THE GULF STKEAM. 391 



that we had been set nearly in the direction that the elbow of the land 

 trends one hundred and ten miles, we being at noon in lat. 25° 15' N., long. 

 79° 45' W. The following day we had light, variable airs and calms, 

 heavy rain, much thunder and lightning, and very thick weather (as it 

 had been the day previously). We picked ourselves up at noon, lat. 

 27° 20' N., long. 79° 30' W., having had the current N. by E. one hundred 

 and twenty miles. I intended to pass through the Providence N.W. 

 Channel, but the current swept us past the mouth of it in the light airs 

 which we had on the last two days of our passage." 



(383.) Captain (afterwards General) Sabine, F.E.S., said: — " There can 

 be little hesitation in attributing the unusual extension of the Stream in 

 particular years to its greater initial velocity. 



" On the 5th of December, 1822, the Pheasant, bound to New York, 

 quitted the Northern boundary of the Stream in lat. 36|°, long. 12^°. In 

 the Stream, in lat. 36° 14', long. 72° 25', the temperature of the surface 

 water was 74°, and of the air, 65°. Between 10 a.m. and noon, the tem- 

 perature had fallen from 74° to 62-4°, being a difference of 11-6°. The 

 surface water on which the ship entered was in motion to the Westward, 

 at the average rate of 16 miles in the following twenty-four hours, and 

 generally to the West and S. W. between the Northern side of the Stream 

 and the banks on the coast of Maryland. This motion may be more pro- 

 perly characterized as a drift current, occasioned by the prevalence and 

 strength of recent Northerly gales, than as a cownter-current. In approach- 

 ing the bank of soundings, the surface water at 8 a.m. and at noon, on the 

 7th of December, was 59'5°; at 3 p.m. it had fallen to 54-2°; on which, 

 upon sounding, bottom was found in 33 fathoms. On the following morning, 

 in 30 fathoms, the surface was 53-5°, and at 8 a.m. on the 19th, in 12 

 fathoms, but still with no land in sight (being 20 miles off the coast), 41.5°. 

 In the afternoon of the same day, when about 2 miles distant from Sandy 

 Hook (New York Harbour), the water had finally lowered to 45°. Thus, 

 in a space of the ocean scarcely exceeding 200 miles in direct distance, the 

 heat of the surface progressively diminished from 74° to 45°." 



(384.) From the work of the Meteorological Office, before quoted (239), we 

 take the following general, and then the monthly observations on the 

 Gulf Stream, as far as the parallel of 40° N., before mentioned. 



The Gulf Stream, as far as the observations on these charts go, may be 

 considered to commence near the Delta of the Mississippi. A Current 

 setting N.E. by N., averaging 20 miles a day, in lat. 26° to 28° N., long. 

 95° to 90° W., appears to cross the 90th meridian, and unite with the Gulf 

 Stream, which takes a direct course to the Florida Eeefs, setting S.E., its 

 rate increasing from 9 to 29 miles per day, in a distance of about 500 miles. 

 On the right it has the Yucatan Current, which it forces We&tw vrd. At 

 times, part of this S.E. Current finds its way round the West eiid of Cuba 

 into the Caribbean Sea, as previously explained (345) On the left there 

 appears to be an off-flow towards the E.N.E.-; and North of the Florida 

 Isles, about lat. 26° N., long. 83° W., the configuration of the land occa- 

 sions a sort of eddy, and the currents experienced there are extremely 

 variable in direction. 



There being no outlet for the waters towards the N.E,, and the Yucatan 



