Strait

“ Throughout the strait so expressively named by its explorers, the capriciousness of the sea culminates, despite the shoalness and the protection from easterly and westerly winds; the storm currents and tide-currents are half the time opposed, raising breakers even when the air is nearly still ”

“ The spectator, standing with his back to the east on an elevated place, commands a view of the strait. No wind must be abroad to ruffle the surface of the sea; and the waters must be pressed up by currents, which is occasionally the case, to a considerable height, in the middle of the strait, so that they may present a slight convex surface. ”

“ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the of the strait way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. ”

“ They are divided, on one side, by a small collection of high hills, which stand in the centre of the plain, and they unite in a level strait formed between these hills and the high mountains, which strait is a gun-shot wide, and the people of the cities and other settlements which are in these lakes, communicate together in their canoes by water, without the necessity of going by land. ”

“ For if the strait line E A be divided into any number of equal parts, the heavy body descending will, by reason of the perpetual action of the diurnal motion, receive from the air in every one of those times, in every several point of the strait line E A, a several new and equal impulsion ”

“ So he came back to the ship and got on board and the boat was hoisted up and more sail was set; and the Industry sailed on her way through Sunda strait. Captain Solomon called it Sunday strait. A strait is a rather narrow passage from one sea to another. Sunda strait leads from the Indian Ocean to Java Sea ”

“ Thousands of voyagers annually pass through the Straits and, if the weather is fine, behold the snowy mountains on the southern horizon; but very few stop by the way, and fewer still ever cross to the inhospitable shore opposite. ”

“ A single beam laid across the strait forms a bridge, which the inhabitants lay across at their pleasure, and then appear to be dwellers on the continent, and walk on foot to the land beyond the strait ”

“ What seamen call the "ripples" are also very violent in the straits, the sea appearing to boil and foam and dance like the rapids below a cataract; vessels are swept about helplessly, and small ones are occasionally swamped in the finest weather and under the brightest skies. ”

“ There are many turns in this strait, and the mountains are very high and covered with snow. Afterward we sailed northeast by east, passing many islands on the way. At the farther end of the strait the coast turns northward. ”

“ On our voyage up we had taken great pains to read and compare every account we could find regarding both the ice and the general character of the straits. Our plan was to make Cape Resolution, wait for a fair wind, and slip into the straits early in the day, so as to get as far up as possible ere night came on. A person who has never been there can form no idea of the tremendous force with which the tide sets into the straits, the velocity of the currents, and the amazing smash they made among the ice.... ”

“ N.E. We made 15° 30' E., variation in the straits. As we sailed up the sound we saw the tops of high mountains covered with snow, which remains all the year. When the tide slackened, we weighed and sailed up the sound; and about five o'clock on the 7th, anchored in Ship Cove, in ten fathoms water, muddy ground, and moored the best bower to the N.N.E., and small to S.S.W. In the night, we heard the howling of dogs, and people hallooing on the east shore. ”

“ We have no more large oceans or deep seas,—nothing but inland waters; many straits, gulfs, and seas analogous to the Channel, the Red Sea, the Adriatic, the Baltic, and the Caspian; pleasant shores, quiet harbors, large lakes and streams, aerial rather than aquatic fleets, an almost always clear sky, especially in the morning. There are no mornings on Earth so luminous as ours. ”

“ The innumerable bays and straits created by this cluster, most of them navigable for almost any kind of craft, together with the islands themselves, covered with forests, and shooting up the most perfect form of the pointed fir-tree, must present a rare vision to him who shall ever have the privilege of sailing over them in a baloon. ”

“ The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. ”

“ The surrounding country is so intersected with straits, that, let the wind come from what quarter it may, it breathes cool over the waters; and the tide, rising twelve feet, can not ebb and flow without pushing forward the air and drawing it back again, and thus causing a motion of the atmosphere in the stillest weather. ”

“ The sailing along the watery road was plain and easy except in two narrow straits, where the ship had to slow up frequently, while she bent in and out to avoid rocks. These are taken partly as cut-offs and partly for the beauty of the scenery. The islands are all mountains lifted from the water; all are more or less tree-clad, with peaks on the tallest, rocky, jagged, and oftentimes with streamers of snow stretching downward in their upper gorges. ”

“ The countries on both sides the straits lie very high, with rough stony mountains, and great quantity of snow thereon. There is very little plain ground, and no grass except a little, which is much like unto moss that groweth on soft ground, such as we get turfs in. ”

“ The straits between the two continents, at their nearest approach, in latitude 66°, were ascertained to be thirteen leagues, beyond which they diverge to N. E. by E. and W. N. W.; and in latitude 69°, they become 14° of longitude or about one hundred leagues asunder. A great similarity is observable in the appearance of the two countries to the northward of the straits. Both are destitute of wood. The shores are low, with mountains rising to a great height farther up the country. ”

“ The Arctic Ocean encircles with a belt of eternal ice the desert confines of Siberia and North America—the uttermost limits of the Old and New worlds, separated by the narrow, channel, known as Behring's Straits. ”

“ Like such a great river as that he knew so well and frequented all his days, his life flowed steadily and strongly, the brimming stream augmenting always, deepening and widening, the heavier current moving, at the end, more slowly but not through slackening of power, until, at the last turn, the majestic estuary opens and broadens, as, with no hurry of fretting waves, no straining through silted sandbanks, undiminished, the mighty mass of waters mingles with the sea. ”

