Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-01-12
Wonderful Works Of the Creator,

The mariner who first crossed The Csn,r.I
Atlantic IN search Of new world, was aston
fshed when, on the 19rh September, l499. he
found himself in the midst Of that great bank
Of sea-weed-the sea-weed meadow Of OyiedC
tho Saragossa sea, which, with varying
breHdth Of 100 to 300 miles, stretches over %
degrees Of latitude, covering $50, 900 sqnare
miles in surfaces like huge floating garden,
IN which Countless myriads Of minute animals
find food and shelter. Now, it is the eddy Of
numerous sea rivers which collect IN ono spot,
and the cold water Of the Northern Atlantic
mixing with the warm streams Of the-souihern
and western currents, which produce the tens
perature most fitted to PromUte this amazing
development Of vegetable and animal life
What becomes Of the dead remains of this vast
marine growth! Do they decompose as fast
MS they are produced! Or DO they accumulate
into deposites Of peculiar coal, destined 10 re-
ward the researches Of future geologists and
engineers when the Atlantic Of our day has be-
come the habitable land Of an after time In
the chart Of The Phifc Ocean we are presented
with another remarkable instance Of the infu-
ence Of sea rivers on vegetation.
From the shores Of South Victoria, on ihs
Antarctic continent, stream Of cold water;
sixty degrees in width, (the reader will recol-
lect that in high latitudes the degrees Of longil
tude are very narrow,) drifts slowly along IN
rortheast and easterly direction across the
Southern Pacific until it impinges upon the
South American coast TO the south Of Valpara=
isO. There il divides into two arms, one of
which stretches south and east, doubles Cape
Horn, and penetrates into the SouthwestSrn
Atlantic the other flows northeastt and then
northwest, along the coast Of Chill and Peru
carrying colder waters into the warm sea. and
producing colder air along the low plains
which stretch from the shores Of the Pacific TO
the base of the Andes. This current, discoV-
cred by Humboldt, and called after his name,
lowers the temperature Of the air about twelve
degrees, while that of the water itself is some
times as much as twenty-four degrees colder
than that Of the still waters Of the ocean through
which it runs The cold air seriously affects
vegetation along the whole Of the coast at the
same time that the cold stream raises fogs and
mists, which not only conceal the shoes and
PerPlex the navigator, but extend inland also,
and materially modify the climate
The beautiful and benefcent character of
modifying influence becomes not only apparent,
bot most impressive, when we consider, as lhe
rain map Of the world shows US, that on the
coast Of Peru no rain ever falls and that like
the desert Of Sahara, it ought therefore TO be
condemned TO perpetual barrenness. But in
consequence Of the cold stream thus running
along it's builders the atmosphere lUses its
transparency, aud the sun is obscured for
months together. The vapors at Lima are Of
ten SO thick that the sun seen through them
with the naked eye assumes the appearance Of
the moons Disc They commence in the
morning, and extend over the plains in the
form Of refreshing fUgs, which disappear soon
after midday, and are followed by heavy dews,
which are precipitated during the night The
morning mists and evehing dews thus supply
the place Of the absent rains, and the verdurs
which covers the plains is the offspring Of
sea-rivef. What charming myth would the
ancient poets have made out cf this striking
condensation EdinJllrg Revie,U,