The Mighty Deep 



would no more welcome the exchange than we 

 should. 



Then, too, the Black Stream would cling to 

 the Asiatic side, transforming the climate of 

 western Siberia, and the cold Arctic river 

 would put a speedy end to humming birds in 

 Alaska. But abundance of ice floes would 

 soon be awaiting the walruses which would 

 have to emigrate from the other side of the 

 continent. 



A good deal of discussion has been held as 

 to whether we do truly owe our mildness to 

 the Gulf Stream alone, or whether that Gulf 

 Stream is merely part of a general northward 

 movement of Atlantic waters from the tropics 

 towards the pole. The question has been warmly 

 contested ; and no doubt on both sides, as 

 generally is the case, truth has been mixed 

 with error. 



The Gulf Stream cannot be viewed as a 

 separate entity. Its very birth in the Gulf 

 of Mexico depends on a great mass of water 

 ever flowing from the south-east into the 

 Caribbean Sea. Since so much water pours in, 

 the same volume must pour out, and as it does 

 so it gains the name of the " Gulf Stream." 



But after quitting the Gulf of Mexico the 



56 



