KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 57. NIO 4. 37 



condition for this that safe Communications could be maintained with the nearest mother- 

 land, Mexico. And accordingly we see, even during the period of preparation for Legazpi's 

 expedition, that it was put forward as one of the chief tasks of this expedition to find a 

 return-route to Mexico. 



It was Urdaneta who was to solve this problem. With the increased experience 

 that he had gained as Legazpi's follower he thought that it would be vain to steer east- 

 wards in southerly latitudes against wind and current. He then hit upon an idea whose 

 correctness both he himself and many after him were to confirm, that further towards 

 the north more favourable conditions for sailing in this direction would prevail. 



The revelation of a route which, in about 40° N. lat., led across the ocean from west 

 to east compels us to investigate whether some of those who followed this route were led, 

 willingly or of necessity, to the same discovery as Cook made, though from an opposite 

 direction. We must then first pass in review the hydrographical and climatic presuppo- 

 sitions for such a discovery. 



Anyone who sails from the Philippines with the south-west monsoon in June or 

 July comes, when he reaches about 30° N. lat. — i. e. about the latitude of the southern 

 point of the Japanese archipelago — to a region where westerly winds are predominant. 

 The further towards the north one goes, the more constant are these winds, especially 

 during the winter months. It is only when one approaches the American side that we 

 have prevailing north-westerly and northerly winds. The main currents in general follow 

 the same direction. Kuro-Sivo, which follows the Japanese coast towards the north-east, 

 afterwards sets towards the east; its southern limit during the winter reaches down to 

 35° lat., and about the meridian of Hawaii this current spreads itself like a fan in a south- 

 easterly, southerly, and south-westerly direction and finally blends its waters with the 

 westward-setting North Equatorial Current (Cf. Fig. 5). Between the region where these 

 wind and current conditions prevail and that which is dominated by the north-east trade- 

 wind and the North Equatorial Current, there is formed a huge whirlpool, whose centre, 

 according to the seasons, is situated north-east or north of Hawaii. 1 The navigatör who 

 wishes to take ad vantage of these conditions for passing from the Asiatic side in about 20° 

 lat. to the same latitude on the American side, therefore, has to steer in a great curve 

 towards the north. If he sets his course too early towards the east, he may get into the 

 whirlpool above named; and that thereby, under certain circumstances, he may be carried 

 to Hawaii is shown by the fact that on these islands there is often found driftwood which 

 manifestly comes from the coast of America, 2 and that wind-driven Japanese junks have 

 more than once stranded there. 3 From this we find that the possibility of Spanish vessels 



1 A. K. Johnston in his Physical Atlas (1848) gave to this phenomenou the name of "Flcurieu's Whirl- 

 pool" — a name, however, which seems to have since passed into oblivion. 



2 Brioham, Index, p. 12. — The same author says (ibid.) that ''many of the largest and most famous 

 double canoes of the Hawaiians were hewn from logs of Oregon pine brought to the shores of Niiliau and Kauai 

 by the waves". Cf. Schauixslaxd, Drei Monate auf einer Koralleninsel, Bremen 1899, p 40. 



3 Such a thing occurred in December 1832. After drifting about for eleven months, of the nine men 

 who originally composed the crew of the vessel, four were still living when they landed near the harbour of 

 Waialua on the northern side of Oahu. See Sheldon Dibble, A History of the Sandwich Islands (1843). 

 Reprinted Honolulu 1909, p. 6. Cf. Hopkins, Hawaii, Lond. 1862, p. 73. — On 24 March 1815 the brig 

 ■Torester" encountered on the open sea near the coast ot California (32° 45' N. lat., 233° 3' E. long.) a Japan- 



