NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 155 



Fortunately, after four days, the cook's temperature dropped 

 toward normal. By November 11 he was back on duty, and 

 things did not look so black for us. Courtney Whalen, the former 

 mess-boy, had acted as cook while Oscar was confined to bed. 

 It would have been utterly impossible to have on board for weeks 

 a bedridden patient who required constant nursing, without 

 crippling our scientific work. Every man's day was so completely 

 filled with routine duties that with one man laid up and another 

 acting as nurse, everything would be dislocated. 



On November 9 we at last entered the trade-wind belt and 

 made better progress toward the Galapagos Islands, lying on the 

 Equator. As we approached, the air and water became increas- 

 ingly cold. We used woolen blankets at night, and Soule regu- 

 lated the salinity -bridge to a lower temperature. 



Schools of large blackfish performed their antics beside the ship, 

 as though to tell us we were entering the cold Humboldt Current. 

 With a long running start these heavy fish would fling themselves 

 out of the sea to land with a great splash on the surface. Several 

 good pictures were taken, but the negatives were destroyed at 

 Apia, along with all our other personal photographs. 



This Humboldt Current, like the Gulf Stream, has a profound 

 effect on the climate of the coasts it bathes. A few years ago 

 it seemed to "disappear," while Beebe was cruising in this very 

 region. At least he did not find it where he expected. This 

 phenomenon changed the climate of the coast of Peru in a remark- 

 able way. Regions that had been without rain for centuries 

 received such deluges that markings on ancient "adobe" buildings 

 were obliterated. It was not our luck to stumble upon such an 

 upset in the circulation of the Pacific. It is a great pity that such 

 an interesting discovery as the Arcturus made was not followed 

 up by careful oceanographic studies; for another opportunity 

 may never be offered. 



In these waters we saw many salps, transparent, jelly-like 

 organisms showing clearly the transverse markings which identify 

 them as the "ancestors" of the vertebrates. It was very easy to 

 dip them up at night when the depth-light was lowered into the 

 water. One of the most disappointing compromises between 



