THE GUINEA CUERENT. 331 



(284.) Enseigne C. Martin states that from the experiences of French 

 cruisers on the "West coast of Africa, it is found that between the Canaries 

 and Cape Palmas the current is very weak and close to the coast, being 

 rarely felt Westward of long. 16°. From Cape Palmas to Cape Formosa 

 it follows the trend of the coast, and appears to divide against the latter 

 cape, a weak portion continuing its course between the Niger and Fer- 

 nando Po, the main body appearing to trend off to the South and S.W. 

 In the channel separating Fernando Po, Princes, and St. Thomas Islands 

 from the coast, the current was generally found running N.W., perhaps 

 due to the outflow of the River Congo. Here this seems to meet the S.W. 

 branch of the Guinea Current, and the two combining bear off to the 

 Westward as the Equatorial Current.* 



(285.) Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S., gave a paper at the British Associa- 

 tion, 1892, " On the Temperature, Density, and Motion of the Waters of 

 the Gulf of Guinea," from observations made in the telegraph steamer 

 Buccaneer, in January, February, July, August, and September, 1886. He 

 states that the surface-water of high temperature all over the Gulf of 

 Guinea forms a layer of generally not over 30 fathoms in thickness. A 

 moderate breeze off shore easily blows it away, and its place is taken by 

 the denser and colder water immediately below it. Generally, the current 

 along the Guinea coast was found to set strongly to the Eastward, as the 

 well-known Guinea Current, and this was confirmed by the current bottles 

 thrown overboard and afterwards found. In the Bight, near the Island of 

 St. Thom^, the current set in a North- Westerly direction and was strong 

 enough to set the ship back, while heaving in the sounding wire, by about 

 as much as she steamed forward between soundings. 



Between Ascension and Conakry, some interesting current observations 

 were made in the neighbourhood of the Equator. Here a strong current 

 to the Eastward was found at 50 fathoms, as much as 1'3 knot per hour, 

 the surface-water setting to the Westward at about 0"5 knot per hour ; so 

 that the net Easterly current below was at least 0*8 knot per hour. 



The change in the character of the Current at different times is shown 

 by the fact that from the Equator towards Sierra Leone, in March, the 

 Buccaneer experienced no Easterly current, and a bottle thrown overboard 

 was washed ashore on the Kroo Coast, whereas, if the same current had 

 prevailed in both March and January, the bottle would have been carried 

 round Cape Palmas and into the Gulf of Guinea. 



(286.) Thus far, we give a general description of this remarkable Current. 

 What follows is from the Meteorological Office Monthly Analysis, 1872, 

 with which is incorporated further information gained from a study of 

 Captain Toynbee's work on the Meteorology of the Area included between 



among the papers of the deceased Admiral Don Josef Varela. " At Prince's Island, and 

 in its vicinity, the waters generally run to the North, which circumstance ought to be 

 kept in mind in making the island, and steering for the anchorage. There are also 

 currents to the South, but they are not so strong, nor of so long duration. The pilots of 

 the place say that the currents depend on the phases of the moon, but we found that 

 they were irregular." From this we may infer that there is some irregularity in the 

 outset or revolving current ; for which, consequently, every precaution should be taken. 

 * "Eevue Maritime et Coloniale," tome 65, 1880, pp. 5—22. 



