SURFACE CURRENTS 61 



Cape of Good Hope, they send a branch north, which 

 is probably attributable partly to the pull of the 

 trade winds, partly to a resistent current in the 

 opposite direction coming from the Indian Ocean. 

 This branch contributes to the cold Benguela Current 

 along the West African coast, of which a large part 

 seems due to an upwelling of cold water from below, 

 owing to water being drawn off the surface by the 

 trade winds. This brings us back to our starting-point 

 in the South Equatorial Current. Between the North 

 and South Equatorial Currents is an ill-defined back- 

 water, the Counter-Equatorial Current, with a slow 

 easterly trend. 



We may now turn to the PACIFIC OCEAN. In this 

 the simple currents of the diagram (Fig. 5) are confused, 

 and their strength frittered away, by the numerous 

 islands of the middle and western regions of this ocean. 

 But we can recognize as clearly marked the North 

 Equatorial Drift, northing and easting to form the 

 Japan Stream (Kuro Shiwo) and North Pacific Drift ; 

 the Kamschatka Current, corresponding to the Labrador 

 Current of the Atlantic ; and the return of water from 

 the eastern side of the high-pressure area by the pull 

 of the north-eastern trades into the North Equatorial, 

 in the shape of the Californian and Mexican Currents. 

 In the south half of this ocean that branch of the South 

 Equatorial Drift, which corresponds to the Brazil 

 Current, forms the Australian Current, pressed eastward 

 by a branch of the Easterly Antarctic Drift between 

 Tasmania and New Zealand. Before the Horn is 

 reached, a northerly branch of this contributes to the 

 Humboldt and Peru Currents, supplemented by an 

 upwelling as in the case of the Benguela Current. A 

 well-marked Counter-Equatorial Current characterizes 

 this ocean. 



