On the Glaciers and Climate of Iceland. 283 



whicli, destitute of branches or leaves, but quite covered over 

 with mussels and sea-weed, was some years ago cast on the 

 shore of Argyleshire. 



Farther, it is stated by Lyngbye, that the front part of an 

 American canoe, made of mahogany, and completely bored by 

 Pholades, was driven ashore at Feroe, in the summer of the 

 year 1817.* Another not less interesting example is cited 

 by Rennell. It is afforded by the passage of a floating bottle, 

 which was thrown out of the British ship Newcastle, on the 

 20th of June 1819, in latitude 38" 52', and longitude 64' 0', 

 west from Greenwich, and was again found, on the 2d of June 

 1820, at the island of Arran, in the Frith of Clyde-t This 

 case also, as well as the growth of mussels and sea-weeds 

 on the trunks of trees drifted in the currents, would lead us 

 to think that floating bodies occupy a longer time than is 

 commonly supposed, on their passage with the Gulf Stream 

 from America to Europe. 



In inquiries regarding the course of the Gulf Stream, the 

 question as to the source of the drift-wood is especially 

 worthy of consideration. In former times the drift-wood was 

 found much more abundantly than at present on the coasts 

 of Iceland and Feroe ; and it contributed, in some degree, to 

 the welfare of both countries. At the present day, when the 

 supply of this gift of Nature has decreased, its want is felt by 

 the inhabitants so much the more, because their own forests, 

 through neglected cultivation, are falling off" from year to year. 

 There is certainly no doubt that the rivers of Northern Asia, 

 as well as those of North America, carry out into the sea 

 great quantities of drift-wood. That which arrives at the 

 coasts of Feroe and Iceland belongs decidedly to the New 

 Continent, and appears to be carried through the moutli of 

 the Mississippi into the Mexican Gulf, and thence into the 

 Gulf Stream and its northern branch. Hence the diminution 

 of the drift-wood on the coast of Iceland is readily explained 



* Tentiinien Uydrophytologiae Danicae. Copenhagen, 1819. 



t See an Investigation of the Currents of the Atlantic Ocean, by Rfajor 

 James Kennell, London, 1832, page 347. In this work raany other similar 

 facts relating to the motion of the Gulf Stream are collected and arranged in 

 detail. 



