52 NOTES ON THE KURIL ISLANDS. 



but occasionally its velocity is nearly doubled by north-easterly 

 winds and other causes. 



The Oya Shiwo has been said to take its origin in the north- 

 western part of the Sea of Okhotsk, whence it flows in two currents, 

 one down the eastern coast of Saghalin, the other down the western 

 shores of Kamchatka, and through the Kurils into the Pacific {vide 

 Captain A. R. Brown's paper on the " Currents of the Japanese 

 Islands," vol. ii.. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 

 April, 1874). A current of considerable strength does set to the 

 southward along the Saghalin coast, but it is not part of the Oya 

 Shiwo. So far as my experience goes, I have not found a current 

 setting down the western coast of Kamchatka and through the 

 Kurils into the Pacific, but, to a limited extent, rather the reverse. 



A vessel on the Okhotsk Sea side of the Kurils, if out of the 

 immediate influence of the tides running backwards and forwards 

 through the various straits, will always be set to the northward or 

 north-eastward during calms, or when the winds are not sufficiently 

 strong to counteract or deflect this current, which, as a rule, runs 

 at the rate of about 10 miles in twent3^-four hours. The temperature 

 of this current is some 5° or G° higher than the Oya Shiwo. 



During the winter months, when north-westerly winds prevail, 

 a surface current is naturally created across the Okhotsk Sea towards 

 the Kuril Islands, and this accounts for the large quantities of 

 driftwood piled up on the beaches of the north-western sides of 

 the islands, as well as for the ice-fields which are driven across. 

 The wind is the chief, if not the only, factor in producing this 

 current. It is not constant like the 0}'a Shiwo, and ceases when 

 the winds cease. 



