THE GULF STREAM. 259 



Straits of Bernini 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. 



