178 On the Gulf Stream and Currents of the Sea. 



known to exist there. In the genial warmth of the sea about the 

 Bermudas on one hand, and California on the other, we find, in 

 great abundance, those dehcate shell-fish and coral formations 

 which are altogether wanting in the same latitudes along the 

 shores of South Carolina. The same obtains on the west coast of 

 South America; for there, the cold current almost reaches the 

 line before the first sprig of coral is found to grow. A few years 

 ago, great numbers of bonita and albercose, tropical fish, follow- 

 ing the Gulf Stream, entered the English Channel, and alarmed 

 the fishermen of Cornwall and Devonshire by the havoc which 

 they created among the pilchards there. 



It may well be questioned if our Atlantic cities and towns do 

 not owe their excellent fish markets, as well as our watering 

 places their refreshing sea-bathing, in summer, to this stream of 

 cold water. 



The temperature of the Mediterranean is 4° or 5° above the 

 ocean temperature of the same latitude, and the fish there are very 

 indifferent. On the other hand, the temperature along our coast 

 is several degrees below that of the ocean, and from Maine to 

 Florida our tables are supplied with the most excellent of fish. 

 The sheep's head, so much esteemed in Virginia and the Caro- 

 linas, when taken on the warm coral banks of the Bahamas, loses 

 its flavor, and is held in no esteem. The same is the case with 

 other fish — when taken in the cold water of that coast, they have 

 a delicious flavor, and are highly esteemed ; but when taken in 

 the warm water, on the other edge of the Gulf Stream, though but 

 a few miles distant, their flesh is soft and unfit for use. The 

 temperature of the water at the Balize reaches 90°. The fish 

 taken there are not to be compared with those of the same lati- 

 tude in this cold stream. New Orleans, therefore, resorts to the 

 cool waters of the Florida coasts for her most choice fish. 



The same is the case in the Pacific, the current of cold water 

 from the south sweeps the shores of Chili, Peru and Equador and 

 reaches the Gallipagos Islands under the line. Throughout this 

 whole distance, the world does not afford a more abundant and 

 excellent supply of fish. 



Yet out in the Pacific at the Society Islands where coral 

 abounds, and the water preserves a higher temperature, the fish 

 though they vie in gorgeousness of coloring with the birds and 

 plants and insects of the tropics, are held in no esteem as an ar- 

 ticle of food. 



