ATMOSPHEROLOGY. — WINDS. 403 



ly recommenced with increased severity. At 9 P. M. 

 the wind veered at once from N. N. W. to E. N. E., 

 and then subsided. From 9 to 12 P. M., a thick- 

 ness of six inches of snow fell upon the deck. 



The morning of the 18th of April 1815, in the 

 78th degree of latitude, near Spitzbergen, was beau- 

 tifully clear and serene. At 11a. m. clouds began 

 to obscure the face of the sky, and soon afterwards 

 much snow fell. In the evening we experienced 

 fresh gales from two or three quarters, with intervals 

 of calms, in the space of an hour. North, east, and 

 south gales, alternately prevailed, in rapid but irre- 

 gular succession, during several hours. The winds 

 not being dangerous, the appearance was uncom- 

 monly interesting. 



Vcuiahle tvindsy and local or imrtial winds, are 

 common in all temperate, and in some of the warm- 

 er climates ; but not in that striking degree in 

 which they occur in the frigid zone. Tlie winds, 

 indeed, among ice, are generally unsteady in their 

 direction, and attended with strong gusts or squalls, 

 particularly in very cold weather, and towards the 

 termination of a storm. This variableness being 

 the eifect of the unequal temperature of the ice and 

 water, is curious ; but the phenomenon that is most 

 calculated to excite surprise is, that several distinct, 

 and even opposite winds, with the force, in many 

 instances, of a fresh gale, vvill occasionally prevail at 

 the same moment of time, within the range of the 



c c 2 



