Captain Sabine found discoloured water, supposed to be that of the
Amazon, 300 miles distant in the ocean from the embouchure of that
river. It was about 126 feet deep. Its specific gravity was = 1·0204,
and the specific gravity of the sea-water = 1·0262. This appears to
be the greatest distance from land at which river-water has been
detected on the surface of the ocean. It was estimated to be moving
at the rate of three miles an hour, and had been turned aside by an
ocean-current. “It is not a little curious to reflect,” says Sir Henry
de la Beche, “that the agitation and resistance of its particles should
be sufficient to keep finely comminuted solid matter mechanically
suspended, so that it would not be disposed freely to part with it
except at its junction with the sea-water over which it flows, and
where, from friction, it is sufficiently retarded.”