It is said by those who attribute the great currents of the ocean to the rotation of the earth that the winds have little to do in causing such currents as the Gulf Stream. But my impression is that the southern portion of the Gulf Stream waters, after being drifted by westerly winds over abreast Europe, are attracted to the low sea-level in the vicinity of the Canary Islands, to be moved by the trade winds toward the equatorial calm belt and the West India Islands. And during my many months’ cruising over these seas I have had my attention directed to the singular action of the surface waters, while being impelled by the trade winds toward the West India sea; for during the first fifteen hundred miles of their passage they are moved by the prevailing easterly winds without much apparent resistance or unusual disturbance. But on nearing the longitude of Cape St. Roque, and having acquired a high sea-level from which there is no easy or wide outlet, the impelled surface waters begin to rebel against the forceful winds, and cause a remarkable commotion in the shape of tide-rips and white-capped ripples, which extend from the equator in a northerly direction to the latitude of about 19° north, thus crossing the central portion of the north-east trade-wind belt, with a breadth of over three hundred miles, as shown on map No. 2. This disturbed region where the winds and waters conflict is the probable fountain-head of the Gulf Stream. The reason why the surface waters of this disturbed portion of the Atlantic do not flow peacefully along through the West India passages into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is because of their narrow outlet at the Florida channel. For it is mainly through this narrow channel that the vast waters of the tropical high sea-level are attracted to the low ocean-level of the Western North Atlantic. Thus it seems that the great fountain-head of the Gulf Stream is situated between the wide tide-rips and the Caribbean Islands. The waters from this high ocean-level enter the Caribbean Sea mainly through the several passages south of Guadeloupe; while the northern portion of the raised waters set mostly toward the north-west, and so unite with the eastern portion of the Gulf currents after they enter the Atlantic. Still, the great high sea-level which presses against the Windward Islands, being somewhat higher than the Caribbean Sea, forces its waters through the island passages in quantities sufficient to supply the Gulf Stream; and there are times when the winds are so strong and favorable that all of the passages east of Cuba conduct water into the Caribbean Sea, the cold under-waters entering the deeper channels as well as the warm surface waters. Yet the currents setting through these numerous channels are subject to fluctuations, and so also is the Gulf Stream which they supply.