CURRENTS.^AJiD -STREAMS 23 



Between the West Indies and Africa there 

 is a large area of the ocean where there is little 

 current, — a sort of ocean back-water, — and 

 here the sargassum grows upon the surface in 

 immense masses, but never thick enough to 

 stop any ship, and steamers sail regularly 

 across the very centre of this ''Sargasso Sea/' 

 as sailors in olden times called the spot. Sail- 

 ors were greatly afraid of it and believed ships 

 could not sail through it and told marvellous 

 tales of vessels that had become entangled in 

 the weed and drifted about forever. They 

 pictured this mythical place as filled with 

 wrecks, — a regular ocean graveyard, — and 

 thought the weed was so strong that men could 

 walk about on it. 



Sailing vessels Jo avoid the -Sargasso Sea,' 

 but it is not on account of the yellow weed but 

 because the portion of the ocean where it is 

 thickest is an area of calms and light winds. 

 In the days of sailing ships the question of 

 winds was of the greatest importance and the 

 early navigator soon learned that in various 

 parts of the ocean the winds blew from certain 

 directions, during part of the year at least, and 



