in a Voyage across the Atlantic. 123 
the end of October, the temperature was 740 (atm. 74°; rising 
to 76° at noon; sea, 73°.) In the same parallel, at a distance 
of three hundred and fifty leagues west, in the beginning of 
June it was 72°; (sea and air, 71° to 73°.) 
Near the Cape de Verd Islands, and close to S. Antonio, 
Brava and Fuego, early in November, the temperature was 79° 
(sea and atmosphere 78° to 80°.) In the like parallel, at a dis- 
tance of a hundred and fifty leagues west, not more than a 
month before the summer solstice, it was 75°; (sea and atm. 
74° to 76°.) 
In like manner, the temperature, a hundred leagues from the 
coast of Europe, was 67° in the middle of October; and among 
the Azore islands, at the distance of two hundred leagues fur- 
ther west, it was 66° in June. 
The southern ¢rade-wind being cooler in like latitudes than 
the northern, usually passes the equinoctial into the northern 
hemisphere. The northern trade-wind falls considerably short 
of it, as earlier attaining the maximum of heat. 
Between them is a region of variable winds, light airs and 
calms, attended with frequent squalls and rain: an uncertain, 
wavy zone, lying between the terms of their influence. It is the 
tract, in which the highest temperature prevails through the 
year, not at the equinoxes only, the sun being then vertical; 
but also when he is distant at the tropics. 
The mean temperature of the sea and atmosphere does not 
there exceed 82°; for such it was found in May and November, 
seasons almost equally distant from solstice and equinox. It 
scarcely rises to 84° at noon in the shade; and barely descends 
to 80°, at the coolest moment of night or morning. 
Here the influence of the ocean in mitigating the heat is 
apparent ; for, in a like parallel of latitude on land, the mean 
temperature is reckoned to be 84°. 
In this warm and damp region of the middle Atlantic, situated 
in the vicinity of the equator, the point of deposition of dew 
appears to be about 78°. The dryness is ordinarily below a 
tenth part of the air’s capacity for moisture; and often de- 
