§ 397-399. CURRENTS OF THE SEA. I93 



tional evidence touching this China Stream, as to which (§ 395) 

 but little, at best, is known. " The Japanese," sajs Lieutenant 

 Bent,* in a paper read before the American Geographical Society, 

 January, 1856, " are well aware of its existence, and have given 

 it the name of ' Kuro-Siwo,' or Black Stream, which is undoubt- 

 edly derived from the deep blue color of its water, when compared 

 with that of the adjacent ocean." From this we may infer (§71) 

 that the blue waters of this China Stream also contain more salt 

 than the neighboring waters of the sea. 



397. The Cold Current of Ohotsk. — Inshore of, but counter to 

 The Current of ^^ " Black Stream," along the eastern shores of 

 okotsk. Asia, is found (§ 391) a streak, or layer, or current 

 of cold water answering to that between the Gulf Stream and the 

 American coast. This current, like its fellow in the Atlantic, is 

 not strong enough at all times sensibly to affect the course of 

 navigation ; but, like that in the Atlantic, it is the nursery (§ 158) 

 of most valuable fisheries. The fisheries of Japan are quite as 

 extensive as those of Newfoundland, and the people of each coun- 

 try are indebted for their valuable supplies of excellent fish to the 

 cold waters which the currents of the sea bring down to their shores. 



398. HumholcWs Current. — The currents of the Pacific are but 

 Humboldt's Current, little uudcrstood. Amoug thosc about which most 

 is thought to be known is the Humboldt Current of Peru, which 

 the great and good man whose name it bears was the first to dis- 

 cover. It has been traced on Plate IX. according to the best in- 

 formation — defective at best — upon the subject. This current is 

 felt as far as the equator, mitigating the rainless climate of Peru 

 as it goes, and making it delightful. The Andes, with their snow- 

 caps, on one side of the narrow Pacific slopes of this intertropical 

 republic, and the current from the Antartic regions on the other, 

 make its climate one of the most remarkable in the world ; for, 

 though torrid as to latitude, it is such as to temperature that cloth 

 clothes are seldom felt as oppressive during any time of the year, 

 especially after nightfall. 



399. Between Humboldt's Current and the great equatorial 

 The "desolate" re- ^^^ there is an area marked as the " desolate re- 

 ^'''°' gion," Plate IX. It was observed that this part of 



* Lieutenant Bent was in the Japan Expedition with Commodore Perry, and used 

 the opportunities thus afforded to studv the phenomena of this stream. 



' N 



