28 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
west. This movement is stronger at the edges than in the middle of 
the current, because the force which produces it acts there with more 
energy: it results from this, that the currents bifurcate more readily 
when any obstacle presents itself to their movement. In the Atlantic 
Ocean, bifurcation takes place a little to the south of the Equator ; 
the southern branch descends along the coast of Brazil, and probably 
returns by re-ascending along the west coast of Africa. The northern 
branch follows the coast of Brazil and Guiana, enters the Sea of the 
Antilles, and directs its course, reinforced by the current which 
reaches it from the north-east, into the Bay of Honduras, traverses 
the Yucatan Channel, and enters the Gulf of Mexico, whence it 
debouches by the Florida Channel, under the name of the Guff 
Stream. Of this oceanic marvel Dr. Maury observes that “there is 
a river in the bosom of the ocean ; in the several droughts it never 
fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows ; its banks and its 
bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm ; it takes its 
rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and empties itself into the Arctic Seas ; 
this mighty river is the Gulf Stream. In no other part of the world 
is there such a majestic flow of water ; its current is more rapid than 
the Amazon, more impetuous than the Mississippi, and its volume is 
more than a thousand times greater. Its waters, as far as the Carolina 
coast, are of indigo blue; they are so distinctly indicated that their 
line of junction can be marked by the eye.” Such is Dr. Maury’s 
description of this powerful current of warm water, which traverses 
the Atlantic Ocean, and influences in no slight manner the climate 
of Northern Europe, and especially our own shores. 
The Gulf Stream thus described by the American savant issues 
from the Florida Channel, with a breadth of thirty-four miles, and a 
depth of 2,200 feet, moving at the rate of four and a half miles per 
hour. The temperature of the water in the vicinity is about 30° Centi- 
grade. From the American coast the current takes a north-east 
direction towards Spitzbergen, its velocity and volume diminishing 
as it expands in breadth. Towards 43° of latitude it forms two 
branches, one of which strikes the coast of Ireland and of Norway, 
whither it frequently transports seeds of tropical origin ; it also warms 
the frozen waters of the glacial sea. The other branch, inclining 
towards the south, not far from the Azores, visits the coast of Africa, 
whence it returns to the Antilles. Throughout this vast circuit may 
be seen all sorts of plants and driftwood, with waifs and strays of 
every description borne on the bosom of the ocean, “ Midway in 
the Atlantic, in the triangular space between the Azores, Canaries, 
and Cape de Verd Islands, is the great Sargassum Sea, covering an 
