Chap. XI.] OCEAN CURRENTS. 127 



In Book II. we described the tendency of the 

 action of vis -inertias to cause a counter- current to 

 run eastwards in the equatorial regions, dividing the 

 waters which tend to diverge northwards from those 

 which tend to diverge southwards from the equator. 

 In the Pacific, as might be expected from the con- 

 figuration of the coast on the western side of the 

 ocean, such a counter-current is clearly developed. 

 And this Pacific counter- current appears to be a 

 remarkable illustration of the amount by which the 

 current- creating action of vis-inertias exceeds that of 

 the winds ; for, of any quantity of water blown to- 

 wards the equator from the north-east and south-east 

 by the Trade Winds, a portion would naturally tend 

 to return eastwards through the belt of equatorial 

 calms, where it is released from the action of the 

 winds which have impelled it westwards : but this 

 counter -current appears, as far as I have ascertained, 

 to run through the region of the NE. Trade Wind ; 

 whereas the action of the winds might have been 

 expected so to modify the natural action of vis- 

 inerti^e as to compel it to make its way eastwards 

 through the calm belt, where the action of the winds, 

 instead of opposing, would rather, as shown above, 

 tend to assist it on its course. 



In the Atlantic, the configuration of the coast 

 projecting eastwards in the equatorial regions must pre- 

 vent a counter- current analogous to that of the Pacific 

 from beiug developed to more than a very trifling 



