CURRENTS OF THE SEA. 171 



to be divided by Cape St. Roque, one branch going to the south 

 under this name (Plate IX.), the other to the westward. This 

 last has been a great bugbear to navigators, principally on account 

 of the difficulties which a few dull vessels falling to leeward of 

 St. Eoque have found in beating up against it. It was said to 

 have caused the loss of some English transports in the last cen- 

 tury, which fell to leeward of the Cape on a voyage to the other 

 hemisphere ; and navigators, accordingly, were advised to shun it 

 as a danger. 



470. This current has been an object of special investigation 

 during mj researches connected with the Wind and Current Charts, 

 and the result has satisfied me that it is neither a dangerous nor a 

 conistant current, notwithstanding older writers. Horsburgh, in 

 his East India Directory, cautions navigators against it ; and Keith 

 Johnston, in his grand Physical Atlas, published in 1848, thus 

 speaks of it : 



" This current greatly impedes the progress of those vessels 

 which cross the equator west of 23° west longitude, impelling 

 them beyond Cape St. Roque, when they are drawn toward the 

 northern coast of Brazil, and can not regain their course till after 

 weeks or months of delay and exertion." 



471. So far from this being the case, my researches abundant- 

 ly prove that vessels which cross the equator five hundred miles 

 to the west of longitude 23° have no difficulty on account of 

 this current in clearing that cape. I receive almost daily the ab- 

 stract logs of vessels that cross the equator west of 30° west, and 

 in three days from that crossing they are generally clear of that 

 cape. A few of them report the current in their favor ; most of 

 them experience no current at all ; but, now and then, some do 

 find a current setting to the northward and westward, and oper- 

 ating against them at the rate of twenty miles a day. The inter- 

 tropical regions of the Atlantic, like those of the other oceans 

 (§ 458), abound with conflicting currents, which no researches yet 

 have enabled the mariner to unravel so that he may at all times 

 know where they are and tell how they run, in order that he may 

 be certain of their help when favorable, or sure of avoiding them 

 if adverse. 



