ALG^. 87 



there find a refuge from the flocks of aquatic birds 

 that cover the shores, and follow the receding 

 tide. 



One remarkable species of Sargassuui, says Pro- 

 fessor Harvey, "has long been famous by the name 

 of Gulfvveed, or Sargazo, under which most voyagers 

 since the days of Columbus have spoken of it. That 

 ereat discoverer was the first to encounter it in 

 modern times, and with his account we are therefore 

 most familiar ; but possibly the weedy sea which 

 Aristotle speaks of, as having been met with by the 

 Phoenicians, at the termination of their voyage, may 

 have been an early discovery of the same bank. It 

 is curious that the great bank, which extends between 

 the twentieth and forty-fifth parallels of north latitude, 

 40° west from Greenwich, appears to occupy the same 

 position at the present day as it did in the days of 

 Columbus. Between this bank and the American 

 shores various smaller strata, and detached masses of 

 sea-weed occur, being thrown into this portion of the 

 ocean by the eddy caused by the sub-circular motion 

 of the great oceanic currents. The whole of this 

 immense space of ocean, which is reported to be 

 thickly covered with sea-weed, is computed by 

 Humboldt at upwards of 260,000 square miles, an 

 area almost six times as large as Germany ; but it 

 is not to be supposed that all this space is equally 

 clothed with floating verdure. In many places the 

 weed occurs in distant and narrow ridges, leaving 

 spaces of clear water between. This portion o^ 

 the Atlantic seems to be the chief settlement of the 

 Sargassnm (Fig. 13), but straggling specimens occur \\\ 



