Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-06
THE BLUE" OF THE SEA.
A Vivid Description of the Changing
Blues of Tropical Seas.

Morning: the second day. The sea is
an extraordinary blue-looks to me
something like violet ink. Close by
the ship, where the foam-clouds are, it
is beautifully mottled-looks like blue
marble with exquisite veining and
nebulosities. Tepid wind and cottony
white clouds-cirri climbing I'D over
the edge of the sea all around. The
sky is still pale blue. and the horizon is
full of whitish haze.
a nice old French gentleman from
Guadeloupe presumes to say this is not
blue water; he declares it greenish
(Uerdd-tre). Because I cannot discern
the green he tells me do not vet know
what blue water is. Attende5 I'M pea!
The sky tone deepens as the sun as
cends-deepens deliciously. The warm
wind proves soporific. drop asleep
with the blue light in my face-the
strong, bright blue of the noondav sky.
As I doze it seems to burn like a cold
fire right through my eyelids. Waking
up with start, | fancy that every
thing is turning blue, myself included.
''Do you not call this the real tropical
blue?" [ cry to my French fellow-trav-
eller. '.Mop Dieu! 2ao1a," he exclaims,
as in establishment at the question;
''this is not bluer What on earth can
be has idea of blue, I wonder.
Clots of sargasso float by-light vel
low seaweed. We are nearing the
Sargasso Sea, entering the path of the
tradeWinds. There is long ground
swell; the steamer rocks and rolls.
And the tumbling water always seems
to me to be growing bluer. But my
friend from Guadeloupe says that this
color (which I call blue" is only dark
ness only the shadow of prodigious
depth.
I persist in calling blue sea. The
clouds have melted away in the bright
glow. There is no sign of life in the
azure gulf above, nor in the abyss be-
meath; there are no wings or fins to be
seen. Toward evening, under the
slanting gold light, the color of the sea
deepens into ultramarine. Then the
sun sinks down behind a bank of cop
per-colored clouds.
Morning of the third day Same
mild, warm wind. Bright blue sky,
with some very thin clouds in the hori-
zon, like puffs of steam. The glow of
the sea light through the. open ports of
my cabin makes them seem filled with
thick blue glass. 1t is becoming too
warm for New York clothing.
Certainly the sea has become much
bluer. 1t gives one the idea of lique-
fed sky; the foam might be formed of
cirrus clouds compressed, so extrav-
TO
in the sun. Nevertheless, the old gen.
tains this is not the true blue of the
tropics.
The sky does not deepen its hue to-
day-it brightens it; the blue glows as
if it were taking fire throughout. Per-
haps the sea may deepen its hue; I do
not believe it can take more luminous
color without being set aflame. | ask
the ships doctor whether it is really
true that the West Indian waters are
any bluer than these. He looks mo-
ment at the sea, and replies, "'Oh yes!n
There is such tone of surprise in his
sob" as might indicate that I had
asked a very foolish question, and his
look seems to express doubt whether |
am quite in earnest. / think. neverthe-
less, that this water is extravagantly,
nonsensically blue.
| read for an hour or two, fall asleep
in the chair, wake up suddenly, look
at the sea-and yell! This sea is alb
solutely absurdly, impossi-
bly, blue. The painter who should
try to paint it would be denounced as
lunatic. Yet it is transparent: the
foam-clouds, rs they sink down, turn
sky-nlue-a sky-blue which now looks
white by contrast with the strange
and violent splendor of the sea color.
1t seems as if one were looking into an
unreasonable dyeing vat, or as though
the whole ocean had been thickened
with indigo. To say this is a mere re-
Election of the sky is nonsense-the sky
is too pale by a hundred shades for
that. This must be the natural color
of the water-a blazing azure, unutter-
ably magnificent, impossiblet to describe
The French passenger from Guade-
loupe observes that the sea is e'begin-
ming to become blue. ;'-Latcadio Hear7s
IN Rarper''s Magazine.