46 PHYSICAL GEOaRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS SIETEOROLOGY. 



The Japan current (§80) lias a like drift of warm water to tlie 

 The hi-h tempera- east of it also (Tlates YI. and IX.). In the west- 



ture and drift in the i i r> i • r ii l j j t r^ ^n 



western half of North em hall, roachmg up irom the equator to the Gruli 

 ociaS^:° '°' '*'''''' stream, both of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, 

 the water is warmer, parallel for parallel, than it is in the eastern 

 half. On the west side, where the water is warm, the flow is to 

 the north ; on the east side, where the temperatm-e is lower, the 

 flow is to the south — making good the remark (§ 80) that, when 

 the waters of the sea meet in cm-rents, the tendency of the warm 

 is to seek cooler latitudes, and of the cool, warmer. 



132. The Gulf Stream of each ocean has its genesis on the west 

 A Gulf stream in sido, and iu its couTse it skirts the coast along ; 

 «^^^' leaving the coast, it strikes ofl" to the eastward in each 

 case, losing velocity and spreadhig out. Between each of these 

 Gulf Streams and its coasts there is a current of cool water setting 

 to the south. On the outside, or to the east of each stream, and 

 coming up from the tropics, is a broad sheet of warm water ; it 

 covers an area of thousands of square miles, and its drift is to the 

 north. Between the northern drift on the one side of the ocean 

 and the southern set on the other, there is in each ocean a sargasso 

 (§ 88), into which ail drift matter, such as wood and weeds, finds 

 its way. In both oceans the Gulf Streams sweep across to the 

 eastern shores, and so, bounding these seas, interpose a barrier 

 between them and the higher parallels of latitude, which this 

 di'ift matter cannot pass. Such are the points of resemblance 

 between the two oceans and in the circulation of their waters. 



133. A prominent point for contrast is afforded by the chan- 

 Their connection ncls or water-ways between the Arctic and these 

 Ocean. ^ '^ '"^ two occaus. With the Atlantic they are divers and 

 large ; with the Pacific there is but one, and it is both narrow 

 and shallow. In comparison mth that of the Atlantic, the Gulf 

 Stream of the Pacific is sluggish, ill-defined, and irregular. Were 

 the water-ways between the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean no larger 

 than Behring's Straits, oui' Gulf Stream would fall far below that 

 of the Pacific in majesty and grandem\ 



134. Here I am reminded to tm-n aside and caU attention to an- 

 The sargassos show othoT fact that militates against the vast current- 

 the feebie power of beofettinfi: powor that has been criven by theory to 



the trad>wmds up- O & 1 x i i.1 l^ ^ 



on currents. the gentlc trade-^ands. In both oceans tnese weedy 



seas lie partly mthin the trade-wind region ; but in neither do 

 these winds give rise to any current. The weeds are partly out 



