INFLUENCE OF THE GULF STREAM UPON CLLMATES. 51 



that on the coast of Greenland, in latitude 72°, the temperature 

 of the air was 42° ; of the water, 34° ; and 29° at the depth of 

 one hundred and eighteen fathoms. He there found a current set- 

 ting to the south, and bearing with it this extremely cold water, 

 with vast numbers of icebergs, whose centres, perhaps, were far 

 below zero. It would be curious to ascertain the routes of these 

 under currents on their way to the tropical regions, w^hich they are 

 intended to cool. One has been found at the equator two hundred 

 miles broad and 23° colder than the surface water. Unless the 

 land or shoals intervene, it no doubt comes down in a spiral curve, 

 approaching the great circle. 



65. Perhaps the best indication as to these cold currents may 

 be derived from the fish of the sea. The whales first pointed out 

 the existence of the Gulf Stream by avoiding its warm waters. 

 Along our own coasts, all those delicate animals and marine pro- 

 ductions which delight in warmer waters are wanting ; thus indi- 

 cating, by their absence, the cold current from the north now 

 known to exist there. In the genial warmth of the sea about 

 the Bermudas on one hand, and Africa on the other, we find, in 

 great abundance, those delicate shell-fish and coral formations 

 which are altogether wanting in the same latitudes along the 

 shores of South Carolina. The same obtains in the west coast- of 

 South America ; for there the cold current almost reaches the line 

 before the first sprig of coral is found to grow. 



A few years ago, great numbers of bonita and albercore — trop- 

 ical fish — following the Gulf Stream, entered the English Chan- 

 nel, and alarmed the fishermen of Cornwall and Devonshire by 

 the havoc which they created among the pilchards there. 



It may well be questioned if our Atlantic cities and towns do not 

 owe their excellent fish-markets, as well as our watering-places 

 their refreshing sea-bathing in summer, to this stream of cold water. 

 The temperature of the Mediterranean is 4° or 5° above the ocean 

 temperature of the same latitude, and the fish there are very indif- 

 ferent. On the other hand, the temperature along our coast is sev- 

 eral degrees below that of the ocean, and from Maine to Florida our 

 tables are supplied with the most excellent of fish. The sheeps- 

 head, so much esteemed in Virginia and the Carolinas, when taken 

 on the warm coral banks of the Bahamas, loses its flavor, and is 

 held in no esteem. The same is the case with other fish : when 



