A vast sheet of water, the commencement of a lake or an ocean, spread far away beyond the range of the eye, reminding me forcibly of that open sea which drew from Xenophon's ten thousand Greeks, after their long retreat, the simultaneous cry, "Thalatta! thalatta!" the sea! the sea! The deeply indented shore was lined with a breadth of fine shining sand, softly lapped by the waves, and strewn with the small shells which had been inhabited by the first of created beings.
Une vaste nappe d'eau, le commencement d'un lac ou d'un océan, s'étendait au delà des limites de la vue. Le rivage, largement échancré, offrait aux dernières ondulations des vagues un sable fin, doré et parsemé de ces petits coquillages où vécurent les premiers êtres de la création.