46 



east. Captain Mackintosh, and one of the most 

 distinguished navigators of our time, Sir Erasmus 

 Gower, have noticed the modifications of this 

 movement of the waters at different seasons of 

 the year. Several pilots who frequent the Ca- 

 nary Islands have found themselves on the 

 coasts of Lancerotte, when they expected to 

 make good their landing on the Isle of TenerifFe. 

 Mr. de Bougainville*, in his passage from Cape 

 Finisterre to the Canary Islands, found himself 

 in sight of the Isle of Ferro, 4° more to the 

 east than his reckoning indicated. 



The current which is felt between the Azores, 

 the southern coasts of Portugal, and the Canary 

 Islands, is commonly attributed to that tendency 

 towards the east, which the Straits of Gibraltar 

 impress on the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. 

 Mr. de Fleurieu, in notes added to the voyage 

 of Captain Marchant-f-, observes even, that the 

 Mediterranean, losing, by evaporation, more 

 water than the rivers can supply, causes a 

 movement in the neighbouring ocean, and that 

 the influence of the Straits is felt at the distance 

 of six hundred leagues. Without derogating 

 from, the sentiments of esteem which I owe to 

 this celebrated navigator, from whose works I 

 have derived much instruction, I may be per- 

 mitted to consider this important object in a far 

 more general point of view. 



* Voyage round the World, vol. i. p. 10. 

 + Vol. ii. p. 9 and 229. 



