THE GULF STREAM. 2OI 



that this question must be answered in the negative. 

 We might, indeed, at once point to the existence of the 

 important current which laves the shores of the United 

 States as an answer to the question ; for where can all 

 this water find an outlet ? It does not pass the Penin 

 sula of Florida as a current ; it does not cross the Grulf 

 Stream ; where, then, can it go but underneath the 

 ocean s surface ? But w 7 e have positive evidence of the 

 existence of under- currents. 



In the first place it is found that in deep-sea sound 

 ings in many parts of the ocean, far more line may be 

 paid out without any sign of the bottom being reached 

 than the depth of the ocean in those parts would 

 account for. In places where it has been proved by 

 other methods than ordinary sounding that the depth 

 is not more than three miles, no less than ten miles of 

 line have been paid out, being carried out so strongly 

 that the slightest check in the paying-out apparatus 

 has sufficed to break the sounding-line. 



In the second place, it has been found possible to 

 determine the depth at which a submarine current is 

 flowing, and the direction in which it flows. Thus 

 Lieuts. Walsh and Lee, in the American service, having 

 loaded a block of wood to sinking, and let it down to 

 different depths, had repeatedly the satisfaction of 

 seeing the work of under-currents. It was wonderful, 

 indeed, they write, to see the barrega (a float attached 

 to the upper end of the line) moving off, against wind, 

 sea, and surface current, at the rate of over one knot 

 an hour, as was generally the case, and on one occasion, 



