of Wind and Water 



Between the Trade-wind belts is a belt of dead 

 calms, known to sailors as "The Doldrums." 

 This belt divides in two the Equatorial Current ; 

 and in it is found the inevitable "Counter Current," 

 mentioned earlier, flowing from west to east. 



Another belt of steadfast winds is that of the 

 *' Roaring Forties," in the Southern Ocean ; a 

 wide stretch of all but landless sea, between 40° 

 and 50° south latitude. These '' Brave West 

 Winds," as they are called, being again the re- 

 verse of the easterly Trades, blow all the year 

 round, and nearly all the world round, since only 

 the southern extremity of South America inter- 

 feres with them. 



They too give birth to a powerful current, 

 flowing from west to east ; and this mighty 

 stream, almost encircling the Earth, has a mission 

 to fulfil. 



Already it has been said that each lesser ocean 

 in the world has its own separate circulation- 

 system. This southern stream, with the Roaring 

 Forties for its parent, has for its especial task to 

 unite all those smaller systems into one. It has 

 to refuse to the minor oceans a lonely and self- 

 absorbed policy, and to insist on the great truth 

 of a world-wide Ocean unity. It has to carry 

 gifts from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the 



F 65 



