WHAT IS THE SEA? 73 



Florida. As we have said, no whales ever enter 

 the warm waters of the Gulf Stream ; therefore, at 

 that time at least, the leviathan could not avail 

 himself of this rich provision. The captain referred 

 to was bound for England. On his return voyage he 

 fell in with the same mass of medusae off* the Western 

 Islands, and was three or four days in sailing through 

 them. Now, the Western Islands is a great place 

 of resort for the whale, and thither had the Gulf 

 Stream been commissioned to convey immense 

 quantities of its peculiar food. 



We might enlarge endlessly on this great ocean 

 current, but enough, we think, has been said to show 

 that the sea, instead of being an ocean of unchanging 

 drops, driven about at random by the power of 

 stormy winds, is a mighty flood flowing in an 

 appointed course steady, regular, and systematic 

 in its motions, varied and wonderful in its actions, 

 benign and sweet in its influences, as it sweeps 

 round and round the world, fulfilling the will of its 

 great Creator. 



