136 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 



forced to the very unphilosophical conclusion that the sea must 

 be losing its salts, and becoming less and less briny, 



255. The Currents of the Indian Ocean. — By carefully ex- 

 amining the physical features of this sea (Plates VIII. and IX.), 

 and studying its conditions, we are led to look for warm currents 

 that have their genesis in this ocean, and that carry from it vol- 

 umes of overheated water, probably exceeding in quantity many 

 times that which is discharged by the Gulf Stream from its fount- 

 ains (Plate VI.). 



The Atlantic Ocean is open at the north, but tropical countries 

 bound the Indian Ocean in that direction. The w^aters of this 

 ocean are hotter than those of the Caribbean Sea, and the evap- 

 orating force there (§ 146) is much greater. That it is greater 

 we might, without observation, infer from the fact of a higher 

 temperature and a greater amount of precipitation on the neigh- 

 boring shores (§ 139). These two facts, taken together, tend, 

 it would seem, to show that large currents of warm w^ater have 

 their genesis in the Indian Ocean. One of them is the w^ell- 

 known Mozambique current, called at the Cape of Good Hope 

 the LaguUas current. 



256. Another of these currents makes its escape through the 

 Straits of Malacca, and, being joined by other warm streams from 

 the Java and China Seas, flows out into the Pacific, like another 

 Gulf Stream, between the Philippines and the shores of Asia. 

 Thence it attempts the great circle route (^ 69) for the Aleutian 

 Islands, tempering climates, and losing itself in the sea on its 

 route toward the northwest coast of America. 



257. Between the physical features of this current and the 

 Gulf Stream of the Atlantic there are several points of resem- 

 blance. Sumatra and Malacca correspond to Florida and Cuba ; 

 Borneo to the Bahamas, with the Old Providence Channel to the 

 south, and the Florida Pass to the west. The coasts of China 

 answer to those of the United States, the Philippines to the Ber- 

 mudas, the Japan Islands to Newfoundland. As wdth the Gulf 

 Stream, so also here with this China current, there is a counter- 

 current of cold water between it and the shore. The climates of 

 the Asiatic coast correspond with those of America along the At- 

 lantic, and those of Columbia, Washington, and Vancouver are 

 duplicates of those of Western Europe and the British Islands ; 



