GULF STKEAM. 455 



ature, from the waters of the cold ocean around. 

 The entrance into it becomes sensible even to 

 the thermometer ; sometimes its temperature is 

 86, the waters around being 60. Its waters 

 are also remarkable for their beautiful indigo- 

 blue colour, separating it from the green waters 

 of the Atlantic for hundreds of miles, and by 

 the fogs which in its course near Newfoundland 

 are produced from the condensation of the warm 

 and moist air overhanging them. It is also sin- 

 gular that it is chiefly in the warm waters of this 

 great current that the Gulf-weed is found in 

 long trails ; it is a species of fucus, and is known 

 under the name of Sargasmm Vulgare. 



In the wide domains of the water-world, other 

 important general currents and countless local 

 currents exist, which have their importance and 

 their cause in the places where they appear. 



It appears not unlikely that deeply concealed 

 from the perception and investigations of man, 

 a number or even a system of submarine cur- 

 rents exist. We are not to suppose all move- 

 ment is on the surface. From the singular 

 result obtained by Messrs. Kotzebue and Du- 

 petit Thouars, adverted to in a previous page, 

 it appears not improbable that some system 

 of circulation may be in operation in the lower 

 regions of the ocean. It is even stated that in 

 some parts -of the Caribbean Sea, where the 



