Chap. XI.] OCEAN CURRENTS. VM 



having experienced a like current in latitude 39°, 

 and between the meridians of 55° and 62^° W.' ^ 

 And in a note farther on Major Rennell says further 

 of this current : ' A counter-current of warm iiriter, 

 reported by Captain Livingston, in such a position as 

 to appear a kind of anomaly, in our present imperfect 

 state of knowledge, has been already spoken of at 

 large. From the weight of authority, the fact cannot 

 be questioned. It may be sufficient in this place to 

 state that the current, running W. by N. more than 

 100 leagues, occurred between the parallel of 38° 50', 

 long, 62i°, and lat. 39° 20', long. 55°. ' ^ 



The '^varmth of the water in this observed current 

 is of importance, because, but for its temperature, it 

 would have been at once asserted that it came from 

 the Azores. It, however, clearly coincides with the 

 current e (in Plate IX.), diverging westwards, to turn 

 southwards, from the point x, at which the stream or 

 meets the stream a b c. And, in fact, this water 

 comes from the equator by a shorter route than that 

 of the Gulf Stream, which it must meet a short 

 distance west of the longitude in which it was 

 observed by Captain Livingston. The current here 

 reported appears to indicate that the main stream o r 

 meets the stream a b c in mid-ocean, east of the 

 position in which the current in question was ob- 

 served ; for, as the stream a b c, flowing from the 

 equator, tends eastwards, and the offset e, turned 



• Ih. p. 228. -^ Ih. p. 2.'53. 



