The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-14
THE WAVES OF THE SEA.
queer Superstitions That Have Arise,
From the Movement Of the Water.


From the Movement Of the Water.
The folklore of the sea is infinitely
varied. All maritime peoples have legends
OF its origin, often of the most fantastic
Kind The idea of the regenerative power
of the ocean is both old and wides pread.
IL mas found expression among people so
dlsslmilar as the ancient Greeks and the
Celts OF Western Ireland. In the former
case it appears in the story of Apbrodite
rising from the sea, and in the
latter In the Celtic legends of sea-
porn monsters. The ebbing and the flow
ing OF the tide are accounted for by in
Vulnerable myths, many of which center
round mammoths of the deep. Among
the Maorls OF New Zealand, for example,
the tides were attributed to the mighty
and regular inbreathings and outbreath-
ings OF monster named Parata, whose
nome was supposed to be in the great deep
beyond the horizon. Again, the notion
that lie GIBBS with the ebbing tide, which
Dickens has illustrated pathetically in the
last hours of Barkis, is common to many
coast and seafaring folk.
Many other minor classes of sea super
sttions and sayings might be named.
Among these are various ideas connected
with the waves. For instance, wave
names form subject of consldera Die in
terest The names given locally to the
UofCo On OAAlCEcl6 DdTLS OF the coast are
curiouslv varied and sometimes not a little
suggestive. Peterhead folk call the large
breakers that fall with a crash on the
beach by the grim name of "Norrawa
Norway carpenters" On the low
Lincolnshire coast, as on the southwest
ern Misunderstanding shores of these ISL
ands, the grandly long unbroken waves are
known as ''rollers." Tennyson once re-
marked that the waves which broke on
his native Lincolnshire coast were the
grandest he knew save those at the Lands
End. East Anglians speak of heavy surf
tumbllng IN with an off-shore wind, or in
a calm. by the expressive name of ''slog,"
while well-marked swell, rolling in indie
pendently OF any wind blowing, is called
a home. There's no wind" Suffolk
fisherman will say, but a nasty home on
the beach," The same folk speak of the
bark" of the surf, and of the sea covered
with foam as Feather white" while the
foam itsels is "spoondrift." THE sea was
all a-feather white with spoondrift,'
The epithet of this kind most generally
familiar to landsmen is the name of
white horses given to the foaming crests
OF waves. The phrase is a favorite with
the poets. Swinburne, in "Off Shore"
speaking of the ocean. says:
But for hours upon hours
AS a thral she remains
Speiibound as with flowers
And content in her chains,
And her loud steeds fret not, and lift not lock of
their deep white names.
The Russians on the Black Sea cali these
names "hares"; while the French speak
of foaming crested sea as ala mer rnou
tonneuse." Matthew Arnold, in the open
ing stanza OF 1.-THE Forsaken Norman.
sings:
Now the great winds shorswards flow;
Now the Salt tide seawards flow:
Now the wild white horses play;
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.
Most coast folk have theories of their own
concerning the recurrence of larger waves
than ordinary. at one place a weather.
beaten observer will tell you that two
small waves will be followed by larger
breaker. Somewhere else you may be
told that three strong waves in succession
will be followed by feebler fourth, and
so on with tolerable regularity. On the
northeast of Scotland 1t is favorite the
DRY with the fishing and seafaring people
that in storm three waves are strong
| and violent, while the fourth is compare
lively weak and less dangerous. This
succession they call a roll of waves"
Fishermen returning from their fishing
ground often prove by experience the
truth OF their theory, and hang back as
they come near the shore to take advan-
tage of the lull that follows, they say,
pretty regularly after three big breakers.
Any visitor to the seaside can test the
notion for himself; but he will find it no
easy matter to mako accurate observa-
tons. Moreover, he results noted by diff
ferent observers will rarely be found 10
agree. Nest careful Watchers of the waves
will probably come to the conclusion that
1t Is doubtful whether any of the numer-
Gus theories on the subject are in close
agreement with the facts or whether, in
deed, there is any regular recurrence OF
either strong or feeble waves.
The oldest and best-known theory on
the subject is that each tenth wave is
bigger and stronger than the preceding
nine. The idea is as old as the days OF
Ovid, for the Roman poet twice alludes to
the great wave that overtops its nine
smaller predecessors. Sir Thomas Browne
descants upon the subject in his Vulgar
Errors,p and declares that the notion is
evidently false, "nor can it be made out"
he continues, "by observation, either upon
the shore or the ocean, as he have with
diligence explored both" Other OBJ
servers. of equal diligence, have come to
contrary conclusion. and have declared
that large and overwhelming wave is
very frequently, If not always, followed by
nine ana only nine smaller ones. But the
phenomenon, 1t is said. is only to be wit
messed when the tide is flowing. No such
succession of waves marks the ebbing OF
the water.-London Globe.