INTRODUCTION. xiii 



his angry face, foaming with disdaine, and filling ihe aire 

 with noise, (with fresh helpe) supplies those forces which 

 the salt-sea hath consumed." 



The strong current at the mouth of the river, and as far 

 up as ships have been able to proceed — the floating islands 

 carried down by the stream into the ocean — the perceptible 

 effects of the current to a very considerable distance from 

 the shore — have been corroborated by so many concurring 

 testimonies as not to admit of the smallest doubt. Two 

 English frigates, but two years previous to the present ex- 

 pedition, fully experienced these effects. The Honourable 

 Captain Irby, who commanded the Amelia, with difiiculty 

 succeeded in getting his ship 48 or 50 miles up the river, 

 the current running down in the middle of the stream at 

 the rate of six and seven knots an hour ; before entering the 

 river the ship was anchored at twelvemiles from the southern 

 point of its mouth in 15 fathoms, where the current was 

 running at the rate of four miles an hour, the water being 

 much agitated, of the colour of rain-water, and perfectly 

 fresh. In this situation they observed in the ocean large 

 floating islands, covered with trees and bushes, which had 

 been torn from the banks b}'^ the violence of the current. 

 In the journal of the Thais, commanded by Captain Sco- 

 bell, it is observed, '• In crossing this stream I met several 

 floating islands, or broken masses from the banks of that 

 noble river, which, with the trees still erect and the whole 

 wafting to the motion of the sea, rushed far into the ocean, 

 and formed a novel prospect even to persons accustomed 

 to the phenomena of the waters." In Maxwell's chart the 

 current is laid down near the mouth as running at the 

 rate of six miles and seven miles an hour, and the mid chan- 



