224 



THE WORLD. 



general direction of the great oceanic currents. The Lagullus 

 current after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, passes northward 



along the western shores of Africa, and is called the South At- 

 lantic current. It then enters the Bight, or Bay of Benin, and is 

 deflected westward, partly from the form of the coast and partly 

 by the action of the Guinea current flowing from the north into 

 the same great ba) 7 . From the centre of this bay it proceeds in 

 an equatorial direction westerly, at the rate of ten or eleven miles 

 a day, to the coast of Brazil where it is divided, a portion flowing 

 feebly southward ; the other branch passes off the the shores of 

 Guinea by the West India islands, towards the Musqueto and 

 Honduras coasts, through the Carribean sea, flowing northwards, 

 passes into the Gulf of Mexico, following the bendings of the 

 shore from Vera Cruz to the mouth of the Rio del Norte, thence 

 to the mouths of the Mississippi where it receives a new impulse; 

 after performing this circuit, it rushes with great impetuosity 

 through the Bahama Channel, its velocity being about five miles 

 an hour, and breadth from thirty-five to fifty miles. Its course 

 is now north-easterly along the eastern coast of North America, 

 its breadth increasing and its velocity diminishing. As the cur- 



