IS THE GULF STREAM A MYTH? 121 



side of the barrier formed by the West Indies, has 

 thus been satisfactorily established. But we now have 

 to consider difficulties which have been supposed to 

 encounter our current on its passage from the Gulf to 

 the mid- Atlantic. 



Northwards, along the shores of the United States, 

 the current has been traced by the singular blueness 

 of its waters until it has reached the neighbourhood of 

 Newfoundland. Over a part of this course, indeed, 

 the waters of the current are of indigo blue, and so 

 clearly marked that their line of junction with the 

 ordinary sea-water can be traced by the eye. ( Often,' 

 says Captain Maury, ' one-half of a vessel may be 

 perceived floating in Gulf- Stream water, while the 

 other half is in common water of the sea so sharp is 

 the line, and such the want of affinity between the 

 waters, and such, too, the reluctance, so to speak, on 

 the part of those of the Gulf Stream to mingle with 

 the littoral waters of the sea.' 



But it is now denied that there is any current be- 

 yond the neighbourhood of Newfoundland or that 

 the warm temperature, which has characterised the 

 waters of the current up to this point, can be detected 

 farther out. 



It is first noticed that, as the Gulf current must 

 reach the neighbourhood of Newfoundland with a 

 north-easterly motion, and, if it ever reached the shores 

 of the British Isles, would have to travel thither with 

 an almost due easterly motion, there is a change of 

 direction to be accounted for. This, however, is an 



