Part VI 
THE REMOUS 
‘“‘Our Mother the Sea is never at rest, 
When the spring-tide ebbs dead low; 
As the coming ‘remous’ boils up on her breast 
And thunders in caverns below.” 
The “remous”’ is the old French name given to the curious 
ebullition of the sea and the mill-race-like nature of the 
currents and cross currents that occur round the islands of 
the Bocas and the contiguous mainland, when the tide has 
reached dead-low, and is about to turn for the rise. It varies 
in power according to the seasons, being much stronger dur- 
ing the rainy period than the dry, when it is often scarcely 
perceptible. Its force is always much more in evidence 
during the spring-tides of the new and full moon, especially 
during the months of October and November, this being 
mainly attributable to the mighty Orinoco, which then 
sweeps down in full flood, swollen from the inundated savan- 
nahs and torrent-swept mountains of Venezuela. These 
spring-tides last for five days, two days before the moon, 
new or full, the day of the new or full moon, and two days 
after—beginning strong on the first day and gradually wax- 
ing in intensity until the fifth or last day, which is the strong- 
est tide of all. 
In the French language the word “remous’’ has three 
different applications: 
1. It is the sea term for the swell formed by the displace- 
ment of water caused by a ship travelling through the water. 
2. It is the re-gathering of water that has hurled and 
broken against an obstacle such as some solid body. For 
instance, the famous voyager Lapeyrouse, mentions in his 
travels: ‘‘My boat was floating near the shore, a mass of ice 
