CHAPTER III. 

 EARTH'S VAST OCEAN 



*'Thou great strong sea." — Auberon Herbert. 



"Drop by drop He counts 

 The flood of Ocean as it mounts." — C. Rossetti. 



T N these days we know the Ocean as one vast 

 whole. Not Hke our early forefathers, stand- 

 ing on the brink, to gaze with awe-stricken eyes 

 into mysterious distances, and to speculate upon 

 the unknown. 



Minor oceans do exist, certainly. We have 

 the Atlantic, North and South; the Pacific, 

 North and South ; the Arctic, the Antarctic, and 

 the Indian. Yet for us there is but one g^reat 

 world-wide Ocean, encircling the Earth, every 

 part being in connection with every other part. 



A drop of water which to-day floats in 

 southern seas may, months or years hence, have 

 found its way by currents into the far north. 

 A speck of ice, at this moment fast in the rigid 

 embrace of polar berg or floe, may, months or 

 years hence, be washing to and fro in tropical 

 waters. 



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