THE SARGASSO SEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 22

THE SARGASSO SEA

FASCINATING MARINE GARDEN (From Our Own Correspondent ) (By Air Mail) LONDON, May 26. Dr W. R. Stowe had a splendid trip to England by the Celtic Star, which did the journey in 29 days. He is going back by the Mamari. While he is in London he is interesting himself in matters connected with air. Dr Stowe has prepared a sketch of the Sargasso Sea in which he thinks New Zealanders will be interested. Appended is the outline which he has been good enough to prepare. Place: Six hundred miles N.N.E. of the Mona Passage between Haiti and Puerto Rico.

Time: April 22. 1937. A perfect day: azure sea, cloudless sky, and a cool breeze. Golden yellow seaweed everywhere, great carpets of it, long streaks setting down wind, innumerable small bits like large sponges. Protean colour: ochre: golden yellow, reddish gold. As the floating carpets undulate under a vertical sun you see the ■.vhole gamut of prismatic colour. Later in the day the slanting sunlight enables you to see innumerable golden spikes sticking out above the water; the weed appears to be sprouting. This great, one thousand mile '•quare, marine garden, at its best is a sight to remember It is “duckweed " on a huge scale. It has e volved in this part of the ocean owing to the peculiar conditions prevailing. Flying fish “hop” about in it, and tiny marine organisms live in it. It is a complete and very satisfying niece of natural history.