CHAP. II.

ABOUT THE SALTNESS OF THE SEA.

ABOUT TIDES.

CO

LOURS OF THE SEA. SPARKLING OF THE SEA.

3

I SHALL now tell you of some curious matters relating to the sea. Sea water is always salt, in all parts of the world. If you put a little of it into your mouth, you will perceive that it tastes like brine. It is impossible to say, with certainty, what occasions the saltness of the sea. But I imagine that there are great beds of salt lying at the bottom of the sea, in various parts of the world. These, being washed by the moving waters, impart to them, as I suppose, some of their particles, and thus render them salt.

But whatever may cause the saltness of the

Is the ocean salt in all parts of the world?

What probably causes the saltness of the sea or ocean?

sea, the fact itself is of the greatest importance. For if the ocean were formed of fresh water, it would become tainted; all the animals in it would perish; the air itself would become poisonous; and all animals and plants, even on the land, would sicken and die.

The water of the Red Sea is much salter than that of the ocean at large; and, in consequence, it is also heavier.

Another remarkable circumstance relating to the sea is, that it is kept in constant motion, rising and falling, in the one case toward the moon, and in the other, toward the centre of the earth. If you were ever upon the sea-shore, you have probably observed, that the water is sometimes high, and sometimes low; that sometimes it flows toward the shore, and sometimes from it. These changes occur at regular intervals, and

Of what advantage is the saltness of the sea?

Is the water of the Red Sea salter and more heavy than that of the ocean in general?

are called tides. When the water is high, it is called high tide; when it is low, it is called low tide. When the water is coming in, it is called the flowing of the tide; when it is going out, it is called the ebbing of the tide. As a general rule, every twelve hours it is high tide, and every twelve hours it is low tide. Six hours after it is high tide, it is low tide; and six hours after it is low tide, it is high tide. Thus the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours.

It is a good thing, sometimes, to walk on the sea beach by moonlight, when the tide is coming in; for the clear moon sailing calmly through the sky, the high rocks, casting their deep shadows, and the coming in of the curling waves, one after another, and breaking on the shore, all dispose us to reflection, and God's greatness and goodness are sure to come into our minds.

What are tides? What is high tide? Low tide? What is the flowing of the tide? Ebbing of the tide? How many hours from one high tide to another? From one low tide to another? How many times does the tide ebb and flow in twenty-four hours?

The tide, in different places, rises to different heights. In many it rises from six to ten feet; but in some much higher. In the Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, it rises to the height of forty feet. Sometimes it rushes in so suddenly as to overtake the cattle that are grazing on the beach. When they see it coming, as if aware of their danger, they set up a loud bellowing, and fly from it with all their might. But the tumbling waters sometimes overwhelm them, and bury them beneath the waves.

The tides are freely extended all over the open surface of the ocean or sea. But there are only small and irregular tides, qualified, or very much influenced, by the winds and currents, either in the Mediterranean Sea, so called, or

Do the tides rise to the same height at all places? What of the tides at the Bay of Fundy? If it were high tide to-day at twelve o'clock, when would it be high tide again? If it were low tide this morning at six o'clock, when would it be low tide again? If it were low tide to-day at nine o'clock, when would it be high tide? In what seas are the tides only trifling and irregular?

in the Baltic Sea; both of which are gulfs, or almost enclosed portions. Every where else, along the shores of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and of the islands throughout the ocean, the restless waters are in great and uniform activity. They are never at rest, and they never tire.

These are very curious facts: but they are not merely curious. That Great Being, who made the world, had some useful design in subjecting the ocean to the law which keeps it in this kind of constant motion. But what was that design?

This is a question that the wisest man cannot fully answer. We may understand a little about it, but very little compared to the whole truth. We know no more of the whole designs of God, than a caterpillar crawling on a cabbage leaf, knows of the whole garden.

If we reflect a moment, we shall perceive, that were the waters of the ocean, notwithstanding

C