THE SOUTH EQUATORIAL CUERENT. 349 



September 30th, came to anchor in 5| fathoms. In the night, observed 

 longitude by chronometer, 54° 11' 45". 



" Although we had not seen land since we lost sight of the Lizard, by 

 which to examine our timekeepers, I felt not the least doubt about their 

 rate (the one a Knebel, and the other a Parkinson and Frodsham), by their 

 reciprocal conformity, corroborated by my lunar observations (which, 

 by-the-bye, I think are never to be neglected) ; and as I was desirous to 

 obtain some observations about the Currents, so peculiarly remarkable in 

 these seas, I took every opportunity which circumstances allowed to satisfy 

 my curiosity. 



" On the 22nd of September and subsequent days, the ripplings became 

 less in number ; and on the 24th, in the afternoon, about the 8th degree 

 of latitude and 46th of longitude, we perceived the first change in the 

 colour of the water from the common blue to a somewhat darker hue ; and, 

 as this was somewhat an uncommon case, I attributed it to a branch of 

 Current observed the following day at noon, setting due North, at the rate 

 of more than a mile an hour, straight across a South-Easterly Current 

 observed during the preceding days, mingling the muddy waters of the 

 Maranon and other rivers with those of the ocean. From the 24th to the 

 28th nothing particular occurred ; we were always steering to the S.W. 

 with light variable winds, and a continuance of rain sufficient to penetrate 

 our very bones. Currents, weak and changeable, being lastly observed to 

 run N. by W., 18 miles in twenty-four hours. This, at present, I call weak, 

 being afterward accustomed to fall in with a velocity of twice and thrice 

 that number of miles. At noon we altered our course to W.S.W., being 

 then in lat. 5° 7', and long. 49° 45' 55". 



" In the night, however, having a lunar altitude, we were not a little 

 surprised at finding the ship thrown 35 miles to the Northward of her sup- 

 posed situation, although I may say to have been prepared for this occur- 

 rence by Captain Edward Sabine's relation in the "Memoir," whose track 

 we were crossing just then, in the same month. 



" At break of day we saw the water totally altered in colour, and thickly 

 mingled with mud, as if we were sailing in a flood of ochre ; hove the lead, 

 and found 45 fathoms, fine sand, white and black. At seven in the morn- 

 ing, by chronometric observations, I found the Westerly offset 33' 38" ; 

 and finally, at noon, in lat. 5° 21' 49", long. 51° 46' 15", it appeared evident 

 that the Current, in the last twenty-four hours, had been running with the 

 rapidity of 67 miles to the N. 30° W. In the afternoon we perceived the 

 land toward the S.W. by S., being the Family Islands of Cayenne, and at 

 the same time we entered the boundary of the tides. 



" This, indeed, seems to confirm the opinion of those seamen who attri- 

 bute the principal strength of Currents hereabout to the waters of the 

 Maranon, &c., predominating over those of the ocean; but this is to be 

 admitted in a partial degree only; for, as operating on the general direc- 

 tion of the Equatorial Current, I esteem it as of no influence at all." 



(314.) The numerous voyages made by the Echo, in the West Indian 

 Seas, with a particular detail of each, more especially in regard to the 

 Currents, are given in the volume before mentioned ; and from these voyages 

 and experiments the general inductions are, that between the Caribbee 



