188 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA, AND ITS LIETEOPvOLOGY. 



394. On either side of this warm current that escapes from the 

 The ice-bearing cur- intertropical parts of the Indian Ocean, but espe- 



rents from the Ant- . -,-, ii a j t -n • i • . 



arctic regions. cially on tiie Australian side, an ice- bearing current 



(Plate IX.) is found wending its way n'om the Antarctic regions 

 with supplies of cold water to modify climates and restore the 

 aqueous equilibrium in that part of the world. There is a general 

 drift up into the South Atlantic of ice-bearing waters from Antarctic 

 seas. The icebergs brought thence, being often very large and 

 high, are set to the eastward by the " brave west winds " of those 

 regions. Hence the icebergs that are so often seen to the south of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. They set ojBl' for the Atlantic, but are 

 diTven to the eastward by the west winds of these latitud.es. The 

 Gulf Stream seldom permits icebergs from Ai'ctic waters to reach 

 the parallel of 40^ in the North Atlantic, but I have Imowm the 

 ice-bearing cmTent which passes east of Cape Horn into the South 

 Atlantic to convey its bergs as far as the parallel of 37° south 

 latitude. This is the nearest approach of icebergs to the equator. 

 These currents which run out fr'om the intertropical basin of that 

 immense sea — Indian Ocean — convey along immense volumes of 

 water containing vast quantities of salt, and we know that sea 

 water enough to convey back equal quantities of salt, and salt to 

 keep up supplies for the outgoing cmTents, must flow into the 

 intertropical regions of the same sea ; therefore, if observations 

 were silent upon the subject, reason would teach us to look for 

 cmTents here that keep in notion immense volumes of water. 



395. The Currents of the Pacific. — The contrast has been 

 The currents of the draMTi (§ 391) bctweeii the Japan or " Black Stream" 

 Pacific-Drift-wood, ^f the North Pacific, and the Gulf Stream of the 

 North Atlantic. The com'se of the former has never been satis- 

 factorily traced out. There is (Plate IX.), along the coast of 

 California and Mexico, a southwardly movement of waters, as 

 there is along the west coast of Africa towards the Cape de Yerd 

 Islands. In the open space west of this southwardly set along 

 the African coast there is the famous Sargasso Sea (Plate IX.), 

 which is the general receptacle of the di'ift-wood and sea-weed of 

 the Atlantic. So, in like manner, to the west fr'om California of 

 this other southwardly set, lies the pool into which the di'ift-wood 

 and sea-weed of the North Pacific are generally gathered, but in 

 small quantities. The shores of Johnston's Islands (17° N., 169° 

 30' W.), which are near the edge of this pool, are lined ^^dth drift- 

 wood from the Columbia, and the red cedar of California. The 



