48 H. C. RUSSELL. 
world, so that now any such paper found on the coast finds its 
way to the Observatory ; hence it was that a paper thrown over 
from the Austrian man-of-war Sazda, which is of more than ordinary 
interest came to me. The Sarda left Sydney on March 7th, 1891, 
on her way to New Zealand, and when about half way across, in 
latitude 40° 18’ and longitude 157° 39’, a corked bottle, sealed 
with pitch, and containing a paper with a memorandum written 
in ink to the following effect so far as it could be made out, for 
part of the writing had faded (which would not have been the case 
had it been written with lead pencil):—‘Ship Saida, on voyage 
from Sydney to Auckland. All wellon board. Fresh N.E. Lat. 
40° 18’ south, Long. 157° 39’ east,” the date is almost washed 
out, but appears to be March 11th, and it was found that the 
Saida left Sydney on March 7th. The interesting part of it is that 
this bottle found its way against a strong current, through twelve 
degrees of latitude and four degrees of longitude, on to the coast of 
Australia in lat. 28° 4’ south, two miles north of Tweed River, 
where it was found February 10th, 1892, just eleven months after 
it was thrown into the sea. From what is known of the currents, 
which set strongly to the south along the coast of Australia, it 
seems impossible that it could have travelled direct. Probably, 
therefore, it was carried eastward by the current, which, in 
latitude 35° to 40° south, sets in that direction on to the coast of 
New Zealand, the current then turns northwards, and probably 
carried the bottle on to the neighbourhood of Norfolk Island, and 
thence still northward towards New Caledonia, until it got into 
the current setting thence on to the coast of Australia. A journey 
without deviations, of a least 2,500 miles in three hundred and 
thirty-five days, or upwards of seven miles a day, and doubtless 
the bottle, subject to all weathers made many deviations, which 
made its course very much longer and therefore all the more sur- 
prising. Once before a current paper thrown from the Marie 
Ogilvie when one hundred and forty-two miles north-east of 
Sydney, found its way on to the coast at Little Bay, in nine days, 
or at the rate of sixteen miles per day. 
