Oldal 172 [172]
106 LIGHT AND WATER
such warmer colour on the water; but in the case in
point we suppose a nearly calm sea. The more
brilliant red and gold are too low down to be repeated
(compare the disappearance of the golden streak be¬
fore the sun reaches the horizon, page 38), and thus
the beautiful green light floods the whole surface of
the water, rendered perhaps more delicate still by blue
reflected in any rippling surface from higher parts of
the sky. The near sides of the waves breaking on
the shore are dark, and naturally seem to assume
the purple tinge, which is complementary to the green,
or, if the light on the water is orange, a deep blue.
At the same time, the wet sand, sloping gently down
to the water, may reflect the gorgeous red of the
lower sky.
The narrow bays and sea lochs of the West coast
of Scotland, sheltered at their heads and stretching
out to the more open sea, afford constant illustration
of the difference in colour between smooth and rough
water, referred to at the beginning of this chapter,
owing to their reflecting light from different parts of
the sky. The contrast is most noticeable towards
sunset, and whereas, if the whole surface of the water
were absolutely smooth, we should see the sky
colours reversed in the water, we may now have them
repeated—with omissions—in the same order, the
distant rougher water reflecting the blue of the upper
sky, and the near smoother water the warmer tints
below. If these latter are very brilliant, the tone of
the ruffled water often seems strangely cold by con¬
trast with their glowing reds and yellows, and its
peculiar neutral gray may be due to the mingling of