362 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CUERENTS. 



ing day, at the new moon, we were driven 11' 12" to the North, and 35' 54" 

 to the Easkoard of our supposed situation. This case was too singular not 

 to excite our attention, as the high mountains of Caraccas showed us, 

 almost hourly, the East or "Westerly direction in which we were driven, 

 the weather being perfectly calm, and the water constantly smooth, by 

 which means we were able to verify our chronometrical observations, and 

 to remove every doubt respecting the truth of so extraordinary a circum- 

 stance, the result whereof was as follows : — 



" By the Westerly Current we drifted in sight of the high land near La 

 Guayra, and kept working up against the strong Easterly set the whole 

 following day. On the 10th, from seven in the morning till four in the 

 afternoon, we had 14 miles difference West, agreeing with the bearing of 

 Monte Avila. From that time till six in the evening, when that mountain, 

 of which we had lost sight for a moment by drifting to the Westward, again 

 became visible, the water flowed again to the Eastward; and on the 11th, 

 at six in the morning, with an observed latitude, and the said mountain 

 bearing S.E. by S., we were in long. 67° 21'; and this by calculation being 

 67° 47', we found a difference of 26 miles to the Eastward in sixteen hours. 

 From this time till four in the afternoon, again 10 miles to the West ; and 

 from thence until the following morning, 22 miles Easterly difference. 

 During the night we hove-to to the Southward of Caraccas Bay, Cura9ao, 

 and were obliged to keep Little Curagao in mind, as the Current was set- 

 ting strongly to the Eastward. 



" Whether this flux and reflux were caused by the moon (then new), or 

 by any other agent, I shall not attempt to determine. Indisputably there 

 occasionally appear satisfactory reasons for ascribing to that luminary some 

 influence over the Currents in these regions, and the above-mentioned case 

 is probably one of them ; but, as Captain Livingston says on the subject, 

 * the Winds have a still more powerful influence.' Indeed, when roving in 

 these seas, studying the 'Memoir' and the 'Colombian Navigator,' and 

 enjoying the pleasure of reading all that science and skill have ever pro- 

 duced in the description of these regions, we always meet with Captain 

 Livingston's remarks as so many illustrations, and feel a continued increase 

 of respect for so accomplished a navigator. 



" The reflux of the Current to the Eastward, for some hours daily, we 

 had also occasion to observe, in January, 1834, near the coast of Hayti, 

 Porto Rico, and even in the Atlantic, while working up with smart breezes, 

 and even with very strong winds ; and once, in May, 1835, a merchant 

 vessel, steering for Cura9ao, with her mainmast broken, passed in th6 night 

 to the Southward of Buen Ayre and Little Cura9ao without seeing the land, 

 being totally unacquainted with any existing Current, and consequently 

 with her real situation. At daybreak, finding herself opposite the Eastern 

 part of Cui'acao, and supposing it to be the Island of Buen Ayre, she stood 

 to the West for Cura9ao, as she thought ; but on her passing the Harbour 

 of St. Anna she guessed her error, and tried to gain the entrance, in which 

 she succeeded toward sunset, after hard struggling with a strong wind and 

 a rough sea, but assisted by a Current to the Eastuard. 



" It should be borne in mind that the captain of this vessel was unpro- 

 jvided with a time-keeper, from want of ■which ho knew nothing about 



