34 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
latitude of 6° or 10°, changes its course from the northward and east¬ 
ward to the northward and westward ; as it proceeds farther north 
it becomes more affected by the trades, and at length takes their 
course, and flows with the other waters borne down by them 
through the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, following the di¬ 
rection of the continent, until it finds an outlet between the Baha¬ 
ma Islands and the coast of Florida, and produces that current on 
the coast of North America, known by the name of the gulph 
stream. The currents to the south of Cape Frio may be sup¬ 
posed from the same cause to take a south-westerly direction, 
losing themselves in the southern ocean. The observations 
made by different navigators seem to authorise this belief. Bou¬ 
gainville, on the east coast of Brazil, experienced a north-east 
current; and, speaking of the current generally on the coast of 
Brazil, he says, “ the S.E. currents that navigators have expe¬ 
rienced on this coast are subject to variations, and sometimes 
take a contrary direction j” and again, “ it appears that in those 
parts the currents vary, running sometimes to the N.E., but 
more frequently to the S.W.” u a glance of the eye on the direc¬ 
tion of the coast is sufficient to prove that it should necessarily 
follow one of those courses.” * 
Lieut. Blight, when in lat. 2° north, long. 20® west, discover¬ 
ed a current setting to the N.E., at the rate of 14' in 14 hours. 
Vancouver found strong and irregular currents between the 
Isle of St. Antonio, one of the Cape de Verdis, and Cape St. 
Augustine, and in consequence contests the opinion given by 
Nicholson, in his hypothesis given in his East India sailing di¬ 
rections, published in 1787, by which it appears the current 
should set regularly to the north at that season of the year (July.) 
The observations of Vancouver, however, so far from operating 
against my theory, serve to establish it; for according to it, the 
gulf stream, in following the direction given to it by the coast of 
America, the Banks of Newfoundland, and the prevalence of 
northerly winds in the northern hemisphere, should produce a 
south-east current among the Cape de Verds, which, as it falls in 
with the current occasioned by the N E. and east trades, takes a 
direction south-westerly, combining at length with the trade cur- 
