Ships in the southern trade, both going and coming, must run through the Triple-joint. Currents. If they have the wind, in 1, moment they are through it. But if on getting into the danger ous place there is no wind, the ship cannot get out and is wrecked in the three currents. It is said that, in the Great Eastern Ocean Sea there is a long bank of sand and rocks some myriads of li (705 yards 01 2-5 mile) in length. It marks the gulf leading to Hades (wei-ln). In olden times there was an ocean-going junk which was driven by a. Great westerly wind to within hearing dis tance of the roar of the waves falling into Wei-ln of the Great Eastern Ocean. No land was to be seen. Suddenly there arose a strong easterly wind and the junk escaped its doom. (hirth and Rockhill, Chau ju-kua, note 3, p. Such superstition, like that of the Pillars of Hercules, in the Strait of Gibraltar, naturally restrained explorations so that the first voyages across the China sea came from Manila.