CURRENTS OP THE SEA. 197 



where no trees grow, depend upon the drift-wood cast ashore 

 there for all the timber used in the construction of their boats, 

 fishing-tackle, and household gear. Among this timber, the 

 camphor-tree, and other woods of China and Japan, are said to 

 be often recognised. 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 well aware of its existence, and have given it the 

 name of ' Kuro-Siwo,' or Black Stream, which is undoubtedly 

 derived from the deep blue colour of its water, when compared 

 with 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 neighbouring waters of the sea. 



397. Tlie cold current of Okotsk.-^\ns\iOYQ of, but counter to 

 the " Black Stream," along the eastern shores of Asia, is found 

 (§ 391) a streak or layer, or current of cold water answering to 

 that between the Gulf Stream and the American coast. This 

 current, like its fellow in the Atlantic, is not strong enough at 

 all times sensibly to affect the course of navigation ; but, like 

 that in the Atlantic, it is the nursery (§ 158) of most valuable 

 fisheries. The fisheries of Japan are nearly as extensive as 

 those of Newfoundland, and the people of each country are 

 indebted for their valuable supplies of excellent fish to the cold 

 waters which the currents of the sea bring down to their shores. 



398. Humboldt's Current. — The currents of the Pacific are but 

 little understood. Among those about which most is thought to 

 be known is the Humboldt Current of Peru, which the great and 

 good man whose name it bears was the first to discover. It has 

 been traced on Plate IX. according to the best information — 

 defective at best — upon the subject. This current is felt as far 

 as the equator, mitigating the rainless climate of Peru as it goes, 

 and making it delightful. The Andes, with their snowcaps, on 

 one side of the narrow Pacific slopes of this intertropical republic, 

 and the current from the Antarctic regions on the other, make its 

 climate one of the most remarkable in the world ; for, though 

 torrid as to latitude, it is such as to temperature that clothes 

 are seldom felt as oppressive during any time of the year, 

 especially after nightfall. 



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

 Uied the opportunities tiius afforded to study the phenomena of this stream. 



