n the latter part of the day, though not regularly; and in
the winter season this variation does not seem to take place. A long
swell of the sea, called _ground swell_ to distinguish it from the
lesser, variable one of the surface, appears to come at all times from
the south-westward, which indicates that the strongest and most durable
winds blow from that quarter; and this was partly confirmed by our
experience, for whenever it blew hard, the wind was at, or near to
south-west.

It is from the superior strength and apparent prevalence of this wind,
that the currents in the neighbourhood of Cape Leeuwin may be explained.
The sea being driven in from the south-west, and meeting with the cape,
will necessarily be divided by it, and form two currents, which will
follow the directions of the land; one branch will run northward, along
the west coast of Terra Australis, and the other eastward along the South
Coast: our present business is to follow the latter current.

If a line be drawn from the south-western extremity of New Holland, to
King's Island in Bass' Strait, it will show where the current may be
expected to run strongest; though it will not be equally strong at those
parts of the line which are distant from the land, as at those in its
immediate vicinity. In drawing another line, from the north-eastern isles
of the Archipelago of the Recherche to Cape Northumberland, we shall have
what will commonly be the northern boundary of the current; for within
this line the water does not seem to run in any constant direction, but
is moved according as the wind may happen to blow. This was found by
admiral D'Entrecasteaux; and is conformable to my experience, as I shall
now explain.

It has been said, that the eastwardly current was found in May and
December to run twenty-seven miles per day, from Cape Leeuwin past King
George's Sound. From thence to a little beyond the Archipelago of the
Recherche, keeping in with the shore, I found it to set north-east
thirteen miles; and at a distance from the coast, it ran
north-east-by-east sixteen miles per day, the wind being more from the
south than from the northward in both cases.

In coasting from the Archipelago, all round the Great Bight and as far
south-eastward as to Cape Northumberland, I had no determinate current;
it generally followed the impulsion given to it by the winds, and was
inconsiderable. From the middle of January to the middle of April, the
winds were most p