i8 6 Farther observations on the current that often 
of this particular, is, that the soundings in the Bay of Biscay 
show little, or no muddy bottom to the southward of the Garonne 
river; but every where to the northward. This seems to show 
that the mud of the Garonne , Charante, Loire , &c. &c. is all 
carried to the northward ; and by what cause, but a northerly 
current ? Had the motion of the sea been variable, the mud 
would surely have been distributed, to the south, as well as 
the north, of the mouth of the Garonne. The alluvial em- 
bouchures of the rivers in general, here, and the positions of 
the banks formed by them, in the sea, point to the N. or 
NW. ; apparently the effect of the same sea current.* 
IV. In continuation of this current, along the Bay of Biscay, 
I shall next mention, that Captain ( afterwards Admiral ) John 
Payne assured me, that being in His Majesty's ship, Russell, 
in a severe gale of wind at SW., and with the ledge of rocks 
called the Saintes , not far to leeward, he was under appre- 
hensions for the safety of the ship, during a whole night : 
but to his surprise found himself carried clear of the danger, 
by a current; which set the ship, in all, about seventy miles 
to the north-west. 
V. The flowing of the tides, on the west of Scilly, cannot 
well be accounted for, on any other supposition, than that the 
flood is prolonged by a southerly current. The flood tide is 
* From a view of the chart of soundings, between Spain and Ireland, one might 
be led to suppose, that the deep water and steep shore, along the north coast of 
Spain, had been partly occasioned by the water driven in from the Atlantic, in wes- 
terly storms, along that coast; and which had gradually worn away the matter there, 
and deposited it on the bank, which extends from Bayonne to the westward of Ire- 
land. For the bank seems to expand, as it goes northward, in like manner as the 
current : and the water is shallower than might be expected, in proportion to the 
depths, farther in. 
