NAUTICAL REMARKS. 
629 
Augustine the velocity of the current abated, and our daily error was reduced to seven miles 
S. 52° W. ; but as we drew off the land, still continuing to the southward, the current again 
increased, and became variable. The first hundred miles from Cape Augustine it ran 
S. 87“ W. twenty-six miles; the next due S. twenty-seven miles; the following S. 76“ W. 
twenty-one miles, and then S. 80° W. eleven miles, until our arrival olf Cape Frio, when 
tlie whole amount of current from Teneriffe was two hundred and seventy-four miles 
S. 57» W. 
From this it appears that the N. E. trades propelled the waters in a S. W. by W. direc- 
tion, at the rate of eleven and a half miles per diem* ; and the S. E. trades to the W. N. W., 
with double the velocity, or twenty-two and a half miles per day*; and that in the inter- 
mediate space where light variable winds prevailed, there obtained a strong current, which 
ran in a contrary direction to both these, at the rate of thirteen miles per day. 
It appears from numerous observations that in both hemispheres the rate of the current 
is accelerated on approaching the Gulf of Mexico ; and as my route was rather more to the 
westward than that usually pursued, the above-mentioned average rates are greater, probably, 
than will be experienced under ordinary circumstances. 
KEMARKS ON THE PASSAGE FROM RIO DE JANEIRO ROUND CAPE HORN TO CONCEPTION. 
August 15 to October 8. 
This passage was unusually long, owing to the prevalence of contrary winds, par- 
ticularly in the vicinity of the River Plate. We sailed from Rio de Janeiro on the night of 
the 15th August, with a westerly wind, the Corcovado and Sugar Loaf capped with clouds. 
On the 16th, the wind shifted to the eastward ; and towards night a gale suddenly arose, ac- 
companied with thunder and lightning. The flashes of lightning passed frequently between 
the masts ; and latterly the electrical fluid settled upon the mast-heads and topsail-yard-arms, 
and remained there for fifteen minutes. We had been warned of the approach of this storm by 
the appearance of the sky and a few flashes of lightning, and reduced our sail in time, other- 
wise it might have done much mischief from the suddenness and violence with which it com- 
menced. This breeze went round to N. and N. W. to W. by S., then to S. E., S. S. W., 
N. W., southerly again, and S. E., east, and S. by W., until the 25th, the weather being 
gloomy, and the winds light or of moderate strength. 
On the 25th, in latitude 36“ and longitude 48° W., we encountered the first pampero, 
which came on with a heavy squall from S. S. W. attended with rain. For nine days we had 
these winds ; during which time we could seldom carry more than the main topsail, in con- 
sequence of the violence of the squalls. At the commencement of this bad weather, the 
squalls were harder and more frequent than towards its termination, and were accompanied 
with rain, hail, and sleet. Towards the close of it the general strength of the wind was in- 
creased, but the violence of the squalls was comparatively moderate, and the intervals longer. 
Still these gusts of wind gave no warning, and indeed during the whole period, excepting in 
the squalls, there was a clear blue sky, and apparently fine weather. From the commence- 
ment of these pamperos to their termination we had a reduction of nineteen degrees in the 
* All the rates are averages. 
