THE HUMBOLDT CUEKENT 335 



the present coast. How far it reached will be more fully dis- 

 cussed in the subsequent chapters. It may only compara- 

 tively recently have subsided. May not the remarkable cir- 

 cumstance, alluded to by Dr. Bigelow,* that to the south-west 

 and west of the Humboldt current the sea is almost entirely 

 devoid of surface as well as bottom life, be due to this 

 cause ? 



* Bigelow, H. B., " Albatross Expedition Medusae," p. 222. 



