Avams.—Polynesia. 45 
Islands, which are distant from Cape Horn more than 9,000 miles. From 
these islands he could have gone with as fair winds, and still more favorable 
currents, across the North Pacific to the coast of Mexico; because 120 miles 
south of Guam a strong current is felt, which flows towards Formosa, and 
when within 120 leagues of that island turns north. At this point the 
stream is 100 miles wide, of a dark blue color, and twelve degrees hotter 
than the torpid water on either side. It flows by the islands of Japan at a 
rapid rate, varying from two miles to four miles an hour, and its waters are 
so much darker than the rest of the ocean that the Japanese call it the Kuro- 
siwo or black river. As it flows northward it constantly increases in 
width, so that opposite the Loo Choo Islands it is 500 miles wide, and still 
further north, in the latitude of the Tsugar Strait, it separates into two 
branches, one flowing along the coast of Asia and through Behring Straits, 
and the other branch in a westerly and north-westerly course across the 
Pacific. The first branch not only raises the temperature of the Kuril Isles 
and Kamschatka, and keeps the east side of the Behring Straits free from 
ice during the summer months ; but it also piles up drift timber, swept from 
the shores of Japan, in immense quantities from Norton Bay to Point Barrow 
in the Arctic Ocean. The second branch, in its westerly course, flows at 
varying rates from seventeen to forty-eight miles a day, and with a con- 
stantly lowering temperature. In 86° N. and 180° W. the temperature is 
819. At this point the current turns north-west, and strews the shores of 
the Aleutian Isles with drift timber. In latitude 48° N. and 150° W. the 
temperature is 64°, or 11° hotter than the torpid waters. As the Kuro-siwo 
approaches nearer the American coast, it meets the cold under current of 
Behring Strait, and, by it is forced to the west, in latitude 30°, so that the 
waters revolve from east to west, and form Fleurieu whirlpool. The 
contest between the currents of warm and cold water is well marked in the 
North Pacific. The northern branch of the Kuro-siwo forces one cold 
current from the Arctic close to Kamschatka, and into the sea of Japan, and 
another is forced along the shores of North America. This current, which 
is called the Californian, flows south-east towards the equator, and meeting 
the eastern branch of the Kuro-siwo forces it aside, as has been said, and 
forms Fleurieu whirlpool. In latitude 20° N., it turns west, and as the 
North Equatorial current flows right across the Pacific to supply the current 
of Kuro-siwo. 
A similar circuit of ocean currents exists in the South Pacific, but as 
there is no land to obstruct the cold streams from the Antarctic Ocean, the 
warm currents are forced nearer to the equator in the South Pacific than 
in the north. It was a current from the Antarctic that Magellan had to 
contend against until he got well away from the coast, and entered the left 
