Cn.vr. XT.] OCRAN CURRENTS. 120 



described have been observed within the North 

 Atlantic district. 



Speaking of the Atlantic Equatorial Current, 

 Major Rennell says that — ' At the middle point 

 between the two continents, and precisely at the 

 equator, the stream sends off a very large branch 

 to the north-west, and into the midst of the North 

 Atlantic ; whilst the main stream turns to the west- 

 south-west, pointing to the promontory of Cape San 

 Roque : and, when it approaches that Cape, it sub- 

 divides ; the largest part passing by the north of the 

 Cape, towards the West Indies ; the other southward, 

 along the eastern coast of Brazil.' ^ 



The stream mentioned in the first part of the 

 foreo'oino; extract as divero-ino; north-westwards into 

 the North Atlantic is clearly in accordance with the 

 current o R, described theoretically in connection 

 with Plate IX., as resulting from the action of vis- 

 inertiae. Of this current. Major Rennell says farther 

 on : ' The north-west branch of the equatorial 

 current, which separates in about longitude 23°, as 

 aforesaid, is traced, at common times, as far north as 

 18°, and sometimes even as far north as 30°. It 

 appears to be, at least, eighty leagues in breadth, but 

 not of rapid motion (perhaps less than one knot at a 

 mean), and runs nearly in the direction which the 



' An Investigation of the Currents of the Atlantic Ocean, by 

 Major James Rennell, F.R.S. (London, 1832), p. 23. All follow- 

 ing quotations from Major Rennell are taken from the same 

 work. 



K 



