22 J. STANLEY GARDINER. 



atoll to atoll ; they then set a course about 12 miles to east or west of the atoll they 

 subsequently hope to reach. With the south-west monsoon comes a change of current, 

 which is experienced at Male about the middle of May, the set then being almost due 

 east ; the rate of the current varies with the wind of the previous day. During April 

 and October little or no current is felt. 



The currents in the northern part of the Laccadives are very irregular owing to the 

 proximity of the Indian coast. This is especially the case in the south-west monsoon, a 

 definite south-eastern set being often experienced almost reaching to Minikoi. However, 

 the following data are given in the Admiralty Chai'ts for the neighbourhood of the latter 

 atoll : — 



January — 45 miles per 24 hours, N.W. 



February Various, any direction. 



March Various, any direction, often due N. or S. 



April 10 — 25 miles per 24 hours, S. varying 4 points to E. or W. 



May Various, always southerly. 



June — 45 miles per 24 hours, S.E. 



July 5-30 „ „ „ S.E. 



August 0—45 „ „ „ E.S.E. 



September ... — 25 „ „ „ S.E. 



October 10—25 „ „ „ E. 



November ... Various, — 35 miles per 24 hoiu's, W.N.W. 

 December ... „ 10—25 „ „ N.N.W. 



The maximum currents above are undoubtedly current -I- wind. Many captains of the 

 gi'eat passenger liners, running to the east, do not make any allowance, based on the charts, 

 but consider only the winds of the previous days in setting their courses. The " West 

 Coast of Hindustan Pilot " makes the following statement (p. 363) in respect to the " Eight- 

 Degrees Channel" between Minikoi and the Maldives: — "It will be prudent to keep nearer 

 to Minikoi than to the Maldives, as the current sets to southward between the end of 

 September and the close of the year. In the strength of the south-west monsoon, mid- 

 channel is the best track, or rather inclining to the Maldives." It is scarcely necessary 

 for me to point out, that this statement is seriously in conflict with the data of the 

 charts It serves excellently to show that there are no definite currents in the Laccadives, 

 all sides of the atolls and reefs being probably washed equally at different seasons of the 

 year. 



The currents through the atolls in the Maldives are of great strength, as also in the 

 channels between the atolls. A current of three to four knots per hour is by no means 

 uncommon in the passages on the east side of the atolls in the north-east monsoon, and 

 this was even exceeded in the channels through the leeward reefs. In the lagoon of 

 Miladumadulu we experienced in the middle of December a current of 2^ to 3 miles 

 per hour, against which we could make no headway. With strong easterly breezes — hence 

 at least eight points off our track in both atolls — we made a course along the east sides 

 of N. Mahlos and Miladumadulu, which, if accurately plotted, would show a series of 

 loops, losing opposite the passages and gaining our easting again to leeward of the islands 

 and reefs. To test the rate of the currents, I adapted Messrs Negretti and Zambra's 

 river-meter by fitting it with a larger vane. With currents over 2 knots per hour it 

 appeared to give fairly reliable results. I took a series of observations on the currents 