“ But if you cast your eyes over yonder magnificent bay, where vessels bearing flags of all nations are at anchor, and then let your vision sweep past and over the islands to the outlets beyond, where the quiet ocean lies, bordered with fog-banks that loom ominously at the boundary-line of the horizon, you will see a picture of marvellous beauty; for the coast scenery here transcends our own sea-shores, both in color and outline. ”

“ Low, flat, sea-coast land, pierced by rivers, presents a very similar appearance the world over, where river current and sea-tide are not hemmed in by lofty barriers. Over the low land the sea washes, and in channels down to the sea from the higher levels the river “rives” its way. Gradually, as it approaches the sea, the bed becomes more horizontal, and the earth suspended in the water is as gradually deposited in the bed of the channel. ”

“ At full tide the harbour shines in the sunlight like an unbroken sheet of silver, in which the green and gold reflections of the surrounding bush are mirrored and magnified. For many miles in length and breadth the sea runs inland from the bay's bar-bound mouth, stretching its liquid arms right to the base of the mountains which encircle the harbour like a massive frame. ”

“ There’s a sea-way somewhere where all day long
Is the hushed susurrus of the sea,
The mewing of the skuas, and the sailor’s song,
And the wind’s cry calling me.
There’s a haven somewhere where the quiet of the bay
Is troubled with the shifting tide,
Where the gulls are flying, crying in the bright white spray,
And the tan-sailed schooners ride. ”

“ It had exactly the natural taste of the ray. There remained enough for thirty more persons to feed on. We slept on shore.
The 8th, in the morning, fair weather. We set sail for what the chief pilot had pointed out to us a river, and up which we proceeded full three leagues, but found it to be different from what it appeared. There were, in fact, two rivers, which, for some time invisible, afterwards reappeared and formed an island eastwards, a full half league from the coast, in three, two, and one feet of water, surrounded on all sides by rocks, and sand, and stones. ”

“ There is a forest of masts and spars along the shore which is piled with merchandise, and dotted with sunlit figures squatting in the sand as if waiting for the goods to tranship themselves. With the sunlight slanting on our full sail, we glide into the shadow of high rocks, and enter, with the suddenness of a first discovery, into a deep winding river, the waters of which are dark and smooth, between lofty walls of granite. ”

“ The ever-busy river was literally alive with craft of every kind. The swift ferryboats hurrying from shore to shore, the countless little tugs, puffing and whistling as they darted, mosquito-like, here and there, graceful sailing vessels staggering along under clouds of canvas, stately ocean liners passing majestically out to sea—all this made up a spectacle of which the eye could never tire. ”

“ THE HALTING STEP. Chapter I.
n the Western coast of one of the islands in the Channel group is a level reach of salt marshes, to which the sea rises only at the highest spring tides, and which at other times extends as far as the eye can see, a dreary waste of salt pools, low rocks, and stretches of sand, yielding its meagre product of shell-fish, samphire, and sea-weed to the patient toil of the fisher-folk that dwell in scattered huts along the shore. ”

“ Now a mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile, but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour a stream falling from a rock, and whispering alders all about it. ”

“ Felled and peeled and dragged to tide-water, they are raised again as yards and masts for ships, given iron roots and canvas foliage, decorated with flags, and sent to sea, where in glad motion they go cheerily over the ocean prairie in every latitude and longitude, singing and bowing responsive to the same winds that waved them when they were in the woods. ”

“ This evening we made land over our starboard bow, distance six leagues, and stood away south and by east: but the wind slackening we lay by in the night; and in the morning found the land bearing east and by south, distance one league and a half; a good shore, and on sounding, about five-and-thirty fathom, stony ground. We now hoisted our boat out, and sent it on shore for discoveries, to sound the depth of the water, and see for a good harbour to put in at. ”

“ We soon got to the banks of a stream; but then had to make our way down its course through the tall, rank grass. It took us some time to reach the sea shore. There was not a boat to be seen, or any sign that the ship's crew had found the land. We left the shore, and went through a wood full of tall trees. ”

“ The perpetual gliding of sails, and the rapid movement of steamers, brilliant with their evening lights, give to the prospect of the surrounding sea continual variety and interest. The Narrows, that watery pathway, through which the voyager to distant climes passes, his heart broken with the tender farewells of beloved ones, and by which he returns, in joy unutterable, every thought filled to overflowing with the imagery of home and native land, can never be viewed with indifference by those who have felt these emotions. ”

“ It was easy to perceive, that to be thrown among rocks, by such a sea, must be the destruction of us all. Hence it was of the utmost importance to discover, and to anchor off, the part of the shore which appeared to be most free from rocks; and with this view the mate was looking out from the mast head. As he perceived an apparently clear beach east of us, and within our ability of reaching, we steered for it; and when the water was only six fathoms deep, we lowered our sails and came to anchor. ”

“ For the whole country above the coast, and situated between the Sacred Promontory1044 and the Pillars, consists of an extended plain. Here in many places are hollows running inland from the sea, which resemble moderately-sized ravines or the beds of rivers, and extend [Pg 215] for many stadia. These are filled by the approach of the sea at high tide, and may be navigated as easily, or even more so than rivers. They are navigated much the same as rivers; the sea, meeting with no obstacle, enters like the flow of a river at flood-tide. ”

“ We left them to amuse themselves in the other parts of the ship, and set out in two boats, with the captain and several officers, to examine a long inlet which ran to the eastward, in sight of our cove. In proportion as we receded from the sea, we found the mountains much higher, more steep, and barren: the trees gradually diminished in height and circumference; and dwindled to shrubs, contrary to what is observed in other parts of the world, where the inland countries have finer forests and better timber than the sea shores. ”