( 325 ) 



8.— THE GUINEA CUEEENT. 



BEING AN EASTERLY STREAM ACROSS THF ATLANTIC, AND ALONTG THa 

 COAST OF AFRICA, INTO THE BIGHTS OF BENIN AND BIAFRA. 



(274.) In the description of the Winds (6), page 99, and (80, 81), page 

 157, and in the diagram illustrating the Best Monthly Eoutes Across the 

 Eqiiator, it is shown, that between the N.E. and S.E. Trade Winds there 

 is a Belt of Calms and Variable Winds, which, on the African coast, 

 assume the character of monsoons, as, during the summer months espe- 

 cially, the wind blows more or less toward the African coast. 



In the Currents there appears to be an analogous system, as there is aa 

 Easterly Current flowing with considerable velocity Eastward, in an oppo- 

 site direction to the great Equatorial Drifts on either side of it. Its 

 existence and character along the Guinea Coast has been long known. It 

 was formerly thought to be a continuation of that Current which we have 

 just described as passing Southward from Western Europe, but later inves- 

 tigations seem to point to the fact that it is a flowing back of the waters 

 heaped up to the Westward by the prevalent winds. In tracing the 

 Currents of the Pacific Ocean,* we find that there exists a precisely similar 

 Current in that great ocean setting into the Bay of Panama, in the same 

 latitude. This Current is traced very far to the Westward — in fact, nearly 

 across the ocean. f 



(275.) Commencing with the ordinary Westernmost part traversed by 

 vessels crossing the Equator, we select from Commander Maury's Sailing 

 Directions the following facts : — 



Captain H. T. Walter, barque Phantom, says : — In July, 1853, between lat. 5" 

 and 8° N., and about long. 36° and 38° W., the Current set us fast to the 

 Eastward. Again, in August, 1854, about the same latitude and longitude, the 

 Current set us 110 miles N.N.E. in three days. Capt. Millet writes : — December 25, 

 1855, lat. 4° N., long. 29° W., have experienced an Easterly Current these last 

 two days. I have always noticed such along these latitudes, sometimes more to 

 the Northward than this, and in lat. 1° N., and long. 44°. 



We have here examples at opposite seasons of this Current in the Western 

 crossing of the Atlantic. 



Ship James Brotvn, Captain C. W. Kerlin. January 12, 1856, lat. 8° 43' N., lon'^. 

 31° 37' W. ; current 20 miles Easterly. 13th, lat. 5° 30' N., long. 30^ 21' W., 28 

 miles Easterly. Crossed the Equator on the 16th, and experienced no Westerly 

 Current. 



Ship Margaret Mitchell, Captain T. Jameson, January 23, 1854, lat. 4° 36' N., 

 long. 22° 25' W., 13 miles E. by S. 24th, lat. 3° 1' N., long. 22° 30' W., S. by E. 

 20 miles. 



* See Directory for the North Pacifio Ocean, by A. G. Findlay, and also Journal oi 

 the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxiii., pp. 222, &c., as before quoted on page 312. 



t The non-continuity of this Guinea Current with that which flows Southward from 

 Portugal and N.W. Africa, the North African Current, was demonstrated by the author 

 many years ago, and its analogy with the Equatorial Counter-Current in tha Paciiic, 

 and a];0 with a periodical Easterly Current in the Indian Ocean. 



