lime is made away with. The commotion or
disturbance thus created produces two great currents--from the equator
to the poles and from the poles to the equator. But there are many
little odds and ends about the world that affect and modify these
currents, such as depth, and local heat and cold, and rivers and
icebergs, but the chief modifiers are continents. The currents flowin'
north from the Indian Ocean and southern seas rush up between Africa and
America. The space bein' narrow--comparatively--they form one strong
current, on doublin' the Cape of Good Hope, which flies right across to
the Gulf of Mexico. Here it is turned aside and flows in a
nor'-easterly direction, across the Atlantic towards England and Norway,
under the name of the Gulf Stream, but the Gulf of Mexico has no more to
do with it than the man in the moon, 'xcept in the way of turnin' it out
of its nat'ral course. This Gulf Stream is a _river of warm water_
flowing through the cold waters of the Atlantic; it keeps separate, and
wherever it flows the climate is softened. It embraces Ireland, and
makes the climate there so mild that there is, as you know, scarcely any
frost all the year round--"

"Blissin's on it," broke in Larry, "sure that accounts for the purty
green face of Erin, which bates all other lands in the world. Good luck
to the Gulf Stream, say I!"

"You're right, Larry, and England, Scotland, and Norway have reason to
bless it too, for the same latitudes with these places in America have a
rigorous winter extendin' over more than half the year. But what I was
comin' to was this--there are, as you know, eddies and stagnant places
in ornary rivers, where sticks, leaves, and other odds and ends collect
and remain fixed. So, in this great ocean river, there are eddies where
seaweed collects and stagnates, and where the air above also stagnates
(for the air currents are very much like those of the sea). These
eddies or stagnant parts are called sargasso seas. There are several of
them, of various sizes, all over the ocean, but there is one big one in
the Atlantic, which is known by the name of the `Doldrums.' It has
bothered navigators in all ages. Columbus got into it on his way to
America, and hundreds of ships have been becalmed for weeks in it since
the days of that great discoverer. It is not very long since it was
found out that, by keeping well out of their way, and sailing round 'em,
navigators could escape the Doldrums