1,36 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 
forced to the very unphilosophical conclusion that the sea must 
be losing its salts, and becoming less and less briny, 
255. The Currents of the Indian Ocean. — By carefully ex- 
amining the physical features of this sea (Plates VIII. and IX.), 
and studying its conditions, we are led to look for warm currents 
that have their genesis in this ocean, and that carry from it vol- 
umes of overheated water, probably exceeding in quantity many 
times that which is discharged by the Gulf Stream from its fount- 
ains (Plate VL). 
The Atlanta Ocean is open at the north, but tropical countries 
bound the Indian Ocean in that direction. The waters of this 
ocean are hotter than those of the Caribbean Sea, and the evap- 
oratipg force there (§ 146) is much greater. That it is greater 
we might, without observation, infer from the fact of a higher 
temperature and a greater amount of precipitation on the neigh- 
boring shores (^ 139). These two facts, taken together, tend, 
it would seem, to show that large currents of warm water have 
their genesis in the Indian Ocean. One of them is the well- 
known Mozambique current, called at the Cape of Good Hope 
the Lagullas current. 
256. Another of these currents makes its escape through the 
Straits of Malacca, and, being joined by other warm streams from 
the Java and China Seas, flows out into the Pacific, like another 
Gulf Stream, between the Philippines and the shores of Asia. 
Thence it attempts the great circle route (^ 69) for the Aleutian 
Islands, tempering climates, and losing itself in the sea on its 
route toward the northwest coast of America. 
257. Between the physical features of this current and the 
Gulf Stream o£ the Atlantic there are several points of resem- 
blance. Sumatra and Malacca correspond to Florida and Cuba ; 
Borneo to the Bahamas, with the Old Providence Channel to the 
south, and the Florida Pass to the west. The coasts of China 
answer to those of the United States, the Philippines to the Ber- 
mudas, the Japan Islands to Newfoundland. As with the Gulf 
Stream, so also here with this China current, there is a counter- 
current of cold water between it and the shore. The climates of 
the Asiatic coast correspond with those of America along the At- 
lantic, and those of Columbia, Washington, and Vancouver are 
duplicates of those of Western Europe and the British Islands ; 
