CURRENT PAPERS. 131 



Current Paper No. 966 in the Indian Ocean has not fol- 

 lowed a usual course. Previous papers put off near it have 

 either drifted west to Africa or east to Java or Siam. This 

 one has drifted almost due northerly to the east coast of 

 India. 



Three papers, Nos. 985, 1,005, and 1,086, put over south 

 of Canary Islands, Bay of Biscay, and west of the Island 

 of St. Helena, respectively, have found their way to the 

 West Indies, the drift furthest north being the slowest, 

 and the one south of the Equator the fastest. 



Six papers in the Indian Ocean have been found on the 

 coast of Africa, five of which nave followed well known 

 courses, but one, No. 928 has had rather a peculiar drift. 

 From previous experiences I would have imagined this 

 paper to have made its way to the coast of Cape Colony, 

 but owing to some reasons for which I cannot put forward 

 a lucid explanation, it was found at Mombasa. I think in 

 all likelihood it must have commenced with a north-easterly 

 drift and so got into the same current as shown by papers 

 Nos. 1,001 and 1,003. 



There are several very important ones in the Southern 

 Ocean, some of which reached the Australian coast, one 

 made its way to north of New Zealand near Kaipara Heads, 

 while yet another was found at Aneiteum, New Hebrides. 

 Of these papers the fastest drift was No. 1,008 at 9*7 

 miles per day and the slowest No. 1,075 at a daily rate of 

 1*4 miles. 



Now coming to the currents with short drifts ; we find 

 some very peculiar anomalies. Referring to the charts 

 you will see that the drift in the Great Australian Bight 

 is to the eastward, yet three papers Nos. 957, 967, and 

 1007, have a very conceivable westerly set. , On the west 

 coast five papers have been recovered, two with routes 

 north of east, and three south of east. 



