Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/301

] branches give out leaves two or three feet long, and barely three inches broad, which, when in the water, hang down like the boughs of a willow. In many places the plant is so copious that it forms a submerged forest. On looking down from a boat through the transparent water where it grows, nothing but a mass of green foliage can be seen. There are several different species of this sea-weed, all attaining great size. The stems, when washed on shore, bear such an exact resemblance to dead wood as quite to deceive the eye: no arguments of mine could dissuade the captain of a merchant brig, with whom I visited a portion of the Falkland Islands, from taking several boat-loads on board his vessel: he was perfectly convinced that this sea-weed would afford, when dried, excellent fuel. A better use is made of it by the Guachos, who shape pieces of the stem into knife-handles; when moist they drive the base of the blade into it, and leaving it to dry, it becomes harder than horn, and no force can sever the instrument from this novel kind of haft. A similar use is made of the large Algæ of Orkney. Though this gigantic and exuberant marine vegetable has hitherto been of little service to man, yet it performs a vast part in the economy of the lower orders of the animal kingdom. No person, who has not actually seen it, can form an idea of the amount of life which is nourished and housed by one of these tree seaweeds. Among the fibres of its clasping roots dwell various kinds of worms, small sponges,