CUEEEXTS OF THE SEA. 189 



immense trees that have been cast np on these gnano islands were 

 probably drifted down with the cool California cm-rent into the 

 north-east trades, and by them wafted along to the west, thus 

 showing that the cm-rents of the North Pacific flow in a sort of 

 circle, on the outer edge of which He the Japanese and Aleutian 

 Islands, and the north-west coast of America. 



396. The natives of the Aleutian Islands, Avhere no trees grow, 

 SfpSc^mIeThV*^^^^P^^^^ ^^P^^^ *^^® drift-wood cast ashore there for 

 Gulf Stream. Salter all tho timber uscd iu the construction of their boats, 

 l^ateis.^ ^ ^^"^^^^ fishing-tackle, and household gear. Among this 

 timber, the camphor-tree, and other woods of China and Japan, 

 are said to be often recognized. In this fact we have additional 

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

 little, at best, is known. " The Japanese," says Lieutenant Bent,* 

 in a paper read before the American Geographical Society, January, 

 1856, " are weU aware of its existence, and have given it the name 

 of 'Km-o-Siwo,' or Black Stream, which is midoubtedly derived 

 fi-om the deep blue colom- of its water, when compared vnili 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 neigh- 

 bouring waters of the sea. 



397. TJie Cold Current of OJcotsh. — Inshore of, but counter to 

 The Current of the " Bkck Stream," along the eastern shores of 

 okotsk. ^g-^^ jg fo^-^(i (§ 391^ a streak or layer, or cm-rent 

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

 American coast. This cmrent, like its fellow in the Atlantic, is not 

 strong enough at all times sensibly to affect the com-se of navi- 

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

 most valuable fisheries. The fisheries of Japan are nearly as ex- 

 tensive as those of Newfoundland, and the people of each counti-y 

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

 waters which the cmi-ents of the sea bring down to their shores. 



398. Humholdfs Current. — The cm-rents of the Pacific are but 

 Humboldt's Current, little undcrstood. Amoug those about which most 

 is thought to be kno^m is the Humboldt Cm-rent 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 cm-rent is 

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



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

 used the opportunities thus afforded to study the phenomena of this stream. 



