WE come now to the great ocean itself. We have looked at the tiny stream, the big rolling river, the dashing rapids, the ponderous waterfalls, the great inland lakes; but how shall I describe to you this mighty world of waters? Well, first, it is one undivided mass; great continents and islands are scattered, as it were, up and down, and show themselves above the water; but water stretches itself from pole to pole, from east to west, all round the world. Water is the rule, dry land the exception. It embraces the whole world with one unbroken' wave.
If the earth were cut in two equal parts, from north to south, and you could look at it as a flat surface, it would appear like the western and eastern hemispheres which are here given. On the western, you see the great American continent, the north and south joined by a long narrow strip of land, which, you know, is called an isthmus. Here you see an immense body of water and but little land. On the eastern, it is the very opposite. The great continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia, are larger in extent than the water. Then how much more water than land we see at the south than the north!
The land and the water have been measured, and the water covers nearly two-thirds of the earth's surface. It is divided into five great oceans, though all are joined together: the Arctic, the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Antarctic oceans. The Arctic extends from the North Pole to the Circle. Its waters wash and freeze on the northern shores of three continents—Europe, Asia, and America. The Atlantic separates the Old and New Worlds. The Indian is enclosed by Asia on the north, by Africa on the west, and on the east by Malacca, the East Indian Islands, and Australia. The Pacific is the great ocean; except the Antarctic, it claims all the rest of the waters of the world.
The water covers about 145,500,000 square miles; the land, not more than 51,500,000. How deep is this great ocean? It varies very greatly. The dry land will perhaps give you the best idea of this. There are low long valleys, also high table-land stretching far away, and then there are tremendous mountains rising near 30,000 feet above the level of the sea. Just so the ocean. There are valleys so deep, that if the highest mountain on land could be thrown into them, it would be completely covered by the water. As the ocean at the south is the largest, so is it the deepest.
How is it that the ocean is so salt? No one has yet been able to answer this question. There are immense deposits of salt on dry land, both in Cheshire in our own country, and in Poland. So large bodies may have been found in the bed of the ocean; and it is possible that enormous masses may have been melted and swept into the ocean when God first divided the land from the water. So great is the proportion of salt, that if it were dried and spread on the surface of North America, it would cover that vast continent with a layer half a mile thick; or if spread over the whole earth, it would form a layer thirty feet thick! Some might think that salt preserves the water from corruption, but such is not the case, for salt water soon becomes offensive; and after a long calm in hot seas, the water will positively rot!
Then, what gives the ocean its beautiful blue and green color? Here again, it is difficult to give a satisfactory answer. Sometimes it presents a fine azure blue; then when the air is pure and the water calm, the color blends with the blue of the heavens. When agitated, it takes a brownish hue. In some places, the bed of the ocean-white or yellow sand, or black rock-will of course influence the colors of the surface.
If you have ever crossed the ocean, you must have been amazed at the appearance of light or flame everywhere present. This is called "the phosphorescence of the sea." It is a magnificent and imposing sight. The ship, in plunging through, the waves, seems to advance through a sea of red and blue flame. As the prow throws up the water, it is as if an infinite number of sparks were being scattered in all directions. Myriads of creatures float and play on the surface of the waves, dividing, multiplying, and re-uniting, so as to form one vast field of fire. In stormy weather, the luminous waves roll and break in silvery foam. On some occasions it is much more brilliant than others. A ship will seem to enter one vast sheet of fire, ever casting a strange reflection on every part of the ship. This light is chiefly caused by myriads of little living creatures, which seem to shine by their own light.
Another wonder of the deep is its great ocean currents. These indeed are mighty rivers, to which the great Mississippi, the Amazon, and the Nile are but as insignificant streams, and which flow on for many thousands of miles. I cannot now stop to explain how these currents are formed, but they are so regular, they can be traced all over the world. That which is perhaps best known to us is called the Gulf Stream, which, after traveling thousands of miles, enters the Gulf of Mexico, whence it makes its escape by the Florida Channel.
Of this marvel of the deep it has been said, "It is a river in the bosom of the ocean; in the severest draft, it never fails; and in the mightiest floods, it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm. It takes its rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic Sea. This mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world is there such a majestic flow of water; its current is more rapid than the Amazon more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume more than a thousand times greater." This wonderful stream is 34 miles wide, 2,200 feet deep, and moves at the rate of four and a half miles per hour. Its warm temperature has a marked influence on every land it comes near, and has much to do with the climate of our own islands.
The next wonder of the deep I shall name is the, tides. No doubt you have all seen these. The ocean is never still; on every shore throughout the world, the waters are ever on the move, either receding or advancing. As to the cause of this, all I can now tell you about it is, that the sun and the moon exert a drawing power upon the whole earth, and the result on water, which is moveable, is that the ocean is kept in a constant and regular swelling motion. The power of the moon is three times that of the sun, because, though it is a much smaller body, it is so much nearer to the earth.
The height of the tides vary greatly in different parts of the world. The greatest occurs in the Bay of Fundy, near Nova Scotia, where it will rise forty, fifty, and even sixty feet high! On one occasion, a ship in the night time, was cast upon a rock so high, that, at daybreak, the crew found themselves and their ship suspended in mid-air far above the water! All my readers, who live at, or have visited a seaport, will have seen how the ebb and flow of the tide empties or fills the rivers, and how its current carries barges and ships up and down the rivers. The rapidity with which the tides travel from the Southern Ocean, where the great waves originate, towards the north, is said to be over 500 miles an hour. In the North Sea it travels 180 miles. The tidal wave which proceeds round the coast of Scotland, traverses the German Ocean and meets in St. George's Channel, between England and Ireland, when the conflict between the two opposing waves produce most astonishing, and often disastrous effects.
Then we have all heard of waves that run mountains high. In a great storm, nothing can be more grand than these foaming mountains, rolling, bounding, and breaking one against another. "In one moment," says an eloquent writer, "the waves seem to carry sea-goddesses on their breast, which seem to revel amidst plays and dances; in the next instant, a tempest rising out of them, seems to be animated by its fury. They seem to swell with passion, and we think we see in them marine monsters which are prepared for war.”
The highest waves are those which prevail in the offing off the Cape of Good Hope, at the period of high tide, under the influence of a strong north-west wind. The billows there lift themselves up in long ridges, with deep hollows between them. They run high and fast, tossing their white caps aloft in the air, looking like the green hills of a rolling prairie capped with snow and chasing each other in sport. Their march is stately, and their roll majestic. The only other wonder I can now speak of are the terrible whirlpools, which the tides, the currents and the tempests will often occasion. The well known Charybdis and Scylla, in the Straits of Messina, were the terror of all ancient mariners. The most famous and dangerous whirlpool of modern days is one called the Maelstrom, which at times is so-strong that even large ships are drawn to it, and engulfed to their utter destruction.
There are many other great wonders in the ocean, but here we must stop for the present. We have said nothing of the shipping, of the many and terrible wrecks, of the fearful loss of life and property, of the immense treasure swallowed up, of the dead men's skulls, great anchors, heaps of pearls, which lie scattered in the bottom of the sea; nor have I touched on the wonders of the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, those frozen regions, those mountains of thick-ribbed ice where darkness, desolation, and death, seem to dwell. These we must hold over, if the Lord will, to some future time.