Rivers in the Sea 



But a stream starting from the far north for 

 the south is affected in the opposite way. Near 

 the north pole the Earth's surface hardly moves 

 at all ; and the southward-flowing current, being 

 weighted with northern inertia, takes a contrary 

 course to the current flowing north. It lags 

 more and more behind the faster-revolving 

 surface, and so wanders westward instead of 

 eastward. Or, if prevented by the land from 

 so doing, it hugs the coast which hinders it. 



So the pull of the two great streams in the 

 Atlantic is exactly opposed, each to the other. 

 That of the Gulf Stream is towards the east ; 

 that of the Labrador Stream is towards the 

 west ; and the resolute manner in which the 

 two refuse to mingle may be partly due to 

 this fact. 



If our Earth could be made to change the 

 present whirl from west to east, and to revolve 

 instead from east to west, those two great 

 currents would alter their directions. The 

 Gulf Stream would hug the American coasts, 

 and the Labrador would find its way over to 

 Europe. Then the British Isles in winter would 

 know a temperature of 30 or 40 below zero, 

 and the Canadians would experience soft damp 

 winters and moderate summers. Perhaps they 



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