CURRENTS AND STREAMS 25 



equator, but south of the equator, or "across 

 the line" as sailors say, there are other trade 

 winds known as the Southeast Trades. 



Between these two trade winds is an area 

 where the winds are usually light, variable 

 and irregular and where long periods of calm 

 prevail. This is the Doldrums and in the 

 days when all commerce was carried on by 

 sailing ships, vessels were often delayed there 

 for days or weeks. 



If the Gulf Stream is followed south it will 

 lead at last to the Straits of Florida, where it 

 issues from the Gulf of Mexico between the 

 western end of Cuba and the Florida Keys. 

 It is from this spot that the stream starts forth 

 on its long journey and by studying a map of 

 the Gulf of Mexico it is easy to discover why 

 the great current flows out through the Florida 

 Straits and into the north. As the trade 

 winds blow steadily and almost continuously 

 from the east they blow or push the surface 

 of the water ahead of them and this water, 

 carried ever westward by their force, finds its 

 way between the various West Indian islands 

 into the Gulf of Mexico. As the gulf is en- 



