16 
point of Niphon, in lat. 35°, long. 220° w6st, the stream again 
begins to spread, and by the time it reaches lat. 38°, long. 210°, 
it has been divided or split in two by the intrusion of the cold 
polar current. The contact of the cold and warm waters give 
rise to the constant fogs that exist in this region. One branch 
of the stream, called the Kamschatka current, moves to the 
north-east, nearly parallel with the coast of Japan, the Kurile 
islands and the coast of Kamschatka, its axis passing just east 
of Copper island, in lat. 55°, long. 191, and running directly for 
Behring Strait. The other and greater branch follows the par¬ 
allel of 35° eastward, being deflected a degree or two toward 
the south, in long. 180°, by the impinging of the cold Behring 
sea current running southward through the Fox islands, but in 
long. 170° it regains its latitude, and finally reaches the lat. 
45° to 50°, in about long. 148°, when it appears to again di¬ 
vide. The main body of the stream stretches directly toward 
the coast of America, is deflected to the southward and east¬ 
ward, runs down the coast of Oregon and California, and finally 
sweeps back into the great northern equatorial current. The 
existence of this current is well demonstrated by the wrecks of 
Japanese junks on the coasts of Washington Territory and 
Oregon. Many years ago, upon the beach south of Point 
Adams, at the entrance of the Columbia river, there was cast 
away a Chinese junk with many hands and a cargo of beeswax. 
The ship was totally lost but the crew were saved. In support 
of this Indian tradition pieces of this wax, coated with sand and 
bleached nearly white, are occasionally thrown upon the beach 
after great storms. Formerly a great deal was found, but now 
it is rarely met with. In 1851 we saw many pieces of it.* In 
1833 a Japanese junk was wrecked near Cape Flattery, of which 
account can be found in Belcher’s narrative and in United States 
exploring expedition. .... Among the tangible proofs 
of the origin and existence of the Kamschatka current are the 
following: In September, 1862, a Japanese vessel was wrecked 
on the island of Attou, she had been driven off the coast of 
Japan two or three months before with a crew of twelve men, of 
whom she lost nine before going ashore, and had thus drifted 
1800 miles in this current, at an average velocity of over twenty 
miles per day. Among the floating bodies which the sea drives 
upon the shores of Copper island, the true right camphor-wood, 
*The writer saw several cakes of this wax at Nehalem beach, in April, 1868. 
