420 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
the same direction as that shown by our experiment. A trial of the 
temperature at the bottom was made with the deep-sea thermometer, 
and was found to be 56j°; while at the surface it was 09°. The land 
to the westward of Algoa Bay was now in sight, and it was not a little 
remarkable as we came on soundings how soon we passed into a 
smooth and quiet sea, from a rough and tossing one, exhibiting all the 
turbulent characteristics that are caused by the meeting of powerful 
currents. 
On the 9th, the wind being contrary, we continued standing in 
towards the land, and in the afternoon were not more than ten miles 
from the coast. The temperature of the air and water was 68°. 
The next day the wind blew from the same direction, and as the 
weather was fine, I determined to stand off to the edge of the bank 
previously spoken of, in order to obtain the assistance of the current 
running there, to carry us to the westward. At 4 p. m. we tried the 
set and velocity of the current, on soundings in eighty-five fathoms 
water, and found its direction to be east-northeast; its rate, a quarter 
of a knot per hour. During the last twenty-four hours, while on sound¬ 
ings, the set of the current was thirty-three miles N. 62° E. At 6 p. m. 
the temperature of the water changed from 67° to 75°, and with this 
variation of temperature, we found we were again entering the turbu¬ 
lent sea. In the tacks we made, off and on, the temperature rose and 
fell during each of them, several degrees, and the turbulent and smooth 
water formed a well-defined line. 
On the 11th, we still continued in the rough water; the temperature 
at the surface being 75°, but that at one hundred fathoms depth was 
only 65° ; with two hundred and fifty fathoms of line, there were no 
soundings. In the evening the water became remarkably phosphore¬ 
scent ; in fact, to a greater degree than I had ever previously observed, 
except at the Cape de Verde Islands, while on our outward voyage. 
After we had passed the pitch of the Cape, the direction of the current 
was found to be changed, having set us, in tw T enty-four hours, forty 
miles, on a course N. 40° W. 
I am satisfied that the use of thermometers would be beneficial to 
those navigating around this Cape; for by keeping in water of a tem¬ 
perature above 70°, they would, although exposed to a rougher sea, be 
carried more rapidly around the Cape, and would discover that they 
had passed it by encountering the cold water which is flowing rapidly 
to the northwest. In fact, it is obvious to me that the anomalies of 
current and temperature existing in this neighbourhood, can only be 
accounted for on the hypothesis of an upper and under current of 
different temperatures. The former of these is the warm, the latter 
