CURRENTS OF THE SEA. ^ 165 



wliicH is undoulDtedly derived from tlie deep blue color of its wa- 

 ter, when compared with that of the adjacent ocean." From this 

 we may infer (§ 4) that the blue waters of this China Stream also 

 contain more salt than the neighboring waters of the sea. 



454. The Cold Cueeent of Okotsk. — Inshore of, but coun- 

 ter to the China current, along the eastern shores of Asia, is found 

 (§ 442) a streak, or layer, or current of cold water answering to 

 that between the Gulf Stream and the American coast. This 

 current, like its fellow in the Atlantic, is not strong enough- at all 

 times sensibly to affect the course of navigation ; but, like that 

 in the Atlantic, it is the nursery (§ 70) of most valuable fisheries. 

 The fisheries of Japan are quite as extensive as those of New- 

 foundland, and the people of each country are indebted for their 

 valuable supplies of excellent fish to the cold waters which the 

 currents of the sea bring down to their shores. 



455. Humboldt's Cueeent. — The currents of the Pacific are 

 but little understood. Among those about which most is thought 

 to be known is the Humboldt Current of Peru, which the great 

 and good man whose name it bears was the first to discover. It 

 has been traced on Plate IX. according to the best information — 

 defective at best — upon the subject. This cm-rent is felt as far 

 as the equator, mitigating the rainless climate of Peru as it goes, 

 and making it delightful. The Andes, with their snow-caps, on 

 one side of the narrow Pacific slopes of this inter-tropical repub- 

 lic, and the current from the Antartic regions on the other, make 

 its climate one of the most remarkable in the world ; for, though 

 torrid as to latitude, it is such as to temperature that cloth clothes 

 are seldom felt as oppressive during any time of the year, espe- 

 cially after nightfall. 



456. Between Humboldt's Current and the great equatorial 

 flow there is an area marked as the " desolate region," Plate IX. 

 It was observed that this part of the ocean was rarely visited by 

 the whale, either sperm or right ; why, it did not appear ; but 

 observations asserted the fact. Formerly, this part of the ocean 

 was seldom whitened by the sails of a ship, or enlivened by the 

 presence of man. Neither the industrial pursuits of the sea nor 

 the highways of commerce called him into it. Now and then a 



