"I shall never forget the impression which our first landing on the beach of California make upon me. The sun had just gone down; it was getting dusky; the damp night wind was beginning to blow, and the heavy swell of the Pacific was setting in, and breaking in loud and high "combers" on the beach... we put our oars in the boat, and, leaving one to watch it, walked about the beach to see what we could of the place. The beach is nearly a mile in length between the two points, and of smooth sand... It was growing dark, so that we could just distinguish the dim outlines of the two vessels in the offing; and the great seas were rolling in in regular lines, growing larger and larger as they approached the shore, and hanging over the beach upon which they were to break, when their tops would curl over and turn white with foam, and, being at one extreme of the line, break rapidly to the other, as a child's long card house falls when a card is knocked down at one end."
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Lawyers from the United StatesAbolitionistsMemoirists from the United StatesPoliticians from BostonDiarists
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Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician best known for his classic book Two Years Before the Mast.
13 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. →
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