on of sailors to Him whose word stilled the tempest and bade the
angry waves be calm. Being an enthusiast in scientific research, Dr
Scoresby was availing himself of the opportunity afforded by this storm
to _measure the waves_! Others have made similar measurements, and the
result goes to prove that waves seldom or never rise much more than ten
feet above the sea-level. The corresponding depression sinks to the
same depth, thus giving the entire height of the largest waves an
elevation of somewhere between twenty and thirty feet. When it is
considered that sometimes the waves of the sea (especially those off the
Cape of Good Hope) are so broad that only a few of them occupy the space
of a mile, and that they travel at the rate of about forty miles an
hour, we may have some slight idea of the grandeur as well as the power
of the ocean billows. The forms represented in our illustration are
only wavelets on the backs of these monster waves.

Waves travel at a rate which increases in proportion to their size and
the depth of water in which they are formed. Every one knows that on
most lakes they are comparatively small and harmless. In some lakes,
however, such as Lake Superior in North America, which is upwards of
three hundred miles long, the waves are so formidable as to resemble
those of the ocean, and they are capable of producing tremendous
effects. But the waves of the sea, when roused to their greatest
height, and travelling at their greatest speed, are terrible to behold.
Their force is absolutely irresistible. Sometimes waves of more than
usually gigantic proportions arise, and, after careering over the broad
sea in unimpeded majesty, fall with crushing violence on some doomed
shore. They rush onward, pass the usual barriers of the sea-beach, and
do not retire until horrible devastation has been carried far into the
land.

Maury gives the following anecdote from the notes of a Russian officer,
which shows the awful power of such waves.

"On the 23rd of December 1854, at 9:45 a.m., the shocks of an earthquake
were felt on board the Russian frigate _Diana_, as she lay at anchor in
the harbour of Simoda, not far from Jeddo in Japan. In fifteen minutes
afterwards (10 o'clock) a large wave was observed rolling into the
harbour, and the water on the beach to be rapidly rising. The town, as
seen from the frigate, appeared to be sinking. This wave was followed
by another; and when the two receded, which wa