cr own readers

TH E " KURO Sl WO: 189
48. THE .. KURO SIWO:
1. Those who study geography can hardly fail to
notice the remarkable difference between the climate
of the eastern or Atlantic coast of British Korth
America and that of the western or Pacific coast in
the same latitude. Tak e, for exam ple, the shores
of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland , as compared
with those of Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte
Islands, and Alaska. On the Atlantic coast are
found icebergs, ice-fields, fr ozen bays, stunted shrubs,
and only th e most hardy ki.nds of plants and grasses ;
while on the Pacific coast are noble forests, lux uriant
grasses, and a generally equable climate th rough ­
out the yea r.
2. Sitka in Alaska is but three degrees farther
south than Cape Farewell in Greenland, yet near Sit ka
there are grand old woods, where firs grow to a great
size. The cedars of the Queen Charlotte Islands also
attain an enormous size, and from their trunks the
Indians excavate immense canoes, ofte n sixty feet in
length by six or eight in breadth, whi ch are capable
of carrying forty or fifty warriors.
3. \Ve are so much accustomed to regard climate
as depending merely on distance from the equator
that th ese facts strike us as strange, and require to
be explained. Why does th e west coast have so
much the milder and better climate ? One answer,
though not a complete one, as we shall see lat er,
may be given in two words, K uro Siuio. These
two words are from th e J apanese language, and
signify" Black Stream." The Kuro Siwo, so called
from the dar k tint of its wat ers, is a branch of