242 
A VOYAGE TO 
[South Coast, 
form two currents, which will follow the directions of the land ; one 
branch will run northward, along the west coast of Terra Australis, 
and the other eastward along the South Coast: our present busi- 
ness is to follow the latter current. 
If a line be drawn from the south-western extremity of New 
Holland, to King's Island in Bass' Strait, it will show where the 
current may be expected to run strongest; though it will not be 
equally strong at those parts of the line which are distant from the 
land, as at those in its immediate vicinity. In drawing another line, 
from the north-eastern isles of the Archipelago of the Recherche to 
Cape Northumberland, we shall have what will commonly be the 
northern boundary of the current; for within this line the water 
does not seem to run in any constant direction, but is moved accord- 
ing as the wind may happen to blow. This was found by admiral 
D'Entreeasteaux ; and is conformable to my experience, as I shall 
now explain. 
It has been said, that the eastwardly current was found in May 
and December to run twenty-seven miles per day, from Cape Leeu- 
win past King George's Sound. From thence to a little beyond the 
Archipelago of the Recherche, keeping in with the shore, I found it 
to set north-east thirteen miles ; and at a distance from the coast, it 
ran north-east-by-east sixteen miles per day, the wind being more 
from the south than from the northward in both cases. 
In coasting from the Archipelago, all round the Great Bight 
and as far south-eastward as to Cape Northumberland, I had no 
determinate current ; it generally followed the impulsion given to it 
by the winds, and was inconsiderable. From the middle of January 
to the middle of April, the winds were most prevalent from south- 
south-east to east-north-east ; coming more from the land at night, 
and from the sea in the day time. They seldom had any strength ; 
whereas the winds which occasionally blew from the westward were 
fresh, and sometimes became gales, veering in that case, invariably 
to the south-west. 
