66 A NATURALIST OX THE "CHALLENGER." 



Bocks. We passed first through a region where we had a pretty 

 steady south-west wind, an African land breeze or monsoon. 

 Here we had occasional heavy showers, but not so much rain as 

 was to be expected, since we were passing a region where it 

 rains on an average for seven hours out of every twenty-four, all 

 the year round. We next steamed through the belt of equatorial 

 calms to reach the south-east trade winds, and left the Guinea 

 current, which was running at the rate of 21 miles in 24 hours. 

 We entered the trade wind on August 21st, and the air became 

 damp and cooler than before, and we were soon running before 

 the wind at the rate of seven or eisdit knots. 



