The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-10-17

five miles per hour, At Cape Hatteras
it attains less than one half of that We
lpcity, but has q width of seventy-fve
miles. The projection of the coast ut
the Cape aforesaid seems to deAectagain
the course Of the stream. 1t leaves the
Cape with a north-easterly motion, and
increasing in width, gradually receding
from the shore until it reaches the great
Bank of Newfoundland. Here it col
lidcs with a river of cold water that
COMES from the Arctic seas. The strik-
ing difference of temperature at this
point coos the vapor-laden air over the
stream, thus giving rise to the dense
logs which rest perpetually around "the
Banks" as travellers to Europe have
often observed. And now the vast cur
rent undergoes peculiar changes.
At the Banks it is divided into at least
two distinct branches, One of these
pursues its Journey north-westward,
passes by Ireland, and, moving on be-
tween Scotland and Iceland mingles
with the Polar Sea beyond Spitzbergen.
The other branch, after reaching the
Azores, bends to the southeast and
washes the Morocco shores, where it is
again broken. A portion of it treads
along the African coast, but by far the
larger portion turns round to the west
and drifts with the trade-winds back
across the Atlantic to re-enter the Gulf
of Mexico, from which it started. In
the Gulf of Mexico it attains temper
allure of eighty degrees Fahrenheit.
This heat it retains throughout its en-
tire course TO such an extent that in
summer it is fifteen degrees and in win
ter twenty-five degrees warmer than the
adjacent water of the seas. Mo :e recent
surveys show that the current is not
uniform, but that it consists of alter
nate bands of warm and cold water, a
circumstance which is construed by
most scientists to indicate that the warm
water thus worms its way in bands
through the colder liquid. Its greatest
width has been variously estimated; in
all probability it exceeds two hundred
miles ut certain stages of the route. On
its west and north sides its boundary
line is much more sharply defined than
on the other, the tran ition from the
current to the adjoining waters being so
rapid that thermometers dropped stimuli
tlneously from PROV and stern have, in
some instances, shown difference of
thirty degrees in temperature, The
banks of this ocean stream are always
more or less foggy, and the contrast be-
tween the green color of the ocean and
the deep blue tint of the stream is eX-
ceedngly marked. 1t is well known
that many local storms on the Atlantic
originate in the collision of the hot at
above the stream with the
chill breezes of the surrounding sea.
From its starting point in the Gulf until
it strikes the Azores it travels distance
Of more than three thousand five hun
lred miles. Within the circuit thus
made lies the vast tract of ocean 50
dreaded by the followers of Columbus,
which is now known as the Sargasso or
rassy Sea, region choked in some
places with seaweed and driftwood, and
80 beset with calm weather as to jeop-
nrdizc the safety of ships straying
thither
One of the most remarkable effects of
the Gulf Stream is the favorable inilu-
enCe it eXcrts on the weather of those
countries along whose shores it glides.
The moist and genial climate of the
British Isles is attributed to this cause.
On the western coast of Norway mild
weather prevails and harvests are gath
cred, whereas in corresponding ATTITUDES
of our own country are regions of per-
petual SLOW. This marvellous influence
Of the Gulf Stream has been stoutly de-
MED by some, but when We remember
that water is the most powerful reservoir
of heat, and that the great current, as
Maury shows, emits heat enough on
day to raise the atmosphere of
France and the British Isles from the
freezing PORT to summer heat, it is not
difficult to conceive the beneficent effects
it must have On the northern climes of
Europe. Natives of Spitzbergen are
often amused to find drifting to their
land the products of tropical forests
borne by the Stream from South Amer
lean climes to their own shores. This
drifting shows how well-defined is the
progress of the current in that locality.
Unquestionably the principal cause of
this phenomenon is to be found in the
westward movement of the
Lrade-winds. These breezes, it will be
remembered, blow steadily in the neigh
DOrhood of the equator. They drive
yhe waves westward, and the effect is to
pile up the waters on the American coast
The waves so driven strike Cape st.
Rogue, where they are broken into sep
lrate streams, one of which is thrown
southwark, the other nOrthward and
westward, along the coast, until it enters
.he Caribbean Sea. This westward
rushing of the waters is called the equa-
.orlal current, which, at its primary
stage, off the African coast, is one hun |
lred and fifty miles in width, and, in
The heart of the Atlantic, approximates
three hundred miles. Thus an immense
quantity of water is constantly stream
ng into the Caribbean Sea, tending to
overflow it. The flood naturally seeks
IN outlet. Its most natural and easy |
passage turns the point of Yucatan, and |
thence around through the Gulf of
Mexico in a direction corresponding
with the motion of the hands of a |
watch, until it reaches the Florida Strait
once again. Contributing to the vol.
lme of the current are the currents of |
The Mississippi, the Rio Grande and the
other great rivers which empty into the
gulf. The great heat which the waters
acquire in these tropical regions can be
readily understood. The tenacity with
which water retains its heat and refuses
to mix with colder water is familiar to
many who have seen the experiment
made artficially. Nay, it is frequently
found that while there is a surface cur
rent in one direction, there u an under
current in the opposite direction.
For many years the Gulf Stream was