2(3 



GULF STHKAM. 



Oiance of 

 cuurse. 



ciiAi'. II. the southern extremity of Florida. After ])en'orming 

 foi.r5e"oi- this circuit, it again directs itself northward, rushing 

 tl.e cuiTtnt with great impetuosity througli the Straits of Bahama. 

 At the end of these narrows, in the parallel of Cape 

 Canaveral, the flow, which rushes onward like a torrent 

 sometimes at the rate of five miles an hour, runs to the 

 north-east. Its velocity diminishes and its breadth 

 enlarges as it proceeds northward. Between Cayo 

 Biscaino and the Bank of Bahama the width is only 52 

 miles, while in 285^ of lat. it is 5'J ; and in the parallel 

 of Charlestown, opposite Cape Ilenlopen, it is from 138 

 to 173 miles, the rapidity being from three to five 

 miles an hour where the stream is narrow, and only one 

 mile as it advances towards the north. To the east of 

 Boston and in the meridian of Halifax the current is 

 nearly 270 miles broad. Here it suddenly turns 

 towards the east ; its western margin touching the 

 extremity of the great bank of Newfoundland. From 

 this to the Azores it continues to flow to the E. and 

 E.S.E., still retaining part of the impulse which it had 

 received nearly 3500 miles distant in the Straits of 

 Florida. In the mer"dian of the Isles of Corvo and 

 Flores, the most western of the Azores, it is not less 

 tiian 552 miles in breadth. From the Azores it directs 

 itself towards the Straits of Gibraltar, the island of 

 Madeira, and the Canary Isles. To the south of Ma- 

 deira, we can distinctly follow its motion to the S.E. 

 and S.S.E. bearing on the sliores of Africa, between 

 Capes Cantin and Bojador. Cape Blanco, which, next 

 to Cape "N'erd, farther to the south, is the most promi- 

 nent part of that coast, seems again to influence the 

 direction of the stream ; and in this parallel it mixes 

 witii the great equinoctial current already described. 



In tliis maimer the waters of the Atlantic, between 

 the parallels of 11° and -13°, are carried round in a 

 continual whirliwol, which lIuml)ol(lt calculates must 

 take two years and ten months to perform its circuit 

 of 13,1 18 miles. This great current is named the Gulf- 



Clrcnlt of 

 tlic <fcc&n 

 currenta 



