THE WEST INDIAN WATERS 11 



Accompanying these currents are the great tropical 

 trade-winds. They come from the vast expanse of the 

 Atlantic, and blow with a steady velocity across the region 

 a boon to the inhabitants, without which life would be 

 unendurable. They are laden with moisture, greater at 

 certain seasons than others, which is precipitated against 

 the higher protuberances of the land. They chop the 

 surface of the Caribbean into a million whitecaps and 

 ripples, giving that sea a rough surface quite different 

 from the glassy waters of the Gulf, the latter being par- 

 tially protected from these winds by the Antilles and the 

 Yucatan peninsula. They also create a superb surf against 

 the windward side of the tropical islands and mainland. 

 Their benign influence spreads even to our own country, 

 for they make the south breezes which in summer blow 

 across Texas and the Great Plains region. There is no 

 more delightful sensation than to feel the cooling touches 

 or drink in the exhilarating purity of this moving air- cur- 

 rent, especially along the windward or Atlantic side of 

 the eastern islands, where it moves with a steady velocity 

 stronger than a breeze and milder than a gale. In those 

 portions of the islands entirely or partially protected by 

 land heights, this wind is broken, and counter-currents 

 set in. For instance, on the leeward or Caribbean side of 

 the Windward Islands, cut off from the Atlantic by moun- 

 tains rising three thousand feet or more, it is often sultry, 

 and the winds, representing eddies in the greater current, 

 come only at certain times of day. On the south coast of 

 Jamaica, at Kingston, the trade-wind blows only between 

 the daylight hours of ten and four. Coming as it does in 

 the warm midday, it is a great relief, and is called by the 

 inhabitants " the doctor." The relation of these winds to 

 the situation of land is an important factor in tropical 

 America, and influences the conditions of vegetation, 

 health, rainfall, and other phenomena. Its importance 

 explains the frequency with which the terms " leeward " and 

 "windward" are used in the West Indian nomenclature. 



