Our greenies were getting so well seasoned by this time that even
this rough weather did not knock any of them over, and from that
time forward they had no more trouble from sea-sickness.
The gale gradually blew itself out, leaving behind only a long
and very heavy swell to denote the deep-reaching disturbance that
the ocean had endured. And now we were within the range of the
Sargasso Weed, that mysterious FUCUS that makes the ocean look.
like some vast hayfield, and keeps the sea from rising, no matter
how high the wind. It fell a dead calm, and the harpooners
amused themselves by dredging up great masses of the weed, and
turning out the many strange creatures abiding therein. What a
world of wonderful life the weed is, to be sure! In it the
flying fish spawn and the tiny cuttle-fish breed, both of them
preparing bounteous provision for the larger denizens of the deep
that have no other food. Myriads of tiny crabs and innumerable
specimens of less-known shell-fish, small fish of species as yet
unclassified in any work on natural history, with jelly-fish of
every conceivable and inconceivable shape, form part of this
great and populous country in the sea. At one haul there was
brought on board a mass of flying-fish spawn, about ten pounds in
weight, looking like nothing so much as a pile of ripe white
currants, and clinging together in a very similar manner.
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