INFLUENCE OF THE GULF STREAM UPON CLIMATES. 
51 
that on the coast of Greenland, in latitude 72°, the temperature 
of the air was 42° ; of the water, 34° ; and 29° at the depth of 
one hundred and eighteen fathoms. He there found a current set- 
ting- to the south, and bearing with it this extremely cold water, 
with vast numbers of icebergs, whose centres, perhaps, were far 
below zero. It would be curious to ascertain the routes of these 
under currents on their way to the tropical regions, which they are 
intended to cool. One has been found at the equator two hundred 
miles broad and 23° colder than the surface water. Unless the 
land or shoals intervene, it no doubt comes down in a spiral curve, 
approaching the great circle. 
65. Perhaps the best indication as to these cold currents may 
be derived from the fish of the sea. The whales first pointed out 
the existence of the Gulf Stream by avoiding its warm waters. 
Along our own coasts, all those delicate animals and marine pro- 
ductions which delight in warmer waters are wanting ; thus indi- 
cating, by their absence, the cold current from the north now 
known to exist there. In the genial warmth of the sea about 
the Bermudas on one hand, and Africa on the other, we find, in 
great abundance, those delicate shell-fish and coral formations 
which are altogether wanting in the same latitudes along the 
shores of South Carolina. The same obtains in the west coast of 
South America ; for there the cold current almost reaches the line 
before the first sprig of coral is found to grow. 
A few years ago, great numbers of bonita and albercore — trop- 
ical fish — following the Gulf Stream, entered the English Chan- 
nel, and alarmed the fishermen of Cornwall and Devonshire by 
the havoc which they created among the pilchards there. 
It may well be questioned if our Atlantic cities and towns do not 
owe their excellent fish-markets, as well as our watering-places 
their refreshing sea-bathing in summer, to this stream of cold water. 
The temperature of the Mediterranean is 4° or 5° above the ocean 
temperature of the same latitude, and the fish there are very indif- 
ferent. On the other hand, the temperature along our coast is sev- 
eral degrees below that of the ocean, and from Maine to Florida our 
tables are supplied with the most excellent of fish. The sheeps- 
head, so much esteemed in Virginia and the Carolinas, when taken 
on the warm coral banks of the Bahamas, loses its flavor, and is 
held in no esteem. The same is the case with other fish : when 
