24 



GULF-STREAM. 



which rushes onward like a torrent, sometimes at 

 the rate of five miles an hour, runs to the north-east. 

 Its velocity diminishes and its breadth enlarges as it 

 proceeds northward. Between Cape Biscayo and 

 the Bank of Bahama the width is only 52 miles, 

 while in 28^° of lat. it is 59 ; and in the" parallel of 

 Charleston/ opposite Cape Henlopen, it is from 138 

 to 173 miles, the rapidity being from three to five 

 miles an hour where the stream is narrow, and only 

 one mile as it advances towards the north. To the 

 east of Boston and in the meridian of Halifax the 

 current is nearly 276 miles broad. Here it suddenly 

 turns towards the east ; its western margin touching 

 the extremity of the great bank of Newfoundland. 

 From this to the Azores it continues to flow to the 

 E. and E.S.E., still retaining part of the impulse 

 which it had received nearly 1150 miles distant in 

 the Straits of Florida. In the meridian of the Isles 

 of Corvo and Flores, the most western of the Azores, 

 it is not less than 552 miles in breadth. From the 

 Azores it directs itself towards the Straits of Gib- 

 raltar, the island of Madeira, and the Canary Isles. 

 To the south of Madeira we can distinctly follow its 

 motion to the S.E. and S.S.E., bearing on the shores 

 of Africa, between Capes Cantin and Bojador. Cape 

 Blanco, which, next to Cape Yerd, farther to the 

 south, is the most prominent part of that coast, 

 seems again to influence the direction of the stream ; 

 and in this parallel it mixes with the great equinoc- 

 tial current as already described. 



In this manner the waters of the Atlantic, between 

 the parallels of 11° and 43°, are carried round in a 

 continual whirlpool, which Humboldt calculates must 

 take two years and ten months to perform its cir- 

 cuit of 13,118 miles. This great current is named 

 the Gulf-stream. Off the coast of Newfoundland a 

 branch separates from it, and runs from S.W. to 

 N.E. towards the coasts of Europe. 



From Corunna to 36° of latitude, our travellers had 



