The tendency of the _debris_-making influences along the coast line is to fill in the irregularities which normally exist there; to batter off the headlands, close up the bays and harbours, and generally to reduce the shores to straight lines. Where the tide has access to these inlets, it is constantly at work in dragging out the detritus which the waves make and thrust into the recesses. These two actions contend with each other, and determine the conditions of the coast line, whether they afford ports for commerce or are sealed in by sand bars, as are many coast lines which are not tide-swept, as that of northern Africa, which faces the Mediterranean, a nearly tideless sea. The same is the case with the fresh-water lakes; even the greater of them are often singularly destitute of shelters which can serve the use of ships, and this because there are no tides to keep the bays and harbours open. THE OCEAN CURRENTS. The system of ocean currents, though it exhibits much complication in detail, is in the main and primarily dependent on the action of the constant air streams known as the trade winds. With the breath from the lips over a basin of water we can readily make an experiment which shows in a general way the method in which the winds operate in producing the circulation of the sea. Blowing upon the surface of the water in the basin, we find that even this slight impulse at once sets the upper part in motion, the movement being of two kinds--pulsating movements or waves are produced, and at the same time the friction of the air on the surface causes its upper part to slide over the under. With little floats we can shortly note that the stream which forms passes to the farther side of the vessel, there divides, and returns to the point of beginning, forming a double circle, or rather two ellipses, the longer sides of which are parallel with the line of the air current. Watching more closely, aiding the sight by the particles which float at various distances below the surface, we note the fact that the motion which was at first imparted to the surface gradually extends downward until it affects the water to the depth of some inches.