PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE GULPH STREAM. 151 



tremendous engine of destruction when within point blank distance 

 of a close formed body of men. This the French found to their cost; 

 and no sooner had they received it, than such of them as could, scam- 

 pered off in all directions, abandoning their carts and convoy, in the 

 pillage of which we were assisted by the Brigand Gross and his fol- 

 lowers, who had been harassing the enemy's rear, and destroying any 

 small parties that were separated from the main body. The first 

 person I met on landing was the fat brigand who came up puffing 

 and blowing with his short musket in his hand, calling out to me, 

 " See how the rascals run ! Viva L'Inghilterra, muere Napoleon," 

 and on he went as much delighted as a huntsman in full cry. The 

 French hastened to form a line out of the range of our shot, between 

 the guerillas and their mountains ; but this did not seem to have any 

 effect on our friend, who was assisting us to load our boats with the 

 arms and provisions we had taken, while our launches, with carronacles, 

 drew close to the shore for our protection. Nothing could be more 

 ridiculous than the appearance of our allies ; wherever they could 

 get hold of a little portable plunder they adopted it on the spot : so 

 that one appeared in a French general officer's hat and feathers, 

 another in his coat and epaulettes., while a third had his breeches, and 

 a fourth his boots. What we could not carry away we destroyed, 

 and offered to embark our friend ; but the brigand would not hear of 

 it, and making a signal to his men, they at once dispersed. The 

 French were afraid to separate in pursuit, and were besides occupied 

 in removing their wounded to a neighbouring convent. Among these 

 was a general officer, whom I saw carried off on a litter ; his horse 

 which had been shot under him, lay upon the beach as I passed. 

 Before dark we were all safely re-embarked without the loss of a man, 

 and sailing quietly along shore to regain our station off Barcelona. 



PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE GULPH STREAM. 



THOUGH the deceptive and dangerous effects of the currents of the 

 ocean, have in recent years been much explained by our scientific navi- 

 gators, a very imperfect knowledge still exists in this country upon the 

 origin, direction, and rapidity of that greatest phenomenon of the ocean 

 the Gulph stream of the coast of America. This most extraordinary 

 ocean river has its origin in the Gulph of Mexico, and has generally 

 been supposed, in accordance with the theory of Dr. Franklin, to be 

 created by the pressure of the trade winds, which force the waters of 

 the Atlantic in a perpetual accumulation through the confined channels 

 of the West Indies, the stream then seeking an outlet through the 

 Straits of Florida, and flowing northward by its own impetus along 

 the shores of the United States to the Banks of Newfoundland, and 

 thence to the Azores, its course being now found to be not completed 

 even upon the coast of Spain ; for the weed which covers and is 

 peculiar to the Gulph Stream, has occasionally been found even in 

 the Mediterranean, having been carried thither undoubtedly across the 



