30 DIRECTION OF THE CURRENT. 



cold weather we soon encountered perpetually 

 increased, till we reached the coast of America. 

 Fortunately, we had all the time a strong west 

 wind ; by its help we passed the southern coasts 

 of the Aleutian Islands, and on the 7th of Au- 

 gust already approached the American coast. 

 On this day the sun once more smiled on us ; 

 the sky afterwards continued clear, and the air 

 became milder and pleasanter as we neared the 

 land. 



From our noon observation we were in lati- 

 tude dS"" 36', and longitude 140^ 56'. In this 

 region, some navigators have imagined they ob- 

 served a regular current to the north ; but 

 our experience does not confirm the remark. 

 A current carried us from twenty to thirty 

 'miles in twenty-four hours, setting sometimes 

 north, and sometimes south, according to the 

 impulse of the wind ; close to shore only the 

 current is regularly to the north. The inha- 

 bitants concurred in this observation. 



We now steered direct for the bay called by 

 the English Norfolk Sound, and by the Russians 

 Sitka Bay, and the island at its back, which the 

 natives call Sitchachan, whence the Russian 



