CURRENTS AND WHALING. 4tfl 



flows the Labrador Stream, a current so powerful that we can hardly 

 ascribe its origin to the return of the tropical waters of the Atlantic 

 alone; and this, it is thought, may be a portion of the Equatorial 

 Stream of the Pacific, which, after entering the Icy Sea at Behring's 

 Straits, and forming the current which sets eastward, on the northern 

 shores of America, enters the Atlantic, through the many passages of 

 that labyrinth of islands and icebergs, and finally returns, to be again 

 heated in the tropical climates of the Atlantic. 



There is unquestionably a greater body of colder water lying at 

 depths in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic than can be accounted 

 for in any other manner than by submarine streams. Separate obser- 

 vations, made in the Vincennes, Porpoise, and Oregon, at different 

 places during the return voyage, exhibited the same low temperature 

 at a depth of one hundred fathoms, within a zone lying between the 

 parallel of 3° S. and 3° N. The observed temperatures in the several 

 vessels differed only a degree from each other, and they agreed nearly 

 in the breadth of the first zone. I feel satisfied that the one first met 

 with was connected with the cold submarine stream our deep-sea 

 temperatures showed when near the Cape de Verdes, on the outward 

 voyage. As we crossed the South Atlantic without noticing any 

 phenomena of this kind, it may be safely asserted that this body of 

 cold water therefore comes from the north. 



But to return to the western branches of the polar streams that set 

 upon the two great promontories of the old and new continents : these 

 are deflected by the land, and in their new direction flow onwards to 

 the equator, and are merged in the western equatorial streams, which, 

 directed upon the eastern coasts of the opposite continents, and warmed 

 by exposure to the sun, become the heated streams with which our 

 recapitulation commenced. 



The number of recorded facts is as yet too few to furnish any thing 

 like sufficient satisfactory data inductive to any theory; there can be 

 no doubt, however, that the great and sufficient cause is the unequal 

 distribution of heat over the earth's surface. How the streams, cur- 

 rents, and counter-currents are affected by the continents, is within 

 the reach of legitimate inquiry ; but how the character and form of 

 the bed of the ocean may influence them, seems at present beyond 

 investigation. 



The best possible information on the currents is of great importance 

 to the navigator; next to the winds they claim his attention ; the winds 

 in their turn are very much influenced by the former. 



The great and at times perplexing variations of currents have been 

 felt by all navigators: these it will be at once seen may be attributed 



vol. v. 2 Q Gl 



