THE GULF STREAM. 197 



doing. The portion of the Atlantic Ocean between 

 England and the United States of America is unduly 

 magnified, and still more is this the case with the 

 portion between Sweden and Greenland. On the other 

 hand the portion between Africa and the Ghilf of Mexico 

 is unduly diminished. Thus it is scarcely possible to 

 form from such charts just notions of the actual cha 

 racter of the oceanic circulation whereof the Gulf Stream 

 forms a part. (Compare the charts illustrating the 

 Essay on the Climate of Great Britain, pp. 264, 265.) 



We see, in our map (p. 217), 1 that there is a great 

 equatorial stream extending in its eastern portion far to 

 the south of the equator, but passing to the north also 

 even here, and still further to the north between the 

 coasts of Africa and South America. Near here the great 

 equatorial current divides into two portions. One passes 

 southward and then returns towards the east, according 

 to some authorities, but, according to others, continues 

 its course southward until it is lost in the Antarctic 

 Ocean. We shall follow the northern bifurcation, 

 however. The course of this portion of the Atlantic 

 current system has been far more exactly traced out. 

 Taking a north-westerly course, the great current pours 

 itself against the barrier formed by the Leeward and 

 Windward Islands. Passing between these islands, it 

 sweeps around the shores of the Grulf of Mexico, a por- 



1 For the sake of completeness, and also that the present essay may 

 fairly represent my views when it was written, I leave the account of the 

 map and of the course of the Gulf Stream unchanged here. By com 

 paring this essay with the following, it will be noticed that only very 

 few passages are repeated in substance. 



