188 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



drift of Atlantic water. The fructification of tlie West Indian 

 Entada gigalobium* hâve been found as far north as 80° in 

 longitude 17° 40' east. Thèse fruits are known to the in- 

 habitants of the Faroes, where they are frequently found on 

 the coast, as " goblin's kidneys." The Norwegian botanists 

 give lists of the tropical plants that hâve been washed up on 

 the Norwegian coasts by the Florida Current.f One of the 

 most remarkable océan drifts on record is referred to the " Gulf 

 Stream " and Equatorial Current. In 1822 a vessel was 

 wrecked on Cape Lopez (Gulf of Guinea), its cargo consisting 

 of barrels of palm-oil. A year later one of thèse barrels, with 

 an unmistakable distinguishing mark on it, was washed up at 

 Hammerfest in Norway, a drift of about 1 1,000 sea-miles. The 

 warm Florida Current meets in the western portion of the North 

 Atlantic a southerly cold current, with drift ice and icebergs. 

 This current is due, in part at any rate, to the prevailing East 

 Greenland northerly wind, and is a branch or portion of a Polar 

 current which runs from near the Pôle to Cape Farewell. This 

 Polar current averages 6 miles a day ; near the coast in shallow 

 water somewhat less ; at its eastern boundary up to 20 miles per 

 day — i.e., in Denmark Straits. It is weakened by southerly, but 

 strengthened by northerly winds. To the north of Iceland the 

 water movements are affected by the prevailing anticyclonal 

 atmospheric conditions over the island, and also by the 

 présence of fresh water derived from the land. Numerous 

 investigations hâve recently been carried out on the currents 

 in the extrême North Atlantic by the Norwegian scientists, 

 and for further détails the works of Nansen, Helland-Hansen, 

 Knudsen, and Pettersson should be consulted. 



Put briefly, there is a current of cold water running round 

 the north and east of Iceland. This " East Iceland Current" 

 is a branch of the East Greenland Current, and brings with it 

 pack-ice, drift-wood, and occasionally icebergs, into this part 



* A legumiiious climbing shrub (suborder Mimosœ) remarkable for its 

 large pods. 



+ Schûbeler and Ingvarson. 



