MONSOONS CURRENTS. 349 



weather. The line is the boundary between the north-east 

 monsoon and north-west wind to the southward, but a 

 space of light variable winds intervenes. Between Ceylon 

 and Achen Head, from the line to 8° or 10° north lat., west- 

 erly winds are often experienced in October and November, 

 which blow strong at times. On and near the line these 

 ■winds are mostly from north-west and north-north-west. In 

 a line across from Achen Head to Ceylon, they are from 

 west-north-west to west-south-west ; and farther north, from 

 south-west to south-south-west. 



After passing the Cape, the most direct route for the 

 western coasts of India is through the Mozambique Chan- 

 nel, which is seventy-one leagues wide at its narrowest 

 part, in about lat. 15° south. The south-west monsoon 

 blows through the Mozambique Channel at the same time 

 that it prevails on all the coasts of India. In this channel 

 the south-west monsoon is the tine-weather season, and the 

 sea is commonly smooth. It has several dangerous points ; 

 but b}' a diligent use of the sextant and chronometer, there 

 is little risk in attempting this passage during the fair sea- 

 son, from April to September. On the coast of Africa the 

 current sets strong to the southward and westward nearly 

 all the year round ; and the early Portuguese navigators 

 named Cape Corrientes from the difficulty they experienced 

 in getthig round it to the northward. 



In mid-channel the currents are variable and uncertain, 

 and require great caution. On the Madagascar shore the 

 set is mostly to the northward in the south-west monsoon. 

 Between Cape Corrientes and Madagascar a south-easterly 

 current is sometimes experienced, by which ships have been 

 set over towards St. Augustin or Cape St. Mary. When 

 running to the northward in mid-channel, among the Co- 

 moro Islands, and between Cape Amber and the coast of 

 Querimba, the currents set westward all the year round. 

 Ships bound for the Mozambique, after passing the Cape, 

 should keep m the parallel of 34° or 35° south, till they 

 reach 37° east long., and then shape a course for mid-chan- 

 nel, where the winds are more steady, and only three dan- 

 gers in the way : — the first is the Europa Rocks, — the high- 

 est about the size of a long-boat, and the sea at times breaks 

 over them all. Captain Huddart gives the following as the 



Vol. III.-G g ^ 



