THE GULF STREAM. 259 
Straits of Bemini it has a velocity of from four to five knots, a 
width of fifty miles, and an average depth of three hundred and 
fifty fathoms. This velocity rapidly decreases as we go north. 
(Fig. 176.) Off St. Augustine it is rarely more than four miles ; 
from there to New York it decreases to two and a half miles 
per hour; off the Banks of Newfoundland it is reduced to one 
and a half or two miles; and at a distance of three hundred 
miles to the eastward the velocity of the Gulf Stream, which 
has constantly been spreading out fan-shaped, is scarcely per- 
ceptible. 
As far as the current observations of the “Blake” may be 
trusted, they indicate a greater speed in the axis of the Gulf 
Stream than along its edges, — a velocity varying between two 
miles an hour, or even less, and fully five miles. The width of 
the Stream off the east coast south of Hatteras varies from fifty 
to nearly one hundred miles. 
The observations of the “ Blake” show that the bottom of the 
Gulf Stream along the Blake Plateau is swept clean of slime and 
ooze, and is nearly barren of animal life. 
