174 



PHYSIOGRAPHY. 



fCHAP. 



constantly blowing more or less from the north-eastward, 

 give a westerly impulse to the inter-tropical surface waters of 

 the Atlantic, and thus create the current, which sets into the 

 Gulf of Mexico. But, whether the stream, after it leaves 

 the coasts of the United States, retains sufficient impetus to 

 carry it to our shores ; or whether, as some believe, the true 

 Gulf Stream is lost in the middle of the Atlantic, and anv 



Fig. 44. — Map of the Atlantic, showing course of the Gulf Stream. 



warm currents felt on our own coasts are due to the pre- 

 dominant south-westerly winds of the temperate part of the 

 Atlantic, is as yet uncertain. 



The general course of the Gulf Stream is shown in Fig. 

 44. Where the water issues from the Gulf of Mexico, through 

 the Florida Narrows, it has a temperature of upwards of 80° 

 FaJir. and moves at the rate of between four and five miles 

 an hour. In passing across the Atlantic, the current widens. 



