394 
ST. HELENA. 
tending as far as 2° N. in February and March ; while for the rest of 
the year they only reach as far as 10° 62' N * Their proportionate 
iorce is also during the same periods, between the parallels of 10° to 
lo 0 ]^. lat., as 7-41 to 483.f 
Some idea of the enormous force with which these waters meet 
and send back the Antarctic current against the shores of Ascension 
and St. Helena, may be obtained from the following extract from 
Admiral Semmes’ Voyages :{ 
* ^° r the next fe ' v days, we encountered a remarkable easterly 
current, the current in this part of the ocean being almost constantly 
to the westward. This current, which we were now stemming- for 
we were sailing towards the north-west-retarded us as much as fifty 
imles in a single day ! So remarkable did the phenomenon appear 
that if I had noticed it but for a single day I should have been in- 
c ined to think that I had made some mistake in my observations 
or that there was some error in my instrument j but we noticed it 
clay after day for four or five days. 
Contemporaneously with this phenomenon, another and even 
more wonderful one appeared. This was a succession of tide-rips 
so remarkable that they deserve special description. 
“The Sumter lay nearly stationary during the whole of these 
phenomena, the easterly current setting her back nearly as much as 
she gained under sail. She was in the average latitude of 5°H 
and average longitude of 42° W. For the first three days, the rips 
appeared with wonderful regularity, there being an interval of just 
twelve hours between them. They approached us from the south 
and travelled towards the north. At first only a line of foam would 
be seen on the distant horizon, approaching the ship very rapidly. 
s it came nearer, an almost perpendicular wall of water, extending 
east and west as far as the eye could reach, would be seen, the top 
of the wall boiling and foaming like a breaker rolling over a 
rocky bottom. As the ridge approached nearer and nearer it 
assumed the form of a series of rough billows, jostling against mid 
strugg ing with each other, producing a scene of the utmost confu- 
sion, the noise resembling that of a distant cataract. Reaching the 
ship, these billows would strike her with such force as to send'their 
* Horsburgh. , - 
+ lM r Adventures Afloat. By Admiral Semmes. am7 ' 
