t of the
cabin; while, if the worst comes to the worst, I've no doubt we'll be
able to pick up some crabs and shell-fish from the Gulf-weed floating
around."

"Right you are, sir," said Moggridge, ashamed of having spoken. "I see
lots of the stuff about us now."

"Is that the Gulf-weed you told me about, captain?" I asked, pointing
to some long strings of what looked like the broken-off branches of
trees, with berries on them, that were washing past the hull of the
_Josephine_ on the top of the rolling swell.

"Yes, Tom, we're now in the Sargasso Sea, its own especial home.
Indeed, this region is especially so called on account of the
`Sargassum,' or weed, in the Portuguese tongue. You ask Mr Marline and
he'll tell you all about it, being learned in such matters."

The first mate, however, did not wait for me to question him.

Taking the captain's observation as a hint to say something to occupy
the attention of the men and myself, and so keep us from thinking of the
sharks and our painful position, he proceeded to narrate all he knew
about this curious marine fungus. He had a good deal to say, too, for
Mr Marline was a well-read man and took a great interest in all matters
of science.

It was certainly a very novel situation in which to give a lecture, but
the sailors were glad enough to listen to anything to make the time
pass. They were very attentive auditors, even Jake appearing
interested, although he could not have understood much of what he heard.

"The Sargasso, or weedy, Sea," said Mr Marline, "so called from the
berries, like grapes, `sarga' in Portuguese, extends from about the
eleventh parallel of latitude to 45 degrees north, and from 30 degrees
west longitude to the Bermudas, and even further west, so that we are
about in the middle of it now. Almost the entire portion of this space
of the ocean is covered by a peculiar species of sea-weed, termed by
botanists the `fucus natans,' which is found nowhere else in any great
abundance except in the Gulf Stream, which, skirting along the edge of
the Sargasso Sea, bears away portions of the floating substance in its
progress from the Gulf of Florida eastwards. The western current to the
south of this region also sometimes detaches masses of the weed; but its
main habitat is the Sargasso Sea, where, there being no eddies or
streams either way and little or no wind generally, the sargassum
accumulates in great masses, presenting frequently the aspec