Page:The ocean and its wonders.djvu/79

 Florida. As we have said, no whales ever enter the warm waters of the Gulf Stream; therefore, at that time at least, the leviathan could not avail himself of this rich provision. The captain referred to was bound for England. On his return voyage he fell in with the same mass of medusæ off the Western Islands, and was three or four days in sailing through them. Now, the Western Islands is a great place of resort for the whale, and thither had the Gulf Stream been commissioned to convey immense quantities of its peculiar food.

We might enlarge endlessly on this great ocean current, but enough, we think, has been said to show that the sea, instead of being an ocean of unchanging drops, driven about at random by the power of stormy winds, is a mighty flood flowing in an appointed coursesteady, regular, and systematic in its motions, varied and wonderful in its actions, benign and sweet in its influences, as it sweeps round and round the world, fulfilling the will of its great Creator.