l62 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



in many instances a barrier against the heavy sea 

 which comes rolling in across the broad expanse 

 of ocean. Especially at Santa Catalina it forms, 

 in the smooth water of the north and east coasts, 

 a series of beautiful floating gardens, twenty or 

 more miles in extent ; a forest of the sea of varied 

 attractions, in which are found strange and often 

 beautiful fishes, and other marine animals, specially 

 adapted or modified by nature to their peculiar 

 environment. 



Midday, at half-tide, is the best time to visit 

 these floating gardens ; then the bottom can be 

 plainly seen, a vivid turquoise blue gleaming 

 brightly through the interstices of golden branches, 

 really green, which, when illumined by the sun, 

 take an old gold hue. The leaves are ten, twenty, 

 or even thirty feet in length, twelve inches in 

 width, richly fluted, and hang in myriad positions 

 of grace and beauty, so that, in peering down from 

 above, one looks through halls and parterres in- 

 numerable, that extend and reach away to infinity. 



In South America, especially about the Falkland 

 Islands, the kelp, or Macrocysiis, attains an enor- 

 mous length. Sections estimated at one thousand 

 feet have been taken up and employed as cables 

 for ships, which were thus saved the trouble of 

 lowering and hoisting their anchors. On this 

 desolate coast the kelp forms a protecting fringe 

 for fishes, which otherwise would be unable to live, 



