The Press., 1896-05-14
THE SARGASSO SEA.
A MEADOW OF FLOATING WEEDS IN
 THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

What at First Thought Appears to Re Q
 Great Mystery Is Found to Be Very Sim
 pie When Exp -aincd-Cause Of Mutiny
 Among the Sailors of Columbus. Only a bit of floating seawced that the rest less surf washed upon the beach, and yet the mere sight of it carried my thoughts back to one of the most inn portant events in the history of the world, for it's far away ancestors well nigh prevented the discovery of Amer ica.
 You know the story~-how the igno rant sailors of Columbus became alarmed and almost mutinied when their ships sailed into what appeared to be aperfect network of impenetrable weeds. They believed that the thickening sea was a warning of Providence to turn back from their audacious undertaking, and it required all the irlnness and author ity of Columbus 10 bring them back to duty and obediunce. That wonderful mass of seaweeds was something new and mysterious and therefore to be feared.
 Later on, when tho Spaniards became 1~,u that triangular space midway ill the At lant:c between the Azores, the Canaries and tie Cape de Verde islands, they called it a a"marine meadow." The sail ors, however, christened it the Sargasso sea, from the Spanish word sargazO, which means seaweed. Still, though satiGfed that it was not of supernatural origin, they could not account for it's existence.
 Science, however, long ago solved the mystery, not only of this, but of other Sargasso seas. For there are several others, and they are always found, each in almost the same spot. The diurnal motion of the earth, the never ceasing rush of the tides and the steady force of the winds create, under the tropics, surface current in the seas, which ad vances, from east to west, at the rate of about ten marine miles an hour
 This current, which is called the equatorial current, or current of rOta- tion, is only superficial, and extends ill one vast mobile sheet, which moves be- tween the tropics. It forms the genial waters of the Caribbean sea and feeds the gulf stream. At Cape San Roque it divides, one part flowing south to meet and be transformed into a submarine current by the north polar current; on the other side it bathes the shores of Guiana and Brazil.
 And then there is the "gulf stream of the east, (which issues from the bay of Bengal. Its waters, like those of our Cwn gulf stream, may be istinguished from the Ecrde1ing waters of the great ocean by their indigo tint. The Japa- nese call it the black river.
 Leaving the bay of Bengal, this great warm current passes through the strait of Malacca, sweeps the coast of Asia, and then, north of the Philippine is lands, rushes out int the ocean, dascrib- ing the arc of a great circle as far as the Aleutian islands. Like the gulf stream of the Atlantic, it moderates the rigor of the climates that it traverses.
 The analogy between these two great oceanic arteries is wonderful, but it is enough for our present purpose to know that to their circuitous currents the Sar- | gasso seas owe their existence.
 How? We'll, this is easily explained. Drop some pieces of light moss or bits | of cork or wood into a tub of water then with your hand near it's edge give the water a circular motion. In a mo- ment you will see that all the floating substances will have collected in the center. Continue the circular motion, and at the same time blow sharply against the floating objects, and they will change their position, but will not leave the vicinity of the center so long as the rotary motion of the water con- tinues. Observe, too, that this center is comparatively calm.
 This is the explanation of the Sargas- so seas. In the center of the several cir cults of the great oceanic arteries vast basins of comparatively still water are formed. The currents by which they are surrounded constantly throw toward the center all floating substances, especially marine plants, and these, owing to the quiet waters, multiply with great rapid ity, those that have lived their appoint ed time sinking out of sight, while new ones take their place. Even the action of the winds, as intimated above, serves only to shift this position slightly.
 The "marine meadow" with which we are most familiar, that of the mid Atlantic, spreads over an extent of sur face five or six times as large as the ter ritory occupied by France. What won derful meadow on land that would be for cattle! And yet it is scarcely less so where it is for the creatures of the sea.
 This sargassum, or gulf weed, is rather odd looking Its frond is very long and furnished with distinct, stalked, nervine leaves and berryIike air vessels on simple axillary stalks. It is found floating or cast on the shores, hut it's true home is at the bottom of the sea, whence, becoming detached, it rises to the surface, buoyed up by its curious lit tie air vessels.
 The sargassum hardly looks "good enough to eat, " but that it is both pala- table and nutritious is abundantly proved by the many dishes that are pre- pared from it, not only in China, but in other parts of the east.-Helen Harcourt