The mirror., 1922-02-02

rock IS broken loose II IS QaSneQ up against
the cliff again and again and thus ham
mers others loose while being worn round
and smooth itself. 1t is thus that the sea
takes its captives and makes them fight
under its command against its enemies.
Farther south along the Atlantic coast
there are long stretches of glittering sand
jutting out into the sea where it is easier
to study this battle royal between the sea,
the wind, and the sand, warfare in
which none of the belligerent forces seems
to weary. Here along the Jersey coast,
and from there clear to Florida, there are
stretches of sand which reach out as far as
the eye can see, marked here and there
along the land edge by gnarled and stunt
ed trees, beach grass and shrubs that make
brave and hopeless fight against the en-
croaching enemy. A lighthouse was built
at Cape Henry, at the mouth of Chesa-
peake Bay, in 1871, the first lighthouse
erected by the new United States. 1t has
now been replaced by newer and more
modern beacon. Here is shown in a re-
markable way the part that sand takes in
the warfare of the elements. Stretching
inland behind the old lighthouse is great
sand dune, which is really mountain of
sand. 1t has been the savings bank of the
winds for long periods and is now more
than hundred feet high in places. The
great plateau on its crest stretches land
ward for several miles. This mass of
sand is pushing its way backward into
the interior inch by inch with the aid of
the winds which are ever blowing. 1t is
today engulfng pine forest which stood
in its path and which has been unable to
withstand the relentless onward march of
the tiny crystals of sand which seem to
have been made for children to play with.
In great cohorts, however, such as are
found here, nothing seems able to with
stand them and they advance as surely as
did the glaciers in the ages gone by, but
without sound from either victim or
conqueror. To watch the struggle of trees
against their enemy is most interesting.
New roots are thrown out near the surface
as the sand rises around their trunks and
they thus continue the fight just as long
as it is at all possible.
The aggregate of the land lost to the
sea is large. In Chesapeake Bay there are
several good-sized islands that have given
up large proportion of their surface
through the toll taken by the sea. In
1848, when a government survey was
made, what is now known as James Island
was peninsula connected with the main
land by a narrow neck of land. In less
than half century the isthmus had dis
appeared and now nearly half of its al
most a thousand acres has disappeared.
On the Maryland shore only little bit of
Ssharp's Island is left, and not so many
colony patronized by many national cele
brities in years that have faded into his
tory. 1t will not be many years until the
last acre will have sunk beneath the
waves. The trees have already vanished
and the houses have been washed away
one by one. Only few crumbling ruins
of the once large hotel yet remain as re-
minder of the summer colony. There is
one place where the shore is receding at
the rate of fourteen feet year. On an
other island it is more than double that
rate. In England, where observations
have been taken for longer period, it is
said that since the battle of Waterloo
territory larger than that covered by the
great city of London has been surrendered
to the sea. In many places man has taken
up the fight against the encroaching sea
by means of dykes and against the sands
by employment of plant life as an ally.
As the plants take root they bind the sands
to the earth and thus prevent them from