58 rnTGiCAL geoghapht of the sea, and its meteorology. 



tliOFO delicate slicll-fisli and coral formations wliicli are alto- 

 gether wanting in the same latitudes along the shores of Sontli 

 Carolina. The same obtains in the west coast of South 

 America ; for there the immense flow of polar waters known as 

 Hmnholdt's Current almost reaches the line "j^efore the first sprig 

 of coral is found to grow. A few years ago, gi'cat numbers of 

 bonita and albercore — tropical fish — following the Gnlf Stream, 

 entered the English Channel, and alarmed the fishermen of 

 Cornwall and Devonshire by the haTOO which they created 

 among the pilchards. It may well be questioned if tlie Atlantic 

 cities and towns of America do not owe their excellent fish- 

 markets, and the watering-places their refreshing sea-bathing in 

 summer, to this littoral stream of cokl water. The temperature 

 of the Mediterranean is 4° or 5° above the ocean temperature of 

 the same latitude, and the fish there are, for the most part, very 

 indifferent. On the other hand, the temperature along the 

 American coast is several degrees below that of the ocean, and 

 from Maine to Florida, tables are supplied with the most excel- 

 lent of fish. The sheep's-head of this cold current, so much 

 esteemed in Virginia and the Carolinas, loses its flavour, and is 

 held in no esteem, when taken on the warm coral banks of the 

 Bahamas. The same is the case with other fish : when taken in 

 the cold water of that coast, they have a delicious flavour, and are 

 highly esteemed; but when taken in the warm water on the 

 other edge of the Gulf Stream, though but a few miles distant, 

 their flesh is soft and unfit for the table. The temperature of 

 the water at the Balize reaches 90°. The fish taken there are 

 not to be compared with those of the same latitude in this cold 

 stream. Kew Orleans, therefore, resorts to the cool waters on 

 the Florida coasts for her choicest fish. The same is the case 

 in the Pacific. A current of cold water (§ 398) from the south 

 sweeps the shores of Chili, Peru, and Columbia, and reaches the 

 Gallipagos Islands under the equator. Throughout this whole 

 distance, the world does not afl'ord a more abundant or excellent 

 supply of fish. Yet out in the Pacific, at the Society Islands, 

 where coral abounds, and the water preserves a higher tempera- 

 ture, the fish, though they vie in gorgeousness of colouring with 

 the birds, and plants, and insects of the tropics, are held in no 

 esteem as an article of food. I have known sailors, even after 

 long voj-ages, still to prefer their salt beef and pork to a mess of 

 fish taken there. The few facts which we have bearing upon 



