TTDE-EOIINE FRUITS, ETC. 
21 
ancient revolutions of the globe have deposited in the 
polar regions. If the cedrela, instead of having been cast 
<>n the strand of Tenerift'e, had been carried farther south, 
h would probably have made the whole tour of the Atlantic, 
and returned to its native soil with the general current ot_ 
the tropics. This conjecture is supported by a tact of 
more ancient date, recorded in the history of the Canaries 
by the abbe Viera, In 1770, a small vessel laden with 
corn, and bound from the island of Lancerota, to Santa 
Cruz, in Teneriffe, was driven out to sea, while none of the 
crew were on board. The motion of the waters from east 
to west, carried it to America, where it went on shore at 
near Caracas. 
Whilst the art of navigation was yet in its infancy, the 
Lii'-stream suggested to the mind of 'Christopher Columbus 
certain indications of tbc existence of western regions. Two 
coipses, the features of wbicb indicated a race of unknown 
men, were cast ashore on the Azores, towards the end ot 
the 15th century. Nearly at the same period, the brother- 
in-law of Columbus, Peter Correa, governor of Porto Santo, 
found on the Strand of that island pieces of bamboo of ex- 
traordinary size, brought thither by the western currents. _ 
j-lie dead bodies and the bamboos attracted the attention of 
rae Genoese navigator, who conjectured that both came 
from a continent situate towards 'the west. \\ r e now know 
that in the torrid zone the trade-winds and tho current of 
the tropics are in opposition to every motion of the waves 
111 the direction of the earth’s rotation. The productions of 
the new world cannot reach the old but by the very high 
latitudes, and in following the direction of the current of 
Florida. The fruits of several trees of the Antilles are often 
washed ashore on the coasts of the islands of Ferro and 
Gomera. Before the discovery of America, the Canarians 
considered these fruits as coming from the enchanted isle 
of St. Borondon, which according to the reveries of pilots, 
and certain legends, was situated towards the west in an 
unknown part of the ocean, buried, as was supposed, in 
eternal mists. 
My chief view in tracing a sketch of the currents of the 
Atlantic is to prove that the motion of the waters towards 
the south-east, from Cape St. Vincent to the Canary Islands, 
