THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 59 



with this bank of floating sea-weed, which is, perhaps, five 

 or six times as large as France, and that is its constant stay 

 in one spot during so many centuries, in spite of the per- 

 petual agitation of the waves and the great movements of 

 the mass of the ocean. "If," says Maury, "we throw into 

 a vessel filled with water pieces of cork, grains of corn, or 

 any other floating bodies, and communicate a rotatory 

 movement to the water, all these light bodies will collect 

 towards the centre, because the water is less agitated there 

 than elsewhere. It is the same thing with respect to the 

 Atlantic Ocean, only that it is a vessel of larger dimensions. 

 Its waters are set in movement partly by the colossal Gulf 

 Stream, which extends from Western India to the confines 

 of the Icy Sea of the north ; partly by the equatorial current, 

 which traverses the Atlantic Ocean from America to Africa. 

 The central point of rest is just about where we find the 

 bank of Algas we have been speaking of. It will thus be 

 understood that these do not necessarily grow where they 

 are found ; it is indeed much more probable that they are 

 driven from the storm-beaten shores towards the calm 

 centre of the Atlantic basin." 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CORAL AND ITS BUILDERS. 



Coral, celebrated as early as in the songs of Orpheus, and 

 considered as one of the most precious productions of the 

 sea, has beheld ages roll away without diminishing its repu- 



