598 



Scientific Intelligence — Hydrography . 



the coast of Africa; and before midnight we entered a cold mist which 

 prevented our seeing to any considerable distance ; the water appear- 

 ing discoloui*ed, we tried for, but did not obtain soundings, with 130 

 fathoms of line. 



By 1 p. M. the next day, the temperature of the sea had fallen 

 fi'oni 70° to 56°*5, that of the air being 65°, and the mist unplea- 

 santly cold to our feelings. We were at this time in lat. 32° 21' S., 

 long. 17° 6' E., therefore, about forty-five miles from Paternoster 

 Point, when we struck soundings in 127 fathoms on a bed of fine 

 dark sand. We had expected to have found an elevation in the tem- 

 perature both of the air and sea on our approach to the African coast, 

 by reason of the radiation of heat from its shores ; but the cause of 

 the depression became evident on the morning of the 9th, when, hav- 

 ing sighted Cape Paternoster at daylight, we found we had to contend 

 against a current increasing in strength and coldness of temperature 

 as we neared the land. The existence of a body of cold water rush- 

 ing from the eastward, round the Cape of Good Hope, has long been 

 suspected ; but its extension so far to the northward, has not, I be- 

 lieve, been before noticed. As we were several days beating up to 

 the Cape, we collected the following curious facts respecting it. Thus, 

 on the 7th, when distant 120 miles from the coast, and before we 

 perceived the eflPocts of the current, the temperature of the air was 

 71°, that of the sea 70°, and the depth of water more than 400 

 fathoms, which, being placed in order, will serve to explain the ar- 

 rangement of the followinof table : — 



