328 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



starts slowly toward the northeast coast of South 

 America where it is deflected into the Caribbean Sea, 

 flowing thence between Yucatan and Cuba into the Gulf 

 of Mexico. The Gulf acts as a great reservoir, and 

 the waters thus wafted into it raise its surface several 

 feet above the level of the Atlantic. As there are but 

 two straits connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the out- 

 side ocean — the Yucatan channel through which the 

 trades are continuously forcing more water, and the 

 passage between Florida and Cuba — the Gulf is obliged 

 perforce to discharge its pent-up waters through the 

 opening that offers the least resistance. Therefore, it 

 pours out its mighty volume through the narrow pass- 

 age in the east, where they round the Florida keys and 

 turn to the north. Until the Gulf Stream passes Cape 

 Hatteras, North Carolina, it clings to our coast rather 

 closely; beyond that point it stretches out into the cold 

 waters of the north. As a result the seaboard below 

 the cape is not exposed to any cold currents, and the 

 temperature of the adjacent region is modified from the 

 heat of the Gulf Stream. The shores to the north of 

 the cape, on the contrary, are exposed to a great cur- 

 rent from the Polar Seas, which runs inside and counter 

 to the Gulf Stream, and comes freighted with ice from 

 the northern latitudes. In midwinter, off the inclement 

 coasts of our continent, between Cape Hatteras and 

 'Newfoundland, ships beaten back from their harbors 

 by fierce northwesters, buffeted and loaded down with 

 ice and in danger of foundering, turn their prows to the 

 east, and find relief and comfort on the bosom of the 

 Gulf Stream. 



Althougli the Pacific Ocean has its great equatorial 



