%!?()'''] PROCEEDINGS 01<^ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 3f)5 



hither and thither by the currents and tlie winds. The greater ]>art 

 after drifting liitheraud you were ultimately swept landward again by 

 the prevalent westerly or north westerly winds, and ])i]edupl»cltcr-skelt«ir 

 upon the beaelu^s all along tlie coast, forming a complclc labyrinth and 

 tangle or mesh work, of thMjuently enormous strands, and in the nui- 

 jority of eases absolutely concealing the beach itself for its eutire 

 Avidth, from the water's edge to the extreme uj)i)er limit of the highest 

 drift line. 



Ke(;ent (December, 181)15) west-coast i)apers say: ''The Woleoit re- 

 ports that in the recolleetiou of seafaring uumi on the coast there has 

 never been so many drift logs in the Straits of Fuca as at the present 

 time. The high freshets have swept down the fallen logs of ages and 

 sent tbem adrift to the sea. Logs that have been buried in the sand for 

 years ah)ng the l)each below Port Crescent have been washed up, and 

 in some places great dams of logs are formed, rendering it dangerous 

 for navigation." 



AGENCY OF RIVERS, ETC. 



Hooker, while discussing (Trans. Lin. Sot;., 1851, Vol. xx, ]>. 103) the 

 afilinities of the flora of the Galapagos and its origin, lays great stress 

 upon the action of the currents coining north ihnu the Guyaquil River, 

 and those flowing westward from the liay of Panama, as agents for the 

 distribution of South and Cential American plants. Si)eaking of the 

 athuities of the plants of the Gala])ag()s he says: "The new species 

 being for the most i)art allied to plants of the cooler i)arts of America 

 or the u])landsof the tropical latitudes, tlie more i)eculiar are the same 

 as observed chiefly in the hot and damper regions, as the West Indian 

 Islands and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico."* 



Again, referring to the extraordinary winter of )HC>]-H\2 in Cali- 

 fornia, or more properly in the Pacific seaboard States, it will be seen 

 at a glance that with westerly currents and not unfavorable winds the 

 drift trees and logs brought down by the sticams would have been 

 swei>t on and borne elsewhere, instead of Ixiing- piled up along the 

 beaches of Oregon and California, or Avould have continued to drift until 

 they became water-logged and sunk. Nor was the hav(K' made in the 

 foiests caused (;hiefly by the main streams. Streams no larger than 

 Russian, Smiths, and Klamath Kivers, of insignificant volume in ordi- 

 nary years, were changed into devastating torrents and contributed 

 largely to the general destruction. 



In Chile there are between twenty and thirty streams of from 70 to 

 over 1500 miles in length, rivers of rapid descent, that drain ott" aiid 

 carry more or less directly to the sea the water resulting from the melt- 

 ing snow of the Andes. Tlie ordinary volume of these rivers is some- 

 times enor^iously increased by the winter rains, and occasionally a 



* Quoted by A. Aj^assiz, as previously indicated, 



