BOOK II. 



THE ARCHITECTS OF THE SEA. 



When ancient philosophy maintained, with Thales, that 

 everything had issued from the sea, it was by no means far 

 astray. 



The sea possesses a fecundity which the earth in no way 

 approaches ; every drop is a world teeming with animation. 

 So magnificent is it that, as Columbus said, " the tongue 

 and the hand do not suffice to describe it." Life shows it- 

 self everywhere ; animates its darkest abysses, and displays 

 itself in profusion on its surface. As we have seen, its 

 fragile representatives are found at a depth of 12,000 feet. 

 Others delight to live only in the midst of the waves, as the 

 swimming fucus or sea-weed, which forms immense mead- 

 ows that stop the ships. 



The largest of these fucus banks is found in the path of 

 mariners sailing from Europe to America, between the 

 Azores, the Canary, and Cape Verd Islands. Mention is 

 already made of it in the Phoenician traditions, where they 

 speak of a herbose or gelatinous sea, situated beyond the 

 Pillars of Hercules. Aristotle says that the boldest mar- 

 iners of antiquity, startled at its appearance, durst not cross 

 its boundary. 



