60 



tion of the current of Florida. The fruits of se- 

 veral trees of the Antilles are often thrown on 

 the coasts of the Isles of Ferro and Gomera. Be- 

 fore the discovery of America, the Canarians 

 considered these fruits as coming from the en- 

 chanted isle of St. Borondon, which according 

 to the reveries of the pilots, and certain legends, 

 was placed towards the west in an unknown 

 part of the ocean, buried, as was supposed, in 

 eternal fogs. 



My chief view in tracing a sketch of the cur- 

 rents of the Atlantic is to prove, that the motion 

 of the waters towards the south-east, from Cape 

 St. Vincent to the Canary Islands, is the effect 

 of the general motion, which the surface of the 

 Ocean feels at it's western extremity. We shall 

 give but a very succinct account of the arm of 

 the Gulf-stream, which in the 45th and 50th de- 

 grees of latitude, near the bank of Bonnet-Fla- 

 mand, runs from the south-west to the north- 

 east towards the coasts of Europe. This partial 

 current becomes very strong when the winds 

 have continued to blow a long time from the 

 west : and, like that which flows along the isles 

 of Ferro and Gomera, deposits every year on the 

 western coasts of Ireland and Norway the fruit 

 of trees, which belong to the torrid zone of Ame- 

 rica. On the shores of the Hebrides, we collect 

 seeds of mimosa scandens, of dolichos urens, of 

 guilandina bonduc, and several other plants of 



