18 PHYSICAL GEOGRArHY OF THE SEA. AND ITS METEOEOLOGY. 



workshops of nature, such mighty tasks, such important offices, 

 such manifold and multitudinovis powers have been assigned. 



50. The three great oceans. — This volume of water, that out- 

 weighs the atmosphere (§1) about 400 times, is divided into 

 three great oceans, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic ; for in 

 the rapid survey which in this chapter we are taking of the field 

 before us, the Indian and Pacific oceans may be regarded as one. 



51. The Atlantic. — The Atlantic Ocean, with its arms, is sup- 

 posed to extend from the Arctic to the Antarctic — perhaps from 

 pole to pole ; but, measin-ing from the icy barrier of the north to 

 that of the south, it is about 9000 miles in length, with a mean 

 breadtli of 2700 miles. It covers an area of about 25,000,000 

 square miles. It lies between the Old World and the jSiew: 

 passing be^'ond the " stormj^ capes," there is no longer anj^ bar- 

 rier, but only an imaginary line to separate its waters from that 

 great southern waste in which the tides are cradled. 



52. Its tides. — The young tidal wave, rising in the circumpolar 

 seas of the south, rolls thence into the Atlantic, and in 12 hours 

 after passing the parallel of Cape Horn, it is found pouring its 

 flood into the Bay of Fundy. 



53. Its depths. — The Atlantic is a deep ocean, and the middle 

 its deepest part, therefore the more favourable (§ 13) to the pro- 

 pagation of this wave. 



54. Contrasted ivith the Pacific. — The Atlantic Ocean contrasts 

 veiy striking^ with the Pacific. The greatest length of one 

 lies east and west ; of the other, north and south. The cur- 

 rents of the Pacific are broad and sluggish, those of the Atlantic 

 swift and contracted. The Mozambique current, as it is called, 

 has been found by navigators in the South Pacific to be upwards 

 of IGOO miles wide — nearly as broad as the Gulf Stream is long. 

 The principal currents in the Atlantic run to and fro between 

 the equator and the Northern Ocean. In the Pacific they run 

 between the equator and the southeni seas. In the Atlantic the 

 tides are high, in the Pacific they are low. The Pacific feeds 

 the clouds with vajiours, and the clouds feed the Atlantic with 

 rain for its rivers. If the volume of rain which is discharged 

 into the Pacific and on its slopes be represented by 1, that dis- 

 charged upon the hydrographical basin of the Atlantic into the 

 Atlantic would be represented by 5. The Atlantic is crossed 

 dail}^ by steamers, the Pacific rarely. The Atlantic washes the 

 shores of the most powerful, intelligent, and Christian nations; 



