NAUTICAL REMARKS. 39 1 



with hail and sleet. It afterwards fluctuated four days be- 

 tween 46o and 49|o, during which time the winds were va- 

 riable from S.S.W. to N.W. by N., and E.N.E.— the wea- 

 ther for the most part moderate and cloudy ; but on the 5th 

 (Sept.) the temperature (always alluding to that of the sur- 

 face of the sea) rose to 53o, and the wind came from N.E, by 

 N. and N., but light. The next day it shifted to S.E. by S., and 

 the temperature rather decreased, but the breezes were light. 

 On the afternoon of the 7th, after a calm, during which it 

 remained at 50", there was a decrease of 80; and thirty-six 

 hours after a gale from S. by E. suddenly arose. During the 

 five following days it was nearly stationary, at the tempei'ature 

 of 39io, and the wind was variable from W.N.W., S.W., 

 and W. blowino; hard. From noon on the 12th to four a.m. 



'O 



on the 13th it fell to 36°, and that night we had a gale at W. 

 by S. ; which continued all the next day. At night there was 

 a further decrease of 4°, when the wind veered to S. by W., 

 and blew strong gales. The temperature kept down at 35o until 

 midnight of the 15th, when it rose 5^ : and the 16th, at four 

 A.M., the wind changed to W.N.W. and N.W. by W. Tlie 

 temperature, however, soon decreased again 4o, and at nine 

 A.M., the following day, the wind came from S.W, by S. and 

 S.S.E. where it continued, and the temperature remained 

 nearly stationary until we made Cape Horn, when it rose 

 to 42o. 



It would, perhaps, be too hazardous to assert upon such short 

 experience that these changes are the forerunners of shifts of 

 wind, though I found similar variations attend the southerly 

 gales off Spitzbergen, where we had always indication of their 

 approach by the increase of the temperature of the sea.* I 

 am, however, persuaded that, like the barometer, it speaks a 

 language which, though at times not the most intelligible, 

 may nevertheless often prove useful. 



* See also vol. I. p. 324 of this work. 



VOL. II. 2 D 



