CHAPTER II.

MYSTERIES OF THE OCEAN.

Chinese Belief Respecting the Deluge-The Great Mexican Inundation-A Huge Gulf Swallowing Rivers-The World would be Dead Without the Ocean-The Race-Course of Commerce-Varied Color of the Sea-Causes of the Different Tints-Countless Myriads of Animalcules-Phosphorescence of the Sea-Waves Silvered with Flashing Light-A Magical Effect-Cyclones and TempestsStrange Story of a Lost Vessel-Terrible Fury of Ocean Storms-The Dreaded Water Spout Ships Lifted Bodily from the Sea and Hurled Back-The Mysterious Argonaut—A Creature that Sails in a Boat-The Monstrous Octopus-An Ink-Battery-A Shot that Hit-Dreadful Encounter with a Cuttle-Fish-A PearlDiver Attacked-Nautilus of the Pre-Historic Seas.

JONFUCIUS, the Chinese philosopher and law-giver, born more than five centuries before Christ, begins his history of China by speaking of the Emperor named Jas, whom he represents as making the waters flow back, which then raised themselves to the heavens, while they bathed the foot of the highest mountains, covering the smaller hills and inundating the plains. This statement is not only from an authority of high repute, but is especially interesting as showing a belief in an early deluge among the people of the "Flowery Kingdom." Traditions of this are everywhere found in the East, and such evidences from marine shells and the formation of the earth's surface as must be considered more conclusive than tradition.

A deluge of quite moderate date conveys a tolerably exact idea of the phenomena which must have been exhibited in the early time, and we recall the circumstances as assisting us to comprehend the true nature of the ravages the deluge inflicted upon Asia in that ancient period. At six days' journey from the city of Mexico, there existed, in 1759, a fertile and well-cultivated district, where abundance of rice, maize and bananas grew. In the month of June frightful earthquakes disturbed the soil, and were continued unceasingly during two whole months. On the night of the 28th of September the earth was violently convulsed, and a region of many leagues in extent was slowly raised until it attained a height of about 500 feet, forming a plateau many leagues square. The earth undulated like the waves of the sea in a tempest; thousands of small hills rose and disappeared in turn, and, finally, an immense gulf opened, from which smoke, fire, red-hot stones and ashes.

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we e violently discharged, and darted to prodigious heights. mountains surged up from the gaping gulf; among which the volcanic mountain of Jorullo, which rises 2150 feet above the ancient plain, is the most prominent.

At the moment when the earthquake commenced the two rivers of Cuitimbo and San Pedro flowed backwards, inundating all the plain now occupied by Jorullo; but in the upheaving region, while it continued to rise, a gulf opened and swallowed the rivers. They reappeared to the west, but at a point very distant from their ancient bed. This inundation reminds us on a small scale of the phenomena which attended the deluge described in the Hebrew annals. That period of overwhelming disaster, an overflow which buried hills and valleys alike is past, and the sea now knows its fixed bounds, and the land has reared its bulwarks, beyond which the great floods do not pass.

The Sea a Great Fountain of Life and Health.

The ocean plays a very important part in the grand economy of nature. Swept by the incessant winds, its vast surface continually inspires the various gases which load the atmosphere; in its enormous mass it engulfs the débris carried down to it by the rivers and streams which have washed the continents and islands, and restores to the atmosphere, in the form of vapor, those purified waters which descend upon the earth in the shape of rain or snow, or dew. These waters again flow back into the ocean through the streams, the brooks and the rivers; and thus an eternal circle is established, an unending voyage, which makes the same waters serve for the support and renewal of the world's organic life.

The ocean by its exhalations which refresh and moisten the air, nourishes vegetable life, and furnishes the necessary aliment for those admirable channels of running water that are ever flowing, and yet never empty. But for the beneficient influence of the vapors which every moment escape from the surface of the sea, the whole earth would sicken and wither into an inanimate desert; and if the ocean slowly or suddenly dried up, all organized nature would probably be annihilated.

The World's Great Highway of Commerce.

Nevertheless, the immense and profound seas offer no obstacles to the commercial intercourse of nations, whom they only separate in appearance; the maritime highways now traversed by such long processions of ships are freer and broader than those of carth; their maintenance lays no burden upon human communities, for they are kept up by nature. One of the most remarkable features of the sea is its continuity. With the exception of some inland reservoirs which the ocean long ages ago abandoned

in the heart of the continents-such as the Dead Sea and the Caspian-it is one and indivisible. It embraces the whole earth with uninterrupted wave.

The color of the sea varies greatly, at least in appearance. According to the evidence of a host of observers, the ocean, when seen by reflection,

presents a tint of ultramarine blue, or lively azure.
When the air is pure,
the tranquil surface of the waters seems of a brighter and more radiant blue
than the skies. In cloudy weather this passes into a sombre green; which
becomes darkly or luridly brown when the sea is agitated. At sunset the
waves are kindled with glowing hues of purple and emerald. Or, as By-
ron sings-

O'er the hushed deep the yellow beam he throws,
Gilds the green wave that trembles as it grows.

A variety of local circumstances also influence the color of the ocean-waters and sometimes clothe them with a marked and permanent hue. If the bottom be of white sand, and the water not very deep, its tint will be grayish or apple-green; if the sand be yellow, the green is deepened and darkened. The neighborhood of reefs is frequently indicated by the "pronounced color," of the surrounding sea. In the Bay of Loango the waters seem of a burning red, because such is the natural color of its bed. At other times a peculiar tint is given to the waters by colored animalcules. The Red Sea owes its coloring to a microscopic alga. The seawaters-condensed by the spontaneous action of the solar rays in the salt-marshes of Southern France assume, when they have arrived at a certain stage of condensation, a beautiful red color, which is owing to some animalcules with a reddish shell that live in sea-water under this condition, and die (a strange and curious fact!) as soon as the water becomes more highly condensed, or is diluted by the effect of rain. Navigators frequently traverse long green, red, white, or yellow belts of water, whose tints are derived from certain microscopic crustacea, medusas, zoophytes, and marine plants. Such is the case with the "Sargasso Sea" of the Atlantic, which lies midway between the Azores, the Canaries, and the Cape de Verde islands, occupying a space equal in extent to the whole valley of the Mississippi. Another Sargasso Sea is found in the Indian Ocean; and a third just outside the Antarctic Circle.

The Light of the Ocean.

It is to a similar cause we must refer the magnificent phenomenon of the phosphoresence of the sea, which delights and astonishes the voyager in the Indian Ocean, the Baltic, the Arabian Gulf, and elsewhere. In the Indian Ocean, Captain Kingman traversed a zone fully twenty-four miles in width which was so full of phosphorescent animalcules as to present, at nightfall, the appearance of an immense field of snow. These animals, nearly two inches long, were formed of a transparent gelatinous matter. The reflection of the solar light upon this substance gave to the surface of the water a milky appearance.

A PHOSPHORESCENT SEA.