2^4 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



are not yet fupported by puffers, he ought to be no 

 lefs fo, againft the antiquity of thofe which have 

 many fuch fupporters. 



Let us now return to the form of the great ba- 

 fon of the Ocean. Two principal Currents crofs 

 it from Eaft to Weft, and from North to South. 

 The firfl:, coming from the South Pole, puts in 

 motion the Seas of India, and, direâ:ed along the 

 eaftern extent of the Old Continent, runs from 

 Eaft to Weft, and from Weft to Eaft, in the courfc 

 of the fame year, forming, in the Indian Ocean, 

 what are called the Monfoons. This we have al- 

 ready remarked ; but what has not been hitherto 

 brought forward, though it w^ell deferves to be fo, 

 is, that all the bays, creeks, and mediterraneans 

 of fouthern Afia, fuch as the gulfs of Siam and 

 Bengal, the Perfian Gulf, the Red Sea, and a great 

 many others, are direded, relatively to this Cur- 

 rent, North and South, fo as not to be ftemmed 

 by it. 



The fécond Current, in like manner, iffuing 

 from the North Pole, gives an oppofite movement 

 to our Ocean, and, inclofed between the Conti- 

 nent of America and ours, proceeds from North 

 to South, and returns from South to North in the 

 fame year, forming, like that of India, real Mon- 

 foons, though not fo carefully obferved by Navi- 

 gators, 



