Show THE SEA A MEADOW OF FLOATING WEEDS IN THC ATLANTIC OCEAN alint dt arft TIsou cIt to be great I 1 ionna to no very sin pie when asp caura 0 mutiny anione alie fe allora of only n bit ct floating seaweed hat the restless corf washed upon the beach and yet the incao sight of it carried my thoughts bade to buo cuo of tho most important events in the history of ehg world for its far away ancestors anc estora wel nigh prevented tho discovery of amer ica you know tho story how the ignorant bailers bailors of columbus mccamo alarmed and almost mutinies mutinied muti nied when their ships baided bailed into what appeared to be a perfect network of impenetrable weeds they believed that tho thickening sea wai 9 warning of providence to turn back from their audacious undertaking and it required all the firmness and authority of columbus to bring them back to duty and obedience that wonderful mass of was something new and mysterious and therefore to be feared later on when the spaniards became familiar with its constant presence in that triangular space midway in the at alantic lantic between the azores tle canaries and the cape de verde islands they called it a marine meadow the sail ors however christened it the sargasso eca from the spanish word ear gazo which means seaweed still though eat klied that it was bot of supernatural origin they could not account for it existence science however long ago solved th mystery not only of this but of sargasso seas for there are several others and they aro always found each in almost the same spot the diurnal motion of the earth the never ceasing of the tides and the of the winds create under the tropics a surface current in the seas which ad vances from east to west at the rate ot about ten marine miles an hour this current which is called th equatorial current or current of rota tion is only and extends in one vast mobile sheet which moves be tween the tropics it forms the genial waters of the caribbean sea and feeds the gulf stream at cape san roqua it divides one part flowing south to meet and bo transformed into a submarine current by the current orb the other dido it bathes the shores of guiana and brazil and then there is the gulf stream of the cast which issues from tho bay of bengal its waters like those of our own gulf stream may bo distinguished from the bordering waters of the great ocean by their indigo tint the japanese call it the blade river leaving ho bay of bengal this great warm current passes through the strait of malacca sweeps the coast of asia and then coith of the philippine is lands rushes out into the ocean describing the arc of a great circle as far as the aleutian islands like the gulf stream of the atlantic it moderates the rigor of the climates aliat liat it traverses the analogy between these two great oceanic arteries is wonderful but it is enough for our present purpose to know that to their circuitous currents the sargasso peas owe their existence how well this is easily explained drop some pieces of light moss or bitsi of cork or wood into a tub of water then with your hand near its edge give the water a circular motion lu a uio inen see that all the floating substances will havn collected in tho contor continue the circular motion and at the same jima bikov Tiar ply against the floating objects and they will change choir position but will leave the vicinity of the center so longas the rotary motion of the water continues observe too that this center is comparatively calm this is the explanation of the sargasso teas la iho center of the several circuits of the great oceanic arteries vast basins of comparatively still water ara formed the currents by which they ara surrounded constantly throw toward the center all floating especially marine plants and these owing to aba quiet wait ia multiply with great rapidity those that have lived their appointed time sinking out of sight while new ones tako place even the action of the winds as intimated above serve only to shift thia position slightly abo marine meadow with we are most familiar hat of the mid atlantic spreads over au extent of surface five or six times as large as the territory occupied by franco what n won aeiful meadow on land that would be tor cattle 1 and yet it is scarcely less so where it is for he creatures of the sea this or gulf weed ia rather odd looking its frond is very long and furnished with distinct stalked loaves and berryh ke air vessels on simple stalks it ia found floating or cast on the shores but its true home is at the bottom of the sea whence becoming detached it rises to the surface buoyed little air vessels the hardly looks good enough to eat but that it is both bablo aud nutritious is abundantly proved by the many dishes that are prepared from it not only in china but in other parts of the east helen harcourt Harco uit in philadelphia times no approved the do you know dear said mr hun that I 1 like tho way you buiak a welsh rabbit chy charley she exclaimed yoa know yoa cat abo last cue yes and I 1 want you to make cm all just liko it whenever I 1 cat welsh rabbit I 1 have indigestion washing ton star villain once meant the serf who belonged to the farm and was bought sold or exchanged with it |