where no trees grow, depend upon the drift-wood cast ashore there for all the timber used in the construction of their boats, fishing-tackle, and household gear. Among this timber, the camphor-tree, and other woods of China and Japan, are said to be often recognised. In this fact we have additional evidence touching this China Stream, as to which (§ 395) but little, at best, is known. "The Japanese," says Lieutenant Bent,[1] in a paper read before the American Geographical Society, January, 1856, "are well aware of its existence, and have given it the name of 'Kuro-Siwo,' or Black Stream, which is undoubtedly derived from the deep blue colour of its water, when compared with that of the adjacent ocean." From this we may infer (§71) that the blue waters of this China Stream also contain more salt than the neighbouring waters of the sea.
397. The cold current of Okotsk.—Inshore of, but counter to the "Black Stream," along the eastern shores of Asia, is found (§ 391) a streak or layer, or current of cold water answering to that between the Gulf Stream and the American coast. This current, like its fellow in the Atlantic, is not strong enough at all times sensibly to affect the course of navigation; but, like that in the Atlantic, it is the nursery (§ 158) of most valuable fisheries. The fisheries of Japan are nearly as extensive as those of Newfoundland, and the people of each country are indebted for their valuable supplies of excellent fish to the cold waters which the currents of the sea bring down to their shores.
398. Humboldt's Current.—The currents of the Pacific are but little understood. Among those about which most is thought to be known is the Humboldt Current of Peru, which the great and good man whose name it bears was the first to discover. It has been traced on Plate IX. according to the best information—defective at best—upon the subject. This current is felt as far as the equator, mitigating the rainless climate of Peru as it goes, and making it delightful. The Andes, with their snowcaps, on one side of the narrow Pacific slopes of this intertropical republic, and the current from the Antarctic regions on the other, make its climate one of the most remarkable in the world; for, though torrid as to latitude, it is such as to temperature that clothes are seldom felt as oppressive during any time of the year, especially after nightfall.
- ↑ Lieutenant Bent was in the Japan Expedition with Commodore Perry, and used the opportunities thus afforded to study the phenomena of this stream.
