OCEAN CURRENTS 195 



has a breadth of 100 miles and a direction north-north-east. 

 It leaves the Loo-choo Islands to the right, and flows >r- 

 the Japanese coast, where it is known as the Kuro 

 Current (Blue Salt Stream), after which it curves to the east- 

 ward, following the general easterly drift of the North Pa< Ific, 

 It is now known as the North Pacific Current, or Kuro Siwo 

 Current, or West Wind Drift, and is of considerable interest, 

 since it throws some light on the possibilities of the connection 

 between the aborigines of North America and Asia. 



In 1815 the brig Forester of London sighted a Japanese 

 junk 350 miles off Cape Conception, seventeen months after it 

 had left Osaka. Three of the crew of the junk were still alive. 



In 1832 a similar junk reached Oahu in the Sandwich Isles ; 

 in 1833 another was stranded at Cape Flattery (Oregon). 



Wilkes records that in 1833 a Japanese junk drifted ashore 

 at Port Grenville (Vancouver), the three surviving members 

 of the crew being made slaves by the Indians. 



When the North Pacific Current strikes the American 

 coast it divides into two branches, running north and south 

 respectively along the coast. The north-going current enters 

 Alaskan waters as relatively warm water, carrying with it 

 Asiatic drift-wood, which becomes stranded on the Alaskan 

 coast and the Aleutian Islands. The southern current is the 

 Californian or Mexican Coast Current. It is a cold current, 

 water of low temperature welling up from the depths off the 

 coast. 



The East Australian Current runs south along the east 

 coast of Australia, although the prevailing winds are north- 

 east in summer and south-west in winter. In 40 S. Lat. it 

 bends to the east. 



There is a great easterly current running right across the 

 South Pacific from Tasmania to the South American < 

 It receives some tropical water from the East Australian 

 Current. It runs from Tasmania south of New Zealand in 

 about 50 S. Lat., and is unquestionably a continuation of the 

 easterly current of the Southern Indian Ocean. 



