KAMTSCHATKA. 2(>9 



East ; and, in this, our experience perfectly 

 coincides with that of Cook and Gierke. But it 

 is just at this season of the year, in which the 

 melting snow on the shore must necessarily pro- 

 duce a southern current, if this sea formed a 

 closed basin. As the streams in Switzerland, 

 which descend from the glaciers of the Alps, swell 

 and become more rapid in summer, the water in 

 this basin must increase in the same season, 

 from a similar cause, and flow out of its propor- 

 tionably narrow and shallow entrance. 



Other facts also prove the northern current in 

 Beering's Strait. On the breaking up of the ice in 

 the sea of Kamtschatka, the icebergs and fields of 

 ice do not drift, as in the Atlantic, to the south, 

 nor do they drive to the Aleutian islands, but into 

 the strait to the north. On the 5th of July 18 17, 

 the ice had broken up on the southern coast of 

 St. Lawrence Island, and we came there on the 

 10th, without having met with drifting ice. It was 

 not till the night of the 11th, that we found this 

 ice, as we approached the east point of the island 

 towards the north. On this side of the island, the 

 sea is not so deep, and the current less violent than 

 on the Asiatic side. 



It is to be observed, that in the Sea of Kamt- 

 schatka, the south winds prevail during the summer, 

 and the north winds set in about September, and 

 continue during the autumn. The influence of 

 the winds on the currents cannot be denied. 



