"Father," said Lucilla, "are we not nearing the Caribbean Sea?"
"Yes; if all goes well we will be in it by this time to-morrow," was Captain Raymond's reply. "It is a body of water worth seeing; separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Yucatan, and from the Atlantic Ocean by the great arch of the Antilles, between Cuba and Trinidad. It forms the turning point in the vast cycle of waters known as the Gulf Stream that wheels round regularly from Southern Africa to Northern Europe. The Caribbean Sea pours its waters into the Gulf of Mexico on the west, which shoots forth on the east the Florida stream with the computed volume of three thousand Mississippis."
"But, papa, where does it get so much water to pour out?" asked Elsie. "I wonder it didn't get empty long ago."
"Ah, that is prevented by its taking in as well as pouring out. It gathers water from the Atlantic Ocean and the Amazon and Orinoco rivers."
"Papa, why do they call it by that name—Caribbean Sea?" asked Ned.
"It takes its name from the Caribs, the people who were living there when Columbus discovered the islands," said the Captain.
"The Gulf Stream is very important, isn't it, papa?" asked Elsie.
"The most important and best known of the great ocean currents," he replied. "It flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, between the coast of Florida on one side and the Cuba and Bahama islands and shoals on the other."
"The Stream is very broad, isn't it, papa?" asked Grace.
"About fifty miles in the narrowest portion, and it has a velocity of five miles an hour; pouring along like an immense torrent."