524 THE UNIVERSE. 



resists the action of water. Thus, according to Karl Muller, 

 the great current which springs from the eastern coast of 

 South America has been known to bear a flotilla of thirteen 

 species of plants from Brazil and Guiana to the shores of 

 Congo in Africa. Another grand oceanic current, travers- 

 ing an immense space of the torrid zone, constantly trans- 

 ports fruits from the shores of India, which its waves tu- 

 multuously scatter on the rocks of Brazil. 



The most important migrations in the vegetable kingdom 

 are due to the movements of fresh waters, rivers, and 

 streams. Pascal says that rivers are moving roads, but the 

 plants seem to have found this out before he did. Carried 

 by the fugitive waves, seeds sometimes travel great dis- 

 tances to seek a new country. It is thus that the rivers 

 which spring from the glaciers of the Upper Alps deposit 

 in the plains of Munich some of the species which grow on 

 their lofty peaks; others descend from the spurs of the 

 Andes, to seek a humble shelter in the isles by the mouth 

 of the Orinoco. Plants are known which fall from the 

 lofty heights of the Himalayas, and pass safely through the 

 turmoil of their foaming cascades, to expand their corollas 

 on the enchanting borders of the delta of the Ganges. 1 



Dreading the agitation of torrents and waves, some 

 nautical fruits trust to tranquil waters only ; thus upon the 

 waves of the Nile sail peacefully the floating cradles of the 

 lotus. For this purpose its fruits form little circular boats, 

 the interior of which contains the precious progeny. At 



1 An Alpine moss (Bryum Alpinum), certainly torn away in the Thuringian for- 

 est, is borne by the water to the porphyry rocks near Halle. Darwin thinks that 

 the forests of peach and orange-trees which cover the mouth of the Parana owe 

 their origin merely to seeds carried by the river. 



