55 



and S. S. E. towards the coast of Africa, between 

 Cape Cantin and Cape Bojador. In these lati- 

 tudes a vessel becalmed is carried on the coast, 

 at the time it is thought at a great distance, if 

 the reckoning be not corrected. Were the mo- 

 tion of the waters caused by the opening at the 

 Straits of Gibraltar, why, on the south of these 

 Straits, should it not follow an opposite direction ? 

 On the contrary, in the 25th and 26th degrees 

 of latitude, the current flows at first directly to 

 the south, and then to the south-west. Cape 

 Blanc, which, after Cape Verd,is the most salient 

 promontory, seems to have an influence on this 

 direction, and it is in this parallel that the wa- 

 ters, of which we have followed the course from 

 the coasts of Honduras to those of Africa, mix 

 with the great current of the tropics to begin 

 their tour from east to west. We have already 

 observed, that, several hundred leagues to the 

 west of the Canary Islands, the motion which is 

 peculiar to the equinoctial waters is felt in the 

 temperate zone from the 28th and 29th degrees 

 of northern latitude ; but on the meridian of the 

 Island of Ferro, the vessels reach the south as 

 far as the tropic of Cancer, before they find 

 themselves, by their reckoning, to the east of 

 their true position. 



I hope to have given some value to the chart* 



* This chart which I began to sketch in October, 1804, 

 beside the temperature of the sea, furnishes observations on the 



