1 62 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



of Africa, were carried in the same manner to Scotland*, 

 after having twice traversed the whole breadth of the 

 Atlantic ; once from east to west with the equitorial 

 current between 2 and 12 N. lat., and once from west to 

 east by the aid of the Gulf Stream, between 45 and 55 

 N. lat. Rennell, in p. 347 of the "Investigation of 

 Currents/' relates the voyage of a bottle with papers en- 

 closed, thrown overboard by the English ship Newcastle 

 on the 20th of January, 1819, in lat. 38 52', and long. 

 63 58', which was picked up on the 2nd of June, 1820, 

 at the Rosses, (near the Island of Arran), on the west coast 

 of Ireland. A short time before my arrival at Teneriffe a 

 stem of South American cedar (Cedrela odorata), well 

 covered with lichens, had been cast ashore in the harbour 

 of Santa Cruz. 



Effects of the Gulf Stream in stranding on the Islands 

 of Eayal, Mores, and Corvo in the Azores, bamboos, 

 artificially cut pieces of wood, trunks of an unknown 

 species of Pine from Mexico and the West Indian Islands, 

 and corpses of men of unknown race with unusually broad 

 faces, contributed to the discovery of America, by con- 

 firming Columbus in his belief of the existence to the west- 

 ward of Asiatic countries and islands at no impassable 



[* The circumstance referred to was even more remarkable. Casks 

 of palm oil, part of the cargo of the ship wrecked near Cape Lopez, 

 were conveyed by the current to Finmarken, and stranded near the 

 North Cape. Vide Editor's note in the English translation of 

 " Cosmos," vol. i. p. xcvii.] Tr. 



