CUREENT OBSERVATIONS. 125 



and 35. Of course there are numerous records of daily current 

 observations of less than twenty miles ; the strongest current will 

 be found on the chart for the month of October. On a general 

 chart for the year which I drafted, but which is not here published, 

 the currents appeared to set indiscriminately eastward and west- 

 ward, where the eastward stream or counter current may be 

 looked for, the explanation being that the line of demarcation 

 between the equatorial and counter currents alters according to 

 the season, and therefore when the former still obtains at one 

 season of the year, the latter has established its right of way, so 

 to speak, at another season. This eastward moving, or counter 

 current of the Pacific referred to, is analogous to the counter 

 current of the Atlantic Ocean which goes to feed the Guinea 

 current. These mighty ocean streams — the equatorial and counter 

 current — run side by side in opposite directions, their surface 

 temperatures and densities having no appreciable difference, yet 

 they preserve their individuality as though divided by a solid 

 barrier. Near the equator, the heaped up waters of the equatorial 

 stream overflow where the saturated trade winds fail and pre- 

 cipitate their moisture, and one of the localities in which these 

 overflows, which form the counter stream, takes place, according 

 to the Admiralty chart, is crossed by the steamers of the Canadian- 

 Australian line, and the records from the log books of these 

 steamers bear out in a remarkable manner the accuracy of the 

 chart. The latitude assigned to this counter current by the com- 

 pilers of the chart, namely, between four and eight degrees north, 

 may be considered its average limit throughout the year. My 

 records shew that during the months of May, June, and July, the 

 counter current may be met with between the parallels of one and 

 six degrees north, and during August, September, and October, 

 between the parallels of five and nine degrees north, and it should 

 be noted that during these months the south-east trade winds blow 

 without intermission. During December we find two observations 

 of counter current between the equator and the fourth parallel, 

 and three observations of current flowing to the north-eastward 



