§ 85-87. THE GULF STREAM. 25 



mingling with the ocean by broad spreading, as the " immense 

 rivers" descending into the northern lakes do, its waters, like a 

 stream of oil in the ocean, preserve a distinctive character for 

 more than three thousand miles. 



85. Moreover, while the Gulf Stream is running to the north 

 A current counter to ^o^ its supposcd clcvated Icvcl at the south, there 

 the Gulf Stream. 'g j^ qqI^ currcnt comiug down from the north ; 

 meeting the warm waters of the Gulf midway the ocean, it divides 

 itself, and runs by the side of them right back into those very res- 

 ervoirs at the south, to which theory gives an elevation sufficient 

 to send out entirely across the Atlantic a jet of warm water said 

 to be more than three thousand times greater in volume than the 

 Mississippi Kiver. This current from Baffin's Bay has not onl}^ 

 no trade-winds to give it a head, but the prevailing winds are un- 

 favorable to it, and for a great part of the way it is below the sur- 

 face, and far beyond the propelling reach of any wind. And 

 there is every reason to believe that this, wi'th other polar cur- 

 rents, is quite equal in volume to the Gulf Stream. Are they not 

 the effects of like causes ? If so, what have the trade-winds to do 

 with the one more than the other? 



86. It is a custom often practiced by sea-faring people to throw 

 Bottle chart. a bottlc ovcrboard, with a jDaper, stating the time 



and place at which it is done. In the absence of other informa- 

 tion as to currents, that afforded by these mute little navigators is 

 of great value. They leave no tracks behind them, it is true, and 

 their routes can not be ascertained. But knowing where they 

 were cast, and seeing where they are found, some idea may be 

 formed as to their course. Straight lines may at least be drawn, 

 showing the shortest distance from the beginning to the end of 

 their voyage, with the time elapsed. Captain Becher, E. K, has 

 prepared a chart representing in this way the tracks of more than 

 one hundred bottles. From it it appears that the waters from 

 every quarter of the Atlantic tend toward the Gulf of Mexico and 

 its stream. Bottles cast into the sea midway between the Old 

 and the New Worlds, near the coasts of Europe, Africa, and Amer- 

 ica, at the extreme north or farthest south, have been found either 

 in the "West Indies, on the British Isles, or within the well-known 

 range of Gulf Stream waters. 



87. Of two cast out together in south latitude on the coast of 



