274 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vili 



and effected their mechanical work of polishing the sides of 

 ravines, moving rock masses, and assisting in a marked degree 

 the general resulting denudation. 



VIII. — Direction and Force of the Winds. 



The constant high winds which prevail on the Labrador 

 from west to east, coupled with the absence of forests on and 

 near the exposed coast line, are the causes of the great drifts de- 

 scribed in preceding paragraphs. The work of the drifts is 

 determined by these winds to lie in a uniform direction, and their 

 denuding effects are in general on the east or lea side of hills 

 and mouutain ranges, but not always so. 



The following abstract shows the proportionate length of time 

 that the winds from each point of the compass prevailed at Nain, 

 Labrador, as indicated by the number of observations. (From 

 Professor J. H. Coffin's Memoir on the " Winds of the Northern 

 Hemisphere." Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1854, 

 Vol. VI.) 



Nain, Labrador. 



Period one year. 



North 160 



N. E 82 



East 7 7 



S. E 7 



South 6 



S. W 12 



West 180 



N. W 140 



Calm 2 



The resultant of these observations is a direction very nearly 

 parallel to the coast line and in the direction of the Labrador 

 •current. 



Professor Coffin gives the general resultant direction of the 

 winds at Nain for the period of eleven months as N. 25° 55' W. 

 with a note of enquiry (?), July being not recorded. The ratio 

 of the progressive motion in the mean direction to the total 

 distance travelled by the wind being as 50 to 100, showing a 

 remarkable constancy of direction and force. 



At St. John's, Newfoundland, this ratio is 18 to 100, and the 

 mean direction S. 78° 4' W. or not far removed from west and 

 east, the number of years embraced in the observations being 



