The lifted and subsided rocks of America Author:George Catlin Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the Atlantic being forced into the Caribbean Sea by the Equatorial current, then the Gulf Stream begins in the Atlantic, south of the Antilles, and not in the Gu... more »lf of Mexico, leaving the Equatorial Current, and not the Gulf Stream, the mystery. The vulgar phrase of " digging one hole to fill another " applies exactly to such arguments as these. What is the course of the Equatorial Current, and where comes it from ? It is called " Equatorial" because it runs under, and sometimes crosses, the Equator. What Equatorial Current is there of a similar character, and in the same latitude, on the coast of the Pacific ? Is there the same " necessity " for salter water to supply the Northern Pacific and the Northern Indian Ocean, and have they Equatorial currents at command, to supply their necessities ? The Equatorial Current, it is contended, runs through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to the southern cape of Greenland; crosses the Atlantic, and, following the coast of the European continent, leaves the south-western coast of Africa ; re- crosses (in diminished force) the Atlantic, and spreads out amongst the reefs of the Antilles; and yet the advocates of this theory (of which there are several) admit that oftentimes for weeks together the Equatorial current flows in a southerly direction, from the Antilles down the coast of Brazil, and yet they say, " The Gulf Stream, issuing out of the Gulf of Mexico, is perpetual and unchanged ! " The causes of the Trade Winds and Equatorial Current have been accounted for by as many dissimilartheories as the causes of the Gulf Stream, and they remain as yet amongst theorists as much a mystery. Winds, which are currents in the air, are much more obedient to currents in the water than water currents are obedient to currents in the ...« less