Oldal 68 [68]
38 LIGHT AND WATER
very largely upon the ezght of the sun or moon
above the horizon. As the sun mounts in the sky it
gets wider and vaguer, disappearing altogether to¬
wards midday if the sea is very smooth; in the after¬
noon it narrows again, becoming more brilliant up to
a certain point of blinding intensity, and more and
more clearly defined as the sun descends to within a
few diameters of the horizon, when it vanishes rather
suddenly. In a choppy sea, with the sun at its high¬
est, sparkles of directly reflected sunlight reach the
eye from all parts within a wide angle.
Plates VII and VIII are photographs of wide
‘‘sun-streaks,” the sun being high and the sea fairly
rough. In Plate VII a stiff breeze is blowing, and,
at any rate in the distance, the streak extends to
the width of the photograph. In the lower view the
space, which, if the sky were clear, as in Plate VII,
would be filled with dazzling light, is almost entirely
shadowed by clouds, which allow the direct sun-rays
to reach the water through a narrow opening only.
The sun is at about the same height asin Plate VII,
but there is less breeze, so that the width of this
luminous space is less than in the upper view. In
Plates IX and X the sun is much lower; but here
again a stiff breeze is blowing, so that the water is
much ruffled and the streak is still fairly wide in com¬
parison with the size of the sun. Plate X was taken
about forty minutes later than Plate IX, the breeze
blowing, as far as could be judged, steadily all the
time, and shows the narrowing of the streak as the
sun sinks. We have already seen in Plate III a speci¬
men of the sun’s reflexion in a very light ripple;