13(5 THE OCEAN. [Book V. 



current ajDproaclies nearer to tlie equator, or to about 

 2° N., and decreases considerably in strength, until 

 joining the Guinea Current, where it increases again 

 in velocity as it nears the African shores.' ^ That the 

 current observed running eastwards in the western 

 parts of the ocean is not the same as that which 

 runs eastwards in the eastern parts of the ocean 

 appears from what Captain Richards says in the same 

 paper — namely : ' This cou7iter-currenth.SLS been traced 

 to extend, at certain months of the year, from the 

 meridian of 53° or 50° W. to that of about 25° W., 

 and thus joining or forming a part of the well-known 

 Guinea Current. It is seldom experienced to the 

 southward of 2° N.,' &c 



IS[ow, that this current should have been traced 

 as far as 25° W., accords perfectly with the current 

 theoretically described ; and that, when the equatorial 

 belt of calms is in the same latitude as the eastward 

 currents in question, water carried westwards towards 

 the equatorial calm belt by the Trade Winds may 

 escape eastwards in the belt of calms, and so tempo- 

 rai'ily effect a union on the surface of the currents, 

 appears probable enough ; but that the currents are 

 intrinsically different and independent of one another 

 appears from the fact of the existence of the current 

 described by Major Rennell, branching off precisely 

 oa the equator north-westwards, in latitude 23^° W. 



^ Notice to Mariners — Atlantic Ocean Currents near the 

 Equator. Hydrographic Office, Admiralty (London, 1866). 



