia, the east and south, but on all three of its sides exposed to the ocean, the broken coast-line is universal in Europe,—even toward the colder north, where its peninsulas and adjacent islands almost inclose two seas, the North and the Baltic. ”

“ From 38 Degrees N. that is, from the land of Florida as here shown, the coast continues in a northerly direction thirty or forty leagues farther, to a point between 40 Degrees and 41 Degrees N. when, turning northeasterly, it runs with slight variations, on a general course of east north east, for six hundred and fifty leagues to Cape Breton placed in latitude 51 1/2 S., five and a half degrees north of it true position. Along this part of the coast more than sixty names of places occur at intervals sufficiently regular to denote one continuous exploration. ”

“ Right and left of the city, when viewed from the sea, extends low country, whilst behind it, and to the east, rises in the distance a lofty range of mountains. From the open sea, the town and flat country is divided by a natural breakwater that maintains the general trend of the coast. ”

“ The coast from Gilbert's Point to the supposed isles lieth east and by south. Here also we discovered two inlets which might promise fresh water, inwardly whereof we perceived much smoke, as though some population had there been. This coast is very full of people, for that as we trended the same savages still run along the shore, as men much admiring at us.
The one-and-twentieth, we went coasting from Gilbert's Point to the supposed isles, in ten, nine, eight, seven, and six fathoms, close aboard the shore, and that depth lieth a league off. ”

“ When the sun next pried above the horizon, we had closely approached the coast; and it was then that for the first time the impression of some spinning motion of the island (due probably to the swirling movements of the water) was produced upon me. We affected a landing at a voe, or sea-arm, on the west coast—the east, though the point of my aim, was out of the question on account of the swell. ”

“ By Noon we fetch'd in with the South-West point, but not being able to weather it we tacked and stood off. We saw in the Bay several Canoes, People upon the Shore, and some houses in the Country. The land on the Sea Coast is high, with Steep Cliffs; and back inland are very high Mountains. The face of the Country is of a hilly surface, and appears to be cloathed with wood and Verdure. Wind between the East-North-East and North. ”

“ Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rush of rockets; and from the east a late moon, pushing up beyond the lofty bend of the coast, sent across the bay a shaft of brightness which paled to ashes in the red glitter of the illuminated boats. ”

“ The hungry ocean has gnawed and ravaged the New England coast, until along almost its entire length it is worn into ragged edges, forming islands, capes, promontories, bold headlands, peninsulas, bays, inlets and coves. In this coast are united the grand, the picturesque and the beautiful. Soft masses of foliage are in close juxtaposition with rugged rocks and dashing surf. ”

“ An iron coast, bleak, black, and desolate, without harborage for so much as a catboat for leagues to north or south. A coast so pitiless, so lashed forever by the long, sullen rollers of the North Atlantic, so tormented by the shifting and treacherous currents of the tide between its chains of outlying rocky islets, that no ship ever ventured willingly within miles of its uncompromising menace. A coast so little favored by summer that even in glowing August the sun could reach it seldom through its cold and drenching fogs. ”

“ A glance at a map of North America must impress one with the belief that the Pacific coast with its great extent of harbourless water-front is far less favourable to the growth or ideas, institutions, and industries than the deeply indented Atlantic shore-line. From the Isthmus of Panama to the State of Washington there is, as we have seen, but one harbour of the first class, the estuary of the Sacramento, and one of the second or third class, the estuary of the Columbia. From Puget Sound northward harbours are numberless. ”

“ In summer, the season in which we were there, the sky is clear, with but little rain: if fogs and mists are at any time driven in by the south wind, they are immediately dissipated, and at once it becomes serene and bright again. The sea is calm, not boisterous, and its waves are gentle. Although the whole coast is low and without harbours, it is not dangerous for navigation, being free from rocks and bold, so that within four or five fathoms from the shore there is twenty-four feet of water at all times of tide, and this depth constantly increases in a uniform proportion. ”

“ A subsidence of the land adjacent to the sea permits an extension of the waters landward; the sea will enter the valleys so as to form estuaries, bays, straits, etc., while the high land between the partially water-filled depressions will rise above the water-level and appear as peninsulas, capes, and islands. A bold, deeply sculptured coast when depressed will give origin to an intricate, and what may be termed a ragged shore-line; while a lower region crossed by large river-valleys would be changed to a system of broad estuaries. ”

“ The eastern coast is a rugged line of mountains, bare of all vegetation, — a continuation of the Hauran range, coming from the north, and extending south beyond the scope of vision, throwing out three marked and seemingly equidistant promontories from its south-eastern extremity. ”

“ There are stretches of undulating upland, with fragrant turf, gorse, bracken; valleys almost too low for sunlight to enter, the wild and tortuous mouths of rapid streams, patches of meadow and pasture, with lonely cottages and isolated church-towns. Different from the southern coast in aspect, more desolate, less fertile, there is yet a special charm even in the desolation, a stimulating appeal in the solitude, and a marvellous purity in the bracing winds that blow, sometimes with ruthless violence, from a thousand leagues of ocean. ”

“ The eastern coast, in particular, is provided with little more than a few imperfectly protected roadsteads. The southern portion of the west coast is distinguished by a series of back-waters, or lagoons, parallel with the coast, and affording a safe and convenient waterway for small vessels when the season of high winds makes the ocean unnavigable. ”

“ At the West, although the vast numbers do not collect that congregate in the Chesapeake Bay and Currituck Inlet, there is an independence in the mode of pursuit that has a peculiar charm; and from the facilities afforded by the nature of the ground, the excellent cover furnished by the high reeds, and the immense number of single shots, the average{207} success is as great as in the more open waters of the Southern coast. ”

“ As the Powers finally arranged it, the map of the West Coast is like a mosaic, like the edge of a badly constructed patchwork quilt. In trading along the West Coast a man can find use for five European languages, and he can use a new one at each port of call. ”

“ On the blue background of the high coast they seem to float on silvery patches of calm water, arid and grey, or dark green and rounded like clumps of evergreen bushes, with the larger ones, a mile or two long, showing the outlines of ridges, ribs of grey rock under the dank mantle of matted leafage. Unknown to trade, to travel, almost to geography, the manner of life they harbour is an unsolved secret. There must be villages—settlements of fishermen at least—on the largest of them, and some communication with the world is probably kept up by native craft. ”